Korean food and workouts hitting Hollywood? [Chosun Ilbo, English, HT to reader]
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{ 63 comments… read them below or add one }
Staggering.
Christians are indeed a tiresome lot, but to want anyone to go through what those hostages are going through is just cruel. If we could get them all back safe and sound I would gladly put up with a thousand more missionary pests on the subway.
Gwyneth Paltrow has a big contract with a Korean clothing store. Jessica Alba is the face of L’Oreal in Korea. And Nicholas Cage’s wife is Korean. So, yeah…Whatever.
Korea – Looking for love in all the wrong places.
When are these people gonna generate enough genuine self-esteem to cease and desist from looking for validation in the City of Delusions?
Good to know that the Chosun is still penning hard-hitting news like this… Good to know that Hollywood has enough woo-woo room left over after all the feng shui and ear candling to accommodate vibration belts and ‘cupping’ (the full-body hickey look is just so in right now.)
cupping is Korean?
#5
Right, it’s a form of bloodletting that’s been around for quite a long time. It would be very difficult to argue its origin as being Korea since it has been practiced in many other cultures.
In any case, bloodletting generally doesn’t work as a treatment (placebo affect) and can lead to infections, like the one that killed George Washington.
Is it a form of bloodletting? I thought it was a variety of moxibustion.
And word on the crappers they’re using?
Bring in the leaches! Actually, there’s a rather informative article about the practice on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupping
Seems that under some circumstances, it’s basically both. No mention in the article of ‘cupping’ as being a part of traditional Korean medicine, but we all know how horribly biased Wikipedia is against Korea.
I have a feeling a Korean reporter might be putting words into the mouths of Hollywood celebrities.
“All Access Hollywood” just mentioned Gwyneth Paltrow and the bibimbap.
Oddly enough, it’s a white dude making ‘em for her. Not that there’s anything wrong with a white dude making bibimbaps.
Speaking of bibimbap, I had a bibimbap at Gogung in Jeonju yesterday. So goooooooooood…
I don’t know what you’r on, but bimbimbap is for old Korean folk who can no longer handle meat or spice, or lame white bread running dog westerners that don’t have the stomach to travel. Anyone that thinks bibimbap is goooooood food, with all the other offerings in this country, needs to get out more.
Ooh, Germany
Ich die hadawg
The article actually doesn’t surprise me too much. If you look at the geography, Koreatown occupies 5 square miles of prime (but somewhat dilapidated) Los Angeles real estate, adjacent to Downtown Los Angeles and affluent neighborhoods of Hancock Park, Park La Brea and Los Feliz. Just to add some perspective, Leonardo Di Caprio’s first home (just before he got big in Titanic) was probably only three miles away from Koreatown in Los Feliz. Koreatown sits on two major East/West traffic arteries, the boulevards of Wilshire and Olympic and four major North/South arteries, the avenues of Western, Normandie, Vermont and Hoover. So if one wants to go to Downtown through surface streets (bypassing the often clogged freeways of the 10 and the 101) one must pass through Koreatown. So where I’m I going with all this? Well, it’s virtually impossible for the standard Angelino who lives north and goes to Downtown LA with regularity to not pass Koreatown with some consistency. Thus, if any Hollywood personality had a desire for anything Korea, be it acupuncture, vibration machines or food, they have more then ready access to it. So, it’s certainly possible from a logistics standpoint.
I can’t speak for Gwyneth Paltrow or Jessica Alba’s supposed love of Korean dieting or health and beauty techniques, but hey, you know these stars. They are into non-traditional health and beauty fads all the time. It certainly wouldn’t surprise me in the least bit. Let’s have an open mind here fellas. You wouldn’t think wonder bread whities venture into Koreatown much, but as I was walking into S-Bar (a Koreatown bar) one night and coming out were two college aged girls visiting from Utah of all places! They were coming out of a massage and aroma therapy business and told me that if one was to visit LA, then they HAD to go to Koreatown for massage, facials and skin care. They were told that Koreatown was the “IT” place for such stuff. As I guy, I had no idea. Funny thing… they needed a cab to get to the Hollywood scene, but no one around them knew enough English to help so I went ahead and helped them out. I had other girls waiting for me at the bar, so I played the gentleman and sent them on their way.
