chinatown

deery-lou.
the korean tourism organization [tour2korea] launched an anime video campaign, 2006 fantasy korea, to promote tourism. it started back in march and ended in december. i just stumbled upon it this morning. the three characters ji, ru, bak [a korean expression for jitterbug] give viewers a glimpse into korea. the animation is pretty cool. there's also a darth vader character who comes to korea. i tried to copy the video to my blog but had some trouble. so check out is this link to see the videos. there are four of them. hopefully they're continue it into 2007. it's a great idea. do i see some action figures in the near future? let's hope so.

my favorite: episode 2 about taekwondo

happy new year!

stay gold & be well…

boys better

deery-lou.
its that time again for lists. note, there's no particular order.

songs
[these are songs i played over and over. not all were released in 2006]
01. set the fire to the third bar - snow patrol
02. dog days - 50footwave
03. the funeral - band of horses
04. better than most - ac newman
05. just like anyone - aimee mann
06. neighborhood #2 [laika] - the arcade fire
07. liar - built to spill
08. it dawned on me - calla
09. smoke it - the dandy warhols
10. babe, i'm gonna leave you - led zeppelin
11. monkey - low
12. teller - throwing muses

tv shows
01. project runway
02. one tree hill
03. survivor
04. lost
05. the amazing race
06. the new adventures of old christine
07. my name is earl
08. brothers and sisters
09. medium
10. weeds

concerts
[as one can see i didn't attend too many shows this past year]
01. nunco cobain
02. the mustangs

until next year.
stay gold & be well…

the view from the afternoon

deery-lou.
no film review this week.
i was on holiday.
it'll return next thursday.

stay gold & be well…

death of a party

deery-lou.
FUCKIN COLD! that's how i would describe today. the day started off early as i was meeting bc way up north to check out some sites before hitting dongdaemun for some shopping. we had a mini little adventure in the freezing cold. of course i opted not to wear the giant parka. stupid! we stumbled upon what we thought was some kind of museum but it looked ghetto so we skipped it and headed off to check out some tombs. unfortunately i can't remember the name of the place. my bad. although not like it matters. walking around it felt like a ghost town. i kept looking for tumble weeds. all i saw were pile of leaves. the statues which were on top of the tombs were the most interesting but you couldn't get close enough to see them. i took a few snaps with the old 35mm so i'll post them later. bc and i still managed to have fun. when don't we. lunch was had at a small little place run by some ajummas. the food was most excellent. from there we jumped on the subway and headed to dongdaemun, the land of shopping. we spent a few hours there. i found a coat. score!! i'm sure i drove poor bc crazy. sometimes i'm quite indecisive about things. the coat wasn't exactly what i was looking for but then again i'm not sure i knew just what i wanted. i definitely liked the cut and style of it and i got him to come down in price. although somehow i got suckered into buying a black turtleneck that he claimed would fit me. well i must say it fits—fits like a glove. not sure how i feel about tight clothes. oh well. bc and i parted ways and i headed to insadong to meet up with a friend for coffee. seeing that there are numerous starbucks in the area i waited forever at the wrong one. the fact that he didn't have a cell phone made it worse since i couldn't call. of course when he did i missed the call. oops. finally after an hour we connected at the coffee bean. tomorrow i have to go back to work. but then i will have monday off for new years. it really makes no sense but whatever.

stay gold & be well…

well well well

deery-lou.
its a french holiday for me this year. first, there was the film and then today at the seoul museum of art, the robert combas exhibit had the titles in korean and french only. hmmm. is it a sign? so as you can gather my day was spent garting [going arting]. princess and i started out at the robert combas:savoir-faire exhibit. i was unfamiliar with his work so it was nice to experience something new. his work was quite colorful and very detailed. you really had to look at some of them to see all the things within the paintings. it was good. from the seoul museum of art we head over to the rodin gallery to check out what was there. they had an exhibit by michael joo, yet another unfamiliar artist. the poster for the exhibit intrigued us enough to go check it out.



once again we struck gold. the work was really quite good. he even had videos which i usually bypass but found them quite interesting. except when the wolf was munching down on the remains of the caribou. the bonus was the caribou cameras. way cool. of course i bought an exhibition book before leaving.

