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31 May 2004
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Korea Life Blog - Subway Salesmen



One of the best parts of riding the subway is watching a subway salesman in action. On this particular day a man was selling sticky balls. No, nothing perverted. The toy ball, when thrown against a surface, will stick to it. (I had taken an exciting video of the man in action, throwing the ball hard against the subway doors, the indifferent reaction of most passengers...but unfortunately I forgot to change a setting and it didn't come out right, of course.) At times like these I wish I could understand Korean. This man went on and on about his sticky balls...what exactly he could say for so long about them I'm not sure, but his salespitch worked. He sold 2 or 3 of them in our subway car alone.

There have been a few interesting items that I've seen for sale, though I don't ride the subway all that often. Ones that I can remember are souls for shoes, shoe polish (one lucky rider gets a free shoeshine), 1000 song cd sets for 10,000 won, and my all time favorite though I haven't seen it since, a garlic dicing thumb ring. See the relevant story on this page.

Please, if you can recall, comment about an item you have seen for sale on subways in Korea. There must be a lot of interesting items I haven't seen.

27 May 2004
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Korea Life Blog - Namchi, the South Bastion and Aliens




While looking around for sam gae tang in Suwon we noticed people walking up into the distance. I talked Julie into having a look. Turns out it was this: Namchi, the South Bastion, an old fortress.



The firt person we noticed was this oddball standing there wearing a UFO poster. What's going on here? we wondered.



Oh my...what is that? Holy crap, it's a real alien! The aliens are really here. They've come to take over the Bastion!




And holy shit! They've spotted me taking their picture. Oh my God, run!!!!!!!!! What's this? Julie's not even scared? Oh, I see. Turns out these guys are from the Raelian religious group...you know, the one Julie donated money to before on the subway. Amyway, look closely at the two photos, you can see that alien has long black hair like a Korean girl wow.



Rather than capturing and taking me back to his spaceship, this guy explained to me they are having a big meeting somewhere this week. Julie really wanted to go, but I talked her out of it, hehe.



Looks more like a sci-fi movie poster than a call to religion. Anybody remember that show Mystery Science Theater 3000 in which the puppets and that guy watch really bad sci-fi flicks and make fun of them? I love that show. Maybe I'll download a few off the net for old times sake.



There's the photo of the Raelian cult leader himself. He may be a nice guy and make a lot of sense, but what's up with that hair?



Lot of framed displays set out. I guess the one on the left is a rendering of the Alien embassy needed to be built before the aliens will come...hence the need for donations. I think the picture to the right is depicting the aliens when they came and visted ancient humans. Why is it all the major religious happenings occured so long ago?



More "evidence"...I though all those crop circles were made by people swing kaiser blades around or something. (some folks call them a slingblade, mm hmm).






There goes the gang out into Suwon to spread the holy word of the Aliens. I can't imagine what an old ajumma or halmony would think seeing this.



OK, here we go. Julie is not at all pleased by the site of stairs. She hates stairs with a passion - so much so she'll walk way out of her way or wait for ages at a crosswalk to avoid them.



You can't tell but on the way up she started getting angry at me. "You're so selfish," she said. "I don't want to go up. What are we doing?"




"Oh my God...more stairs? What's going on? Don't do this to me."



At last we made it. Almost the second she saw there were no more stairs, she cheered right up and even allowed me to snap this picture of her and approved it for the web. Click for full size!



There really wasn't much to the place. Just a long wall (which reconfirmed for me the fact I have absolutely no interest in seeing the Great Wall of China) and this nice guard post, though not so impressive considering the amount of stair climbing required to see it.




Look closely, there's an actual guard on duty. Wow, I know I feel safe, how about you?


That's about it. Nothing too special but we did work up an appetite climbing all those stairs at least...

25 May 2004
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Korea Life Blog - KOBA 2004



Here are the photos of the broadcasting/recording and lighting equipment show Julie and I went to on Saturday.



The event was held on the third floor of Coex super mall in Samseong-dong. There were several "halls" full of the latest technologies. A massive showcase with at least a millions of dollars worth of equipment. This would not be the time for an earthquake.







Hey can someday show me how to work this thing? Does anybody know how to work this thing? Hello?




I came here specifically to check out the Fostex section, which unfortunately was very small. I was hoping to see one of those multi track recording/effects machines with the built in cd-burners.