Ah, and good ole Nick Cage. That guy was a Koreatown legend before he tied the knot with Alice Kim. If you had money and if you had an Asian fetish (a.ka. Yellow Fever), then you scratched your itch at one of the Koreatown clubs, usually Le Prive or Velvet Room. Several of the waiters at Le Prive are my good friends so the stories are legit. Anyways, Nick Cage would always get a small bottle in a small booth and leave a two grand tip. He almost always took a chick home. I swear to you that Nick was semi-Koreanized. He’s say stuff like “yeah I went to a new galbi restaurant with my Hyung the other day…” Crazy, but true. My gut tells me that Cage is not so much a regular at Woo Rae Oak in Beverly Hills as so much as he is a regular at Chosun Galbi on Olympic in Koreatown. Other guys who frequented Le Prive were Donald Sterling (the owner of the Clippers), Wesley Snipes and Mickey Rourke. Donald Sterling is a dirty old man and Wesley is 5-7 with his shoes on.
OMG, we have live 교포 specimin,
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Can I keep ‘im?
교포인대…
Koreatown is also a favorate of a lot of Hollywood location coordinators.
1) The Prince- Thank you for not Smoking.
2) Bliss Cafe- Collateral.
3) Le Prive- Craddle 2 Grave.
Also Jackie Brown and Heat (various areas of Koreatown).
Yes… gyopos are rare here on Marmot’s Hole because most of them don’t want to deal with the bitter rantings and misplaced superiority complexes of the angry expat.
I think we gyopos offer an excellent and diverse viewpoint on both Korean and American culture. Too bad losers like you are too busy chasing them away.
I have no trouble believing that Gwyneth Paltrow likes bibimbap and that Jessica Alba bought a sonic massage machine made in Korea. I am suspicious of the remarks that were attributed to them in the story because the Korean media does have a habit of embellishing stories with fictitious quotes. Gwyneth Paltrow is indeed health-conscious and eats a macrobiotic diet of whole foods, so it is surprising that she would gush about the vitamins and potassium in a bowl of bibimbap when probably every meal she eats is a nutritional goldmine.
Yet another in a long, long, long line of desperate, needy, preening-in-front-of-a-mirror “Oh please whitey, love us! Notice us! Look at us! Recognize us! We’re really good, I promise!” articles from the Stuart Smalley media.
These articles all start with the same conclusion (Korean products/films/tv shows/talent/companies are dominating the world!) and then backtrack to find little specs of “evidence” to support their overdramatic, overhyped, and undersupported-by-facts conclusion.
They’re actually eerily familiar to the KCNA press releases coming from Pyeongyang, all of which triumphantly pronounce that Kim Jong Il hit 15 holes-in-one or that the latest Juche bible is getting rave reviews from world leaders everywhere.
‘Yet another in a long, long, long line of desperate, needy, preening-in-front-of-a-mirror “Oh please whitey, love us! Notice us! Look at us! Recognize us! We’re really good, I promise!” articles from the Stuart Smalley media.’
iheartblueballs
absolutely agree. if a korean took just five minutes to contemplate their need to have gweneth love bibimpap, they’d understand how ridiculous it is.
Speaking of such articles, anyone know anything about this guy? (Also from the Chosun)
Korea Reggae Artist Making Buzz in U.S.
Cho Sung-jin, a member of Korean reggae duo Stony Skunk, is creating a stir with a hit solo debut in the U.S.
The 28-year-old singer, who goes by the name Skull, has seen his debut single “Boom Di Boom Di” rise to number five on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hiphop Singles Sales chart for the week of Aug. 11, and number 17 on the Hot Singles Sales chart.
It is the highest ranking for a Korean artist on the U.S. charts.
a quick search of google reveals the info re skull seems to be true.
It would be funny if a pair of Korean Rastas named Stony Skunk went places on the US charts where “approved” Korean Wavebearers like Rain and the like could only dream of.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2025458205
Good for the Skull. Odd video choice given the genre, but he’s actually getting tangible results on the US charts and that deserves respect, which is more than can be said for Korean media darling and “World Superstar” Pee. I mean Justin Timberpee. Sorry, Michael Jackpee.
I too doubt Gwyneth and Jessica enjoy the stuff as much as the article says they do. However, it’s all playful stuff that’s found in the Lifestyle or People section of newspapers so who cares? Media companies want to sell newspapers so they got meaningless articles like that.