from rodin we hopped onto the subway to head off to ewa women's university area to do some shopping. the garting part of our day was over. i tried on several coats. one i really liked but it was too small. grrrr. one shop lady tried to convince me that the tight sweater i had tried on fit perfectly. sorry, not falling for it. i did purchase a new anime figure to join my collection though.



we ended our outing at a cafe. one that took forever to find. i think i walked past it 8 times before i called bc to get directions. this is the place that has loads of art books to read and sketch books on the table to make your own art. princess had a coffee. i had a cocktail. we both made art, of sorts.

at the cafe

our art

cafe wall

bunny art, artist unknown

stay gold & be well…

one

deery-lou.
christmas. hmmm. well, i must say this was definitely an interesting one. christmas was spent at a mall. no lie. over 8 hours at the coex. if i don't see another mall in quite some time i'll be happy. had it not been for giant christmas trees, the blasting of feed the world in every shop, some santa hats, etc. it could have been any monday. nothing closes here. when i was coming home last night around 9ish i noticed that the guy who cuts my hair was working. ok, who gets a haircut on christmas. now don't get me wrong. it wasn't an entirely bad christmas. thankfully i got to spend the day with two great peeps: bc and princess. we always manage to have fun when we are together. perhaps its because we are so fabulous. so what brought us to the mall you ask? well, we wanted to see the 4pm showing of the science of sleep. princess and i actually arrived near noon. when we got to the box office it was mobbed. only 5 seats left for the 4pm show. needless to say by the time we reached the counter only 1 seat remained. we opted for the 6:10 show. bc arrived around 1pm. we grabbed some lunch then spent the next hours of our lives roaming the mall. there's was a point when i felt like i was trapped in a maze of endless people and shops. inside it was like an oven. we tried to find lockers for our stuff but they were all full. for some reason i couldn't get my body temperature to cool day. with each passing hour i was getting warmer and warmer. at first excited about shopping and buying things that phase soon passed. the anime shop that i love to visit when there didn't even spark an interest. i did manage to find a coat i sort of liked but didn't buy. princess and i meet a "special" friend while smoking. why do i always attract the crazy people. we did manage to spend some time at a coffee shop across from the mall. yes, we actually left for awhile only to return to the madness.

mall-dazed

by the time the movie started i felt completely wiped out. i was looking forward to sitting and getting lost within the movie. however, my plan was somewhat foiled when the movie went from english to french and spanish. of course the subtitles were in korean. there's was a point where i thought about leaving but decided to tough it out. i'm glad i did. fortunately the movie is very visual. plus i got to watch gael garcia bernal for two hours. dreamy.

sigh…

the french and spanish didn't really bother me to much. for the most part i understood the story and didn't feel like i missed much of anything besides a few french jokes. it really is an amazing film. in the theater they have several promo booths for movies. bc and i had our picture taken at the science of sleep booth.

science of sleep booth, coex

opening presents, drinking, eating, and being with family that it seems strange to do other things. i must say next year you must leave at when i got home i spoke with my family. they were all gathered at my sister's house in florida. seeing that i hadn't opened the gifts from my sister yet i did so on the phone. it was kinda of like being there but not really. i seldom get homesick living here but did realize that if you're not going to some tropical paradise for christmas then it's best to be home. i miss being with family at this time of year. seeing the little ones all excited about santa's arrival, drinking, and eating. perhaps next year i'll be home for the holidays...

christmas scores
1. let dai — a korean manga
2. art now — artists at the rise of the new millennium
3. sandman vol.4 & vol.5
4. raise the red lantern — three novellas
5. logan's run dvd
6. cherry note paper
7. some calvins
8. viva la icon farrah t-shirt — sweet!!

stay gold & be well…

p.s. photos by bc

white suckers

deery-lou.
did saturday even happen? i went through the day like a walking zombie. we had our school christmas party and then office party on friday. the children had a great time. the day consisted of a song contest, snacks & a movie, and then gift exchange. it was busy, busy, busy. here are a few photos. i took a lot with my 35mm so i'll post them once i finish the roll.

santa luke & sara

santa luke

santa's helpers singing

more singing

the song contest was priceless. watching my two kinder kids [luke and sara] sing the twelve days of christmas brought tears to my eyes. i felt like a proud parent. they had to memorize two parts each. sara had day 4 and day 9, luke day 5 and day 10. they sang their hearts out. here's a brief video of the whole group singing up to day 5.



my 2 o'clock and 2:40 class sang deck the halls. here they are practicing before the big contest.