They did have one model, but this one is the bare basic version and uses compact flash memory instead of a hard drive. I ended up trying this out later at the Nakwon music center which I dragged Julie to again. Luckily they let me try it out. Turns out the effects sounded really bad, though I'm not 100% sure if that was because of the speaker he connected it too. Still, I didn't want to take a chance. Also, the price for this is $150 more than in the states. Needless to say, I decided not to get it. I'll bring Julie back there this weekend and see else what I can look at for an hour and not buy.



"We are the world, we are the children..." Quick, how do I press record?




Lots and lots of mixing and recording equipment to oggle at. I guess this would be any producer's heaven on earth.




A couple of Korean dudes hanging out, one playing a bass, engaged in some thought provoking conversation it seemed. There was also a lot of amplifier/speaker equipment here but the pic I took came out all blurry. You can see some in the background in this pic at least.




Look there! It's an apple iMac. I almost bought one of those before. Julie was excited. She wants a Mac now and there was an Apple show going on.



Here's the Apple booth with somebody giving a live tutorial of Apple video production software.



A beautiful Apple flatscreen display showing easy to use recording software. I almost want to buy a Mac just to use GarageBand.



Julie was fascinated. She's here checking out the mouse and wondering where the scroll wheel and right buttons are.



Oooh, ahhh...the insides of a powerful G5 computer. It's these kinds of systems that are used in much of Hollywood movie productions and every other kind of productions for that matter. I used to have an iBook, back when OSX first came out. I really liked it. My friend has been using his for 4 years now and not a single virus or other problem. The only reason I sold mine was because at the time I was into games, and a lot of games weren't available in Mac versions...wish I still had that computer now though.



Lots of tutorials and demonstrations going on everywhere. It would have been more exciting if I could understand what they were saying. I wanted to watch the Adobe software show.



I was trying to get a picture of that huge, crystal clear display there but people kept walking by. Finally I gave up and ended up with this shot. I want one of those screens in my apartment.



There was also lighting equipment displays, but I did a horrible job of photographing any of the actual equipment. On the wall you can see some of the lighting effects they were modelling anyway.



One last shot. Yay, more mixing equipment. Each unit in it's own right is pretty damn amazing, but all together it's overwhelming. One thing though - I just can't believe technology. I can't even figure out how to use things like these, let alone comprehend how people engineer them.

23 May 2004
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Korea Life Blog - Weekend Update


Julie and I had a great weekend. We went to a broadcasting/recording equipment show at Coex which was just fantastic and which I have a lot of pictures of coming soon. Then I dragged poor Julie to Nakwon Sang Ka music center once again where I drove her crazy testing out equipment, having her haggle with the store clerks, pondering whether or not to shell out 120,000 won on a distortion peddle or just getting a more expensive all-in-one effect unit, then finally giving up and not getting anything. (For anyone interested: I have software on the computer which I can add effects to the guitar, but only after the recording, not real time. It's also not much fun jamming along to Iron Maiden with no distortion.)

That was Saturday. Today's adventure included climbing a lot of stairs to look at an old fortress, an encounter with aliens (pictures to come soon), beating Julie at wrestling at a Playstation bang, and a delicious sam gae tang(me) and bimim bap(Julie) dinner.



21 May 2004
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Korea Life Blog - Bonnie

I've been so busy with the guitar, there's nothing much new to write about. If anyone's interested I may upload some of the guitar tracks I've recorded. I have no idea what I'm doing with the recording software yet though, so don't expect much...

For now, here's a drawing by Bonnie, my new favorite little girl. She's only 9 years old (Korean age) and so adorable. Look at her drawing talent. I can't even draw this well, and I'm an ajushi.






19 May 2004
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Korea Life Blog - My New Fake Fender Stratocaster!


After looking at this website the other day I got excited. They have Fender Strats listed for 135,000 won. That's a price that can't be beat. I got my ass out of bed today and made the 90 minute trip to the Nakwon music center (again) where the shop is. To my surprise, the guitar is pretty damn good - especially for the money.



It came with every thing you see here: plug-in cable, computer input adapter, an extra set of strings and the carrying bag. 125,000 won. It's fake, of course, but better than I thought it would be. I've been playing it all night and it's stayed pretty much in tune. The only things (besides the price) that gives it away as an imitation is the lightness. Also it's hard to bend the strings over the high frets, but that may improve when the frets wear in. The guitar does feel pretty cheap, yet the pickups are good. I played it through a Marshal amp at the shop and it sound sharp and crisp. What a bargain. I'll see how it holds up. If for nothing else, it'll get me back into shape playing and hold me over until I get a real one, at which time I'll be sure to rave about how much better the real thing is.