One thing is certain, if a star ever wanted to enjoy or explore a healthcare or beauty fad that is Korean in origin, they have ready access to it if they live in and around Los Angeles. You know the sushi craze got started because Little Tokyo was adjacent to Downtown LA.
#21.
Interesting contrast to the article Robert has linked to. Instead of grasping for any signs of recognition within American culture, Korean-American artists are contributing to it.
Makes me wonder…
For those of you who are Korean-Americans…
Do think that bibimpap and cupping are fads that do more harm than good? It seems to me that they reinforce some of the stereotypes.
I almost wanted to die of embarrassment when I saw a news story on Korean TV about Americans doing Tae Kwon Do. The whole thing was packaged in this pseudo-oriental mysticism, and people ate it up. The Korean ‘master’ wore an embroidered hanbok that looked like it had been designed for Liberace. I’m sure he laughs his ass off every night when he counts his money, and rightly so, but…I can’t help but cringe whenever I think about the soccer moms acting and talking as if they were in a bad Kung Fu movie.
#23.
Korean-Americans comedians are attracting crowds Rain can only think off…but you’ll never hear many of their jokes in South Korea given the censorship.
Who gives a shit what actors do?
@#26:
At least the American kids were performing a Korean martial art. In Richmond, Virginia, I saw kids in white uniforms adorned with taegukki exiting a karate studio.
#29. Those weren’t kids but grown adults, so you can imagine my embarrassment. It made foreigners look incredibly gullible and naive about the world.
# 21,
I don’t know about cupping, but I think acupuncture works in certain situations, particularly in reducing swelling in joints and muscles. Seeing AND feeling IS believing. My white co-workers actually got me into acupuncture! Let’s just say there are so many Asians in Southern California, that Asian things are not really considered too weird. I have to admit though, cupping does look bizarre if you never seen it before. But think of it this way, in the Western World they didn’t do it with a cup or jar, they did it with leeches!
And what’s wrong with bibimbap? I don’t see how it can be any more ethnic then Pad Thai or Sushi in the 80′s. What could be more weird then raw fish? Think about it RAW FISH… American blue fin tuna fisheries are laughing all the way to the bank.
# 21? I meant # 26. Sorry.
Someguy,
My uncle actually owned a dojang in Austin, TX and was a 9th degree black belt. His teaching method was very practical and focused on self-defense, exercise and discipline. I would just have to say that there are wackos like the guy who you described and their are very good instructors like my uncle.
Skull and word association =
ERSATZ: being a usually artificial and inferior substitute or imitation =
Korean pop and most other manifestations of contemporary Korean cult-ur
I’ll take Bob Marley and Peter Tosh any day.
Notwithstanding which they probably were practicing TK since many TK dojangs in the US call themselves karate dojo, because of the belief that it’s better marketing – so much for the power of Korean brands.
Moreover, it’s at least an almost honest admission of what TK really is – “almost” because TK, like a lot of Japanese karate itself, is a watered down version of Okinawan te/karate with some fanciful kicks from taekyon added in to provide that Korean “something”
# 35,
I’d agree that TKD has a lot of influence from Karate, particularly the forms, rank system, uniform, etc. But it’s got native elements too. For example, A LOT of emphasis on kicks. Probably more so then necessary and that’s not a good thing. There is a reason why pure TKD practitioners often get their butts kicked in K1 and PRIDE fights. Karate can also be a bit static and unpractical as well, with the exception of Kyokushin Karate.
In a street fight, Muay Thai hard strikes and Jujitsu grappling are best.
#26
Someguy,
As an almost-gyopo myself, I absolutely understand what you mean. It is quite embarrasing at times. But whenever I read a Korean news reportage about how Korean diet is conquering America one Jessica Alba at a time, or about how some retarded old man in Seattle decided to apologize to all the Americans on behalf of the entire race for the actions of some dipsh*t I’ve never met before, I try to remind myself of a few facts for perspective:
1. Korea is the ultimate middle child nation. They spent last 5000 years (or much less, if don’t believe that my great, great… grandfather shagged a bear 5 milleniums ago) constantly being reminded about how we are not quite big enough, strong enough, rich enough, or nasty enough than our overbearing big brother to the west, and an overachieving little brother in the islands.
