November 16, 2009
The view from my (foggy) window.
It’s a gigantic jackhammer at 7:00 AM!

The view from my (foggy) window.

It’s a gigantic jackhammer at 7:00 AM!

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November 15, 2009
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November 13, 2009
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November 6, 2009
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November 3, 2009
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October 30, 2009
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October 26, 2009

Assassanniversary (Don't let the awful title prevent you from reading this post)

On October 26th, 1909, Korea was less than a year away from being fully annexed by Japan. At the time, there was already a Japanese resident general in place overseeing the Korean peninsula. His name was Hirobumi Ito, and he had been Japan’s first prime minister during the late 19th century. One hundred years ago today, he was gunned down at the train station in Harbin, China, by Korean nationalist Ahn Jung-geun.

Today, to say that Ahn is considered a hero in South Korea seems like an understatement. The Korean government and press consider him and his actions heroic, and view the assassination as in line with bringing peace to East Asia. While sitting in Chinese jail in the months following the assassination, Ahn worked on an essay called “On Peace in East Asia.”

Recently, new Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has talked about the importance of East Asian regionalism and integration. Here, you have editorial writers crediting that idea to - guess who?

In Seoul, at bus stations, there have been posters with Ahn’s face hanging up for a few months. One of the symbols representing him is a hand print with the ring finger lopped off (a sign of his devotion to the cause of Korean independence). I took this picture yesterday at Gwanghwamun Plaza, one of the main public gathering areas in central Seoul:

Kind of a big deal?

Adding to the public idolatry, a musical called “Hero,” about Ahn’s life, begins today. Hello, Stephen Sondheim.

And then there’s this tidbit that ran on our front page today:

“We thought, this is it - the Ahn Jung-geun Guitar!” said Han Yeong-hun of Samick Musical Instruments.

The local musical instrument maker has recently introduced the Ahn Jung-geun Guitar, a limited-edition electric guitar made especially for the centennial of Ahn’s assassination of Ito.

Samick, one of the market leaders in the guitar industry, has in recent years felt more and more threatened by its foreign rivals. The recent setback in the world economy also took a toll on its business.

“We felt we needed to brace ourselves, to face these challenges with strong determination, just as Ahn did,” Han said.

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Don’t Panic! South Korea heard about your “national emergency” in the U.S. We’ve got everything under control. Eat your kimchi!
Click through for an explanation.
And by explanation, I mean, of why kimchi is delicious.
Not how it will prevent the flu.

Don’t Panic! South Korea heard about your “national emergency” in the U.S. We’ve got everything under control. Eat your kimchi!

Click through for an explanation.

And by explanation, I mean, of why kimchi is delicious.

Not how it will prevent the flu.

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October 23, 2009

Some storefronts in Gwangju, about four hours South of Seoul.

Pictures added.

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Greetings! I hope you haven't removed me from your RSS feed!

Hello, readers. I know it’s been a while. If you correspond with me via e-mail, you might be used to this phrase: “Sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you.” But lately, the time I could be spending blogging has instead been devoted to studying Korean.

As Kurtis Blow would say, “these are the breaks.” [Incidentally, I bought “The Best of Kurtis Blow” at a flea market in early September. A few weeks ago, my office participated in a flea market of it’s own, and employees were required to donate three items. Since I didn’t really bring much to Korea besides clothes and a handful of books I have not read, it was farewell to Kurtis Blow.]

But despite very little free time to speak of, I have had a few stories published in the last month or so:

Review of “Fireproof.” It’s a Christian film starring Kirk Cameron that was released in the U.S. in 2008. Why did I see it? Part of the explanation is in the review. The other part of the explanation is that because of my class schedule, I couldn’t make it to the theatre that week, so I asked my roommate to download one of the week’s new releases for me. I didn’t specify, and he didn’t think I would be interested in seeing “The Ugly Truth.”

Expats help celebrate “Chuseok,” the Korean harvest moon festival.

Review of “Metropia,” a Swedish animated film with the voices of Vincent Gallo and Juliette Lewis. It’s about the future being bleak and mind control and it was kind of boring. It was shown at the Pusan International Film Festival, which I had the pleasure of attending (more on that later).

Review of “Moscow,” which was also screened at PIFF. A really stellar Korean take on a cross between a buddy movie and a bildungsroman. Stars two really shining young Korean actresses.

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