my 4:15 class joined another class to sing jingle bell rock. you gotta love their hats.



i didn't get a video of my last two classes. one group sang winterwonder, the other sang a combo of santa claus is coming to town and i'm getting nothing for christmas. the group singing the combo song added a gag routine to their performance. it was quite amusing.

i was completely starved by the time we went to dinner. somehow i managed to get completely tanked at the company party. and the sad thing is i hardly had anything to drink. perhaps it was the moonshine mixed with soju that sent me over the edge. however, i was smart enough to bail out early. i thought the walk home would somber me up but no. i awoke the next morning not even remembering going to bed. i will say this though, i slept like a baby.

tonight i'm off to catch up with some friends for dinner. as for christmas day not sure what i'm doing. at night i have another dinner and in the afternoon bc and i might try to catch a movie. the science of sleep has made it to korea. yeah!!!

merry christmas!

stay gold & be well…

the funeral

deery-lou.



stay gold & be well…

speak low

deery-lou.


movie: old boy [올드보이]
starring: choi min-sik, yoo ji-tae, kang hye-jeong, yoon jin-seo, kim byeong-wook, oh dal-soo
director: park chan-wook
genre: drama
country: korea
year: 2003
ckbs: 1
cute girls: 2
shirtless guys: 5
gang fights: 3
symbolism: ants
# of flashbacks: 2
things to be weary of: gifts in violet wrapping
imprisonment food: fried dumplings
gross scene: eating a live squid
butt shots: 2
breast shots: 2
crotch grabbing: 1
scene that made me close my eyes: pulling teeth with a hammer
weapon of choice: hammer
sex scenes: 1
memorable quote: "even though i'm no worse than a beast, don't i have the right to live"
member of: life's imprisonment
fun fact: four live squids were eaten to create the infamous sushi bar scene
based on: manga by minegishi nabuaki and tsuchiya garan
noteworthy scene: the final scene
rundown: man is kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years. when released he must find out "why".
bottom line: rent it now!
comments: from all that i heard about this movie i went into the film with very high expectations. usually when this happens i'm let down. however, that wasn't the case here. old boy is definitely one of those films that should not be missed. it tackles the subject of revenage and does so with great style and story telling. i don't really want to say too much about the film because i don't want to spoil anything. just be prepared for a movie that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
rating: 4.5 soju bottles

stay gold & be well...

barbarism begins at home

deery-lou.
it was still snowing when i awoke. by 10 am the once untouched snow was now a giant playground for the kids. met up with bc in insadong. we gorged on food. by the time we left it looked like we hardly touched it. our next stop was to order stamps. originally i had thought i wanted a wood one. this shop didn't have any. instead i got this really cool marble one. it'll be ready to pick up next week. yeah!! finally after all this time i purchased one. i must give bc credit. for once she wasn't a bk. could it be because she wanted one too—hmmm. we then headed to artsonje center to see the "somewhere in time" exhibit. it was on this side street that i had never walked down before. a lot of cool little cafes and such. the exhibit was good. there were a lot of video installations and we all know how i feel about them. on my way home i got a pumpkin latte. hi, delicious! here are some snow pix.

the park

mountain

street

snowman

stay gold & be well…

mint car

deery-lou.
it's snowing. the first real snowfall where it is actually sticking. it snowed a few weeks ago but nothing stuck. there's a blanket of white covering the ground. although winters tend to be long and drawn out, i do enjoy the first real snowfall. outside all is quiet. it feels peaceful. seeing that i blew off the mustang gig tonight, i decided to take a long stroll in the snowy night. i watched a young couple have a snowball fight. then there were the kids at 1opm sliding down the hill. i love sledding. as i was walking along i heard a rumble in the sky. it was thunder. it seemed so odd and out of place. i have never heard before thunder while it was snowing. i just stepped out a few seconds ago to have a smoke and the entire park is covered in white. it looks so beautiful at this time of night. not a footprint in sight. i feel invigorated. can't wait for tomorrow to walk among the fallen snow in the sunshie. until then i hope everyone has a great evening. i know i will.

stay gold & be well…

gazebo tree

deery-lou.