As a result, the entire country, as a nation and as individuals, have a huge inferiority complex. We seek to find every opportunity to completely blow things out of proportion when it comes to news items that may suggest that we are better than other people, or that we are victimized by other people (bonus if both). No matter how far-fetched it maybe. And if it turns out that our zeal has overstepped caution, as it inevitably always does, we turn around and start to cheer the mob against the bastard who faked the lab experiment and shamed the whole nation.
As a result, whenever I read something about how the next Korean item/person/phenomenon is sweeping the world, I mentally discount the report by a factor of 10.
2. Korean people claim how the nation of one race/one culture creates the ultimate unity. What they don’t tell you is that it also creates the ultimate mob mentality. Whenever someone says “A is making Korea proud”, everyone in the whole nation is talking about how A is the awesomest. Then they say no, B is awesomer, then there are all these news items about how B is really the true Korean that we all knew that he had been all along, nevermind that he’s half-black and lives in Pittsburg, and never seen Korea until yesterday.
There’s no bell-curve of opinions in Korea, it’s all long-tails. It’s all left today, and all right tomorrow.
Practically speaking, what this means is that pandering to this mob mentality is the best possible way to 1)sell papers 2) get elected in Korea. Korean media (and politicians) shamelessly exploits this weakness in Korean character to their own ends.
As a result, I discount everything I read by another factor of 10.
What does this mean, to all the brave Korean massage/acupuncture therapist, bibimbap makers, taekwondo ass-kickers out there scattered around the world? It simply means, a lot of people think you’re doing a decent job… they kinda like you. That’s about it. No one’s about to bow down to our glorious awesomeness, despite the reports to the contrary.
But most importantly, it means that no one outside of Korea reads these damn newspapers anyway, so I’ve got nothing to be embarassed about, since no one outside Korea knows that we are acting embarassingly.
Now, let the hate mails and replies commence.
There’s nothing groundbreaking or revolutionary in your observations danson, because they’re painfully obvious to anyone that spends more than a week in the country. In fact, all the points you’ve just made have already been repeated ad nauseum by expat whitebread in Korea for the last decade.
As for your worries, Koreans or gyopos (or even uh, “almost-gyopos,” whatever those are) who make such observations won’t receive any hate mail.
Yet wonderbread making the exact same observations will be accused of hating Korea and Koreans, and then told “go back to your country if you don’t like it.”
p.s. You’re still a little short on the discount factor. I’d recommend further discounting by an additional factor of 100, added to your current discount rate.
On the subject of Korean comedians and mystical martial arts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W1ym3yggR4
Blueballs, you should spend less time blowing your top and more time getting off your bottom.
Get a job.
@ YoungRocco2:
WTF?
“Yet wonderbread making the exact same observations will be accused of hating Korea and Koreans…”
Wouldn’t that accusation be the correct one? There’s a way to criticize because you mean well and you’re bona fide, and then there’s a way to criticize because you’ve got a lot of anger bent up in you. It’s possible to intuit where a critic of Korean culture is coming from and where their hearts are. For this reason, I don’t tolerate garbage from expats- or Koreans themselves- if I sense that they’re around to talk shit because they can’t help themselves because their humanities are shit. It doesn’t even matter if their shit is correct. The more important thing for me is that there is a guy, or a bunch of them, who are applying a large extent of their time and energy for a single negative purpose. And what kind of losers do this anyway?
So, I can’t tell by your flag, blue, but presuming you really are in the USA, what attitudes and conclusion do you expect a rational person to have about you or other American “wonderbread” who spend a great deal of their time mistranslating words like 비 to “Pee”, spewing angry comments on pretty much every topic related to Korea, even for subjects as paltry as celeb diet? Sure, I’m critical of these articles too, and ingest them with salt, but feel no need to go out of my way to bash its contents and then round up the rest of the nation and bash on that too.
What’s obvious is that you spend a great deal of your time and mental energy making mountains out of very molehill related to Korean you find. That’s quite an amygdala you have there. You’re either a very curmudgeonly, bitter person in general -and I don’t have secure reason to believe this- or, perhaps more simply, you really do hate Korea and, to boot, you are neurotically obsessed with it. If I conclude the latter, that shouldn’t be controversial. It’s obvious. Nonetheless, if you’re neither, and you are actually a sane and decent person, who means well for the health of Korea, and are not like the avatar of divisive, destructive bitterness you portray on this blog, then that would be nice to know. I’d like to think human beings aren’t such assholes in general. That’s a part of my will for the world. But your approach is not constructive.