I stopped short of buying a sound card as the ones there were a little pricey...almost 3xs the price of the guitar! I can play it through the sound card I have for now, though only with a clean sound. This weekend I'm going to an electronics/ music equipment show at Coex where I hope to pick up a nice little recording/ effects machine.

Here's a shot of the real Fender, same model that goes for around $800. Pretty good likeness. Click here!



I just noticed another giveaway that it's a fake. Notice the spelling of Stratocast
18 May 2004
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Korea Life Blog - The Champion



This past weekend Julie and I played pool, or pocket ball as they call it in Korea. It's a fairly popular game with a place to play pretty much everywhere. They aren't too cheap though - generally charging 1000 won per 10 minute increments per person. In other words, if 2 people play for an hour, it'll run 12,000 won.


My friend John from Australia who I used to hang out with in Ulsan was probably the best player in town. He'd take me on as a partner to give the other teams a chance. I hated playing with him though as he took it so seriously, and I always missed key shots. We had a falling out for awhile when, during a small tournament at the local foreigner bar, I missed an easy shot which caused us to lose. I swear John never forgave me for that despite the fact the prize was under 50,000 won. Now that I remember, he was always getting angry when he played, especially when against Koreans. There are a few differences in the rules between countries apparently. The one that John would fly into a rage over was the luck shot, when the ball aimed at fails to sink but another unintended one does. It would crack me up watching our opponents joyful surprise by their luck and John flipping out as they moved in for another shot. In his Australian accent: "No, no, no. Raaack off, you caaaan't taaaiike thaaaat! Are you bloody pissed?" and the clueless look on the Koreans' faces.


Maybe I should be a nice guy and let her win...

(completely horrible photo of myself deleted...how could I have let that sit here for 2 years!)

Not a chance, baby! After 20 long minutes of missing almost every shot, I finally won the first game! Whoo hoo! We are the champions, my friend. Who's your daddy? I hate to brag again, but even with her luck shot handicap, I ended up winning 3/4 games (the one I lost was by sinking the 8-ball by mistake. I'll give her credit though...she has a mean break! She sunk two balls off one. Hey, did I lose weight? Where's my belt?



Later we went to a board game cafe. I love these toy hammers they give you to bash the loser with. I sometimes use one of these on the students, playfully. John could have used one for whacking wankers who take luck shots.


Julie lost at UNO, but she won 5 out of 7 games of Connect-4 which means I got 5 whacks on my head...

I had some pictures posted here of Julie, but she asked me to remove them and I don't blame her. Though she always looks beautiful to me, she feels she doesn't photograph well and she was embarrassed.
16 May 2004
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Korea Life Blog - The Recycling Haraboji


There's a little old man in town who year round, night after night, into the early morning, goes around town collecting recyclables: cardboard, plastics, glass, metal, etc.

He looks to be in his seventies. I don't know how he does it. I used to see him out there in the middle of the winter when it was freezing cold and windy, tugging his heavy cart. One night I stopped him and gave him a few thousand won. He seemed so taken back and surprised, not so much by the money it seemed to me, but rather by the fact somebody stopped to talk to him.

Now and again I see him around and I always bow and greet him with the formal, Anyong hashimnika, and he smiles brightly and waves to me. You would expect him to be a grouchy old man bitter about his fate but he acts so kind and nice.

He used to pile his take in the lot behind the hagwon. Then whoever owned the land kicked him out. Next he started to pile the goods on the land behind my apartment. Then they kicked him out too.



The old guy now piles everything up in the small area here, on the little side road that runs next to my building. Look at how hard he's been working.There are a couple good things about this, I guess. He's getting a lot of exercise and he's doing a great job keeping all this from being put in a landfill.



It's definitely an eyesore, but it all gets picked up about once a month. I'm guessing he gets less than 100,000 won for his efforts. It's hard to believe a short, frail 70 year old man collected all this. To help him out, I separate my trash and give the reusables to him.



Nearby, where he used to put things, after kicking the poor old guy out they put up this friendly barbed wire fence.



They also put up this thoughtful reminder that says if you put your trash again here we're going to sue you. Is that really necessary? I think just asking the guy to move his recyclables would have been sufficient. Barbed wire? Threatening to sue? That's a little too much considering who they were dealing with. Old age leaves a lot to be desired in Nowhere-dong.


Don't forget to check The Windy Times for an update.