movie: see you after school [방과후 옥상] bang-kwa-hoo Ok-sang
starring: bong tae-gyu, kim tae-hyeon, jeong koo-yeon, ha seok-jin, jo dal-hwan, cha seung-yeol
director: lee seok-hoon
genre: comedy
country: korea
year: 2006
ckbs: 5
cute girls: 1
topless men: 3
fights: 5
symbolism: sharks & blowfish
# of people sporting an afro: 1
# of people with a hairpiece: 3
# of daydreams: 4
# of daydreams that include dance sequence: 1
toilet humor: 3
gross scene: picking nose and eating it
weapon of choice: fists
acronym: lc [loser's club]
memorable quote: "his fist was so powerful, tae-son was shitting a load in his pants."
member of: reject escape camp
location for most of film: school
noteworthy scene: namkoong dahl's first day of school
rundown: school loser must face the school champ after school
bottom line: rent it if you've seen everything else
comments: this movie was basically korea's version of the 1987 movie three o'clock high. it had it's moments but overall it was just your basic run-of-the-mill comedy. be sure to check out three o'clock high if you haven't already. a true classic.
rating: 2 soju bottles

stay gold & be well...

here it comes again

deery-lou.
i found the smurfs.



i also got new glasses today as well as new lenses in my old pair. all of this for $100. can't beat that.

stay gold & be well…

house carpenter

deery-lou.
oh, what a happy ending to a somewhat dull day. kwanjangnim gave me a pair of nunchaku. they freakin rock. they are far better than any i would have ever purchased for myself. they are a lot heavier than the ones at school, too. most likely cuz they aren't for kids. keep your fingers crossed that i don't seriously injure myself. oh, and did i mention that they fit together. so its like having two weapons in one. time to go kick some ass.



stay gold & be well…

she's lost control

deery-lou.
you know you're bored or simply just putting off what needs to be done when you find yourself organizing your bookmarks. yes. that is how i spent my break time today. it's amazing all the crap that i had saved.

its only tuesday and i keep wishing it was friday. its not like i have any special plans for the upcoming weekend. its just that i'm finding myself completely bored these days. teaching has become somewhat routine. its like i'm on autopilot. that can't be good. hopefully the upcoming vacation will spark some life into me. i still love it here but i feel that my life needs something else. as to what that is, i have no idea.

the mustangs are playing a show this weekend. i'm on the fence about whether or not i want to go. i saw the flyer for the show a couple of weeks ago. i must say they look hot in the photo. and the poster looked way cool.


the whole thing definitely sounds interesting. the drag queen show has me slightly intrigued. although one can never be sure about these things. sometimes they don't pan out like you imagine. however, they always put on a great show so perhaps it would be good to chill out and listen to some good live music. plus i might just be surprised by the whole thing. who knows. i still have a few more days to think about.

stay gold & be well…

birthday girl

deery-lou.
the other night while leaving taekwondo i happened to look up at the building and saw this sign out front. in the two years i've been walking in and out of that building i've never noticed it before.


now is it just me or does this sign seem a bit sexual. not really sure what its a sign for either.

it was a rather quiet weekend for me. here's what i got up to:
1. watched 4 hours of one tree hill
2. ate a bag of chex mix
3. smoke countless cigarettes
4. cleaned my apartment
5. watched the justice league
6. bought 6 more movies from my nbf one of which was the movie i called about [he even gave bc a free one for service, who in return gave it to me. how sweet]
7. went to buddha's belly in the twan for a photo exhibit [snore]
8. bought 2 books

stay gold & be well…

p.s. i think i have a crush on nbf

queen of las vegas

deery-lou.
quote taken from sara's pencil case:
"story of…
yesterday is but a dream, tomorrow,
a vision of hope, look to this day
for it is life"

stay gold & be well…

accept yourself

deery-lou.