Anyway my questions above are all rhetorical — I don’t really care for your input. I’m making a point. Anyone reading this page ought to be able to place things in perspective, and I hope they do.
I love the fact that I’ve so completely destroyed rocco’s ego to the point that he’s deathly afraid to argue with my posts. He’s paralyzed like a deer in headlights, and the only thing that he can drool is “get a job,” or “maybe you can work at my dry cleaner.” And the resident dipshit thinks those are such hilarious, witty retorts that he repeats them a hundred times!
Thanks for being my bitch, rocco. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
And who would have thought an innocent bibimbap could draw out such emotion…
“Korean diet is conquering America one Jessica Alba at a time”
As you can see, it doesn’t seem to make her ass look fat:
http://www.egotastic.com/entertainment/celebrities/jessica-alba/jessica-albas-ass-is-distracting-000918
Any excuse to post those pics….
“their humanities are shit” Not sure what that means but I’m going to try to work it into a conversation sometime.
The Chosun (in English) didn’t seem to have so many of these Uri Nara stroke sessions when Mr. Marmot was translating…it’s getting really silly now.
Actually, in a streetfight, a gun is best, and a good blade (I like the SAS fighting knife), if you know how to use it, is second best.
Third, is knowing how to fight. The notion that Muay Thai and Gracie ju jitsu are the best is simply a function of the fact that’s generally all they teach. Most karate and TKD practitioners (including a disgustingly large number of “master” of this and that) are tourists, who’ve never progressed to the stage of learning the fighting applications of their routines as kata puppets, let alone actually done real kumite. In my experience, you are only even given a glimpse of this – in any tradition that aspires to be a martial way/art – after you’ve gotten a(n) (adult) first dan (which means a minimum of four years previous training).
Oh jesus, this was predictable. I could novelize this, but I’ll make it short and sweet.
The one and only thing that fucking matters: “If their shit is correct.”
All the stuff that doesn’t mean squat-fuck all: Your intuition. Your heart-meter. Your well-meaning meter. Your opinion of what is “bona fide.” Your humanity-meter. Your health-of-Korea-meter. Your opinion of my sanity and decency.
Seriously, if you need to respond to my posts by saying “You’re right, but I intuit your love of Korea as insufficient,” or “I completely agree with what you said but your humanity is lacking,” or maybe “Your opinion is spot-on but your regard for the health of Korea isn’t strong enough,” then please feel free to do so.
Because all I will see is “You’re right,” “I completely agree with what you said,” and “Your opinion is spot-on,” while ignoring the rest of the insecure horseshit.
If Gwyneth Paltrow was in Titanic she would have looked Korean.
47
1) yet with these “correct” opinions, you’re preaching to the choir. you do so 24/7 — and please don’t tell me you took 2 hours to write that reply.
2) and you’re incorrect about the main. the nature of the person saying something and why, are key to understanding what justification others have for the way they respond — example: “get the fuck out the country, asshole”. what do you think matters in this interaction? that the speaker is in any way “correct” or that the speaker is a neurotic dipshit who hates koreans?
this is not a noetic issues involving topics to be evaluated as if in a social vacuum. btw, comment 47 could have been abridged even further. you could have just written, “yes i am an asshole, but as long as i’m right that’s all i care about.”
That Jeonju bibimbap looks amazing. If I ever saw Gwyneth Paltrow eating something like that I’d have no choice but to crawl under the table and bury my face into her folds.
Just one more thread confirming my membership in the iheartblueballs fan club. Thanks for a good Tuesday evening read, fellas.
I don’t believe this….one simple article about American actors in Hollywood in a Korean newspaper….
and people like dlatn and iheartballs use it to write more critical posts about Koreans.
Truly amazing.
balls, what happenned in Korea? Would you like to talk about it?
#46,
Okay, I meant empty handed street fighting without the use of weapons. As my black belt uncle would say… the only real martial art is Kendo/Kumdo. One well placed swing and you’re dead. Fight’s over!