movie: holiday [홀리데이] hol-li-de-i
starring: lee seong-jae, choi min-soo, jang se-jin, lee eol, yeo hyeon-soo, kim jin-hyeok
director: yang yoon-ho
genre: thriller
country: korea
year: 2006
cute k.boys: 3
beatings: numerous
fights scenes: numerous
symbolism: 3 eggs
# of people with gold teeth: 1
featured doll: minnie mouse
men in drag: 1
butt shots: 3
weapon of choice: golf clubs
shoot outs: a lot
attempted rapes: 1
memorable quote: "you act like a human when you're nothing but trash."
motto: money buys justice, lack of money guilt
blood shed: throughout whole movie
location for most of film: prison
explosions: 1
song: "holiday" by the bee-gees
noteworthy scene: when anh seok [prison guard] pisses on ji kang-hyun while he's in solitary confinement
factoid: this films speaks out against the core and custody law, which meant longer terms rather than longer sentences. this law came to an end in 2005. the film was set against the backdrop of the korean government destroying squatter villages inorder to make a more beautiful place for the olympics in 1988.
rundown: man breaks out of prison so he can speak of the injustice due to the core and custody law
bottom line: check it out
comments: when i saw the cover for this movie and the title i thought it was going to be about a family on vacation that comes against some trouble. so not. instead i got a glimpse into the social history of korea and its corruption. while watching the film its hard not to find compassion for the main character but you ultimately get the feeling that its not going to end well.
rating: 3.5 soju bottles

stay gold & be well...

that was my veil [modena]

deery-lou.
here's a role of film i took with my 35 mm. it's been quite awhile since i've used the old manual. definitely need to work out some of the kinks. especially with the focus.

lamp, sayuksin park

35mm photo album

stay gold & be well…

divine hammer

deery-lou.
hair. it seems to be on everyone's mind. so now my kwanjangnim has jumped onto the band wagon. during taekwondo class i have to pull my hair back. i've been doing this for the last couple of months so its nothing new. however, yesterday kwanjangnim walked into the gym looked at the little ball on my head and said, "oh, no, no. hair. pictures." which translates to: "we are taking pictures today and your hair is terrible." this lead to a discussion of how i looked much more handsome 6 months ago when my hair was shorter. of course it took fifteen minutes to figure out what he was saying. according to him i shouldn't cut it too short though. i asked him if he wanted me to straighten it and dye it black, too. later in the class while stretching, kwanjangnim was pushing on my back [actually more like laying on me] and telling me how much he loved me. can it get any more stranger.

stay gold & be well…

just like anyone

deery-lou.
when did it become december already? its getting colder and colder here. i had to bust out the white beast this week. it made me sad. for now i know i'll be wearing it for the next 3 months. hopefully this winter won't last as long as the previous one. i am in the market for a new mid-length jacket preferably black and boots of some sort also black. while out with my k-friend on saturday he told me i needed to invest in a mirror. apparently my hair was too much for him. i guess he doesn't like the wind-blown look. what do you say to that? i simply laughed it off and gave him a sarcastic thanks. which i'm sure was lost on him. this has been the second time we hung out and once again more time was spent in his car driving from one place to another than actually doing something. and to make matters worse he was playing horrible christmas songs. there was a point when i wanted to jump out of the car. next time there's got to be a plan.

today bc and i checked another thing off the list. this time it was the national museum of korea. we were quite pleased with ourselves. especially since it had been some time since our last list outing. the national museum is huge. we managed to do the third floor which had the asian arts gallery and the fine arts gallery 2. we tried to guess each others favorites. bc was much better at the game than me. am i that predictable. while in the fine arts section we ran into two obnoxious children that kept bumping and getting in front of us. of course the mom was right there but never said anything. i came very close to drop kicking them. there were lots of cool stuff. my favs were probably the mini pagodas and the tiny dragons used to decorate them. yes, i like dragons. we attempted to do the second floor but realized we were museumed out. before leaving we hit the gift shop. a definite must do in any museum/gallery one goes to. i walked out with 4 postcards and 1 button.

welcome to the national museum of korea

the ceiling

giant pagoda structure

more pictures from the national museum.

national museum of korea

from the nmk we headed to yongsan. on the way i found a toy store. unfortunately it turned out to be not so exciting. yongsan is the land of electronics and dvds. i'm usually completely overwhelmed when i step into the electronics mall but it wasn't so bad this time. we stayed ever so briefly before making our way [through the dodgy back way] to the dvd mecca. i initially planned on buying three dvds but somehow got talked into six. one of the movies i wanted they didn't have. my new best friend [the worker] had asked everyone nearby; however, it was a bust. nbfw gave me a number for a mister lim and told me to call him. now i got my own personal dvd connection. how fab is that. out of the six movies there's only one that i wasn't familiar with. if i end up not liking it i'll blame him. shopping is fun.

what i saw when i peered through the fence:

soccer time

something i learned today: in some countries sauce rhymes with horse. hm mm.

my new motto: what would the justice league do?

stay gold & be well…