#37,
Agree. No one really outside of Korea is gonna read it so no embarassment to Koreans so who cares.
#31,
No, leeches was a different thing. Cupping was quite popular in Europe until the late 19th century.
#36,
TKD like to talk about the ancient history, but TKD is basically Karate. It’s a mixture of several Korean versions of Karate (some of which were more or less influenced by Taekyn) that was originally named ‘Tang Soo Do’.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_Soo_Do.
Chuck Norris is probably the most famous Tang Soo Do practitioner.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_norris
re: #47
Apparently you think I’m applying to be the head of the Korean Tourism Organization or Ambassador to Korea, and that digging into my “soul” in order to interpret my deepest emotions about Korea are vital to the Korean national interest. I’M NOT. This is a fucking blog where all kinds of different people throw their 2 cents out for a variety of reasons. That’s the “nature” of the beast here. Deal with it and quit pretending like anyone cares about your amateur psychological profiles, your intuition, and heart analysis. It’s not only ridiculous and irrelevant, but it’s a goddamn bore.
If your fixation on my evil “nature” is so distracting that it clouds your ability to understand my comments, then build that into your reading habits and just skip my posts. I’m giving my opinion, not opening my heart to the world for a thumbsucking therapeutic evaluation. If you’re looking for that, go sit on Oprah’s lap.
Funny you forgot pawi, who agreed with my initial post and sounds like he finds the “Oh god whitey loves us!” articles as laughable and unprofessional as I do. But he’s Korean and his “heart” is in the right place so his opinion is constructive criticism. Convenient.
And how about doing me a favor and pulling your head out of your ass while you’re at it. I wrote a critical comment about the Chosun reporter and the Korean media in general that regularly vomits this kind of crap. If you can’t distinguish between that and criticism of Korea or all Koreans, don’t bother responding.
That kind of attitude is what keeps the manure tap open and ensures a continual flow of this type of horseshit.
“If I ever saw Gwyneth Paltrow eating something like that I’d have no choice but to crawl under the table and bury my face into her folds.”
Hardy&Tiny for the win.
Dude, start your blog up again!
Blueballs, you just don’t understand Korean feeling
So I recommend you listen to the album “Sad Legend” to get a feel for Korean feeling, which is unique and unlike any other people’s feelings:
“OATHEAN and SAD LEGEND both play KOREAN traditional-ish black metal, but there are some differences. OATHEAN used Korean instrumental, as ‘Dae-Geum’ (like flute) and ‘Hae-Geum’ (like violin). But SAD LEGEND used no Korean instrumental. Their playing style is alike Northern Europe style, but we can feel Korean feeling through it. We, Korean, can feel it directly, because it’s ours. And you, foreigner, could feel it ethnic, what you feel from Northern Europe traditional black metal.”
http://members.tripod.com/~MRKWANG/sadlegend.htm
You see, Blueballs, Koreans can feel Korean feeling directly but you, foreigner, can only feel it ethnic. OK?
Black Metal Highting!
# 55,
Yes, TKD did come from Karate, but Koreans added to it, took some stuff away and changed certain things. Just watch a ITF match and a standard Karate kumite fight. Very different styles empathized. Btw, Karate originally was an empty handed Okinawan style first called “Chinese hand,” reflecting it’s ultimate origin, so let’s be consistent here.
“Just watch a ITF match and a standard Karate kumite fight. Very different styles empathized.”
That’s ‘Olympic Taekwondo’, which is a rather new creation. I can’t be confused with the more traditional Taekwondo combat style, which is nearly identical to full-contact Karate. That’s what I did. No bunny hopping of limp-wristed punches and sloppy kicks.
iheartballs…you just don’t get what I was saying (no surprise).
How did a simple article in the Chosun Ilbo about bi-bim-bap (ONE reporter’s opinion, btw) get you to write “Yet another in a long, long, long line of desperate, needy, preening-in-front-of-a-mirror ‘Oh please whitey, love us! Notice us! Look at us! Recognize us! We’re really good, I promise!’ articles from the Stuart Smalley media….” among other crap you wrote on this thread?
You imply Koreans have the problem…but your long and angry (and pointless) comments in response to the article say more about you than they do about Koreans.
Think about it: ONE Korean reporter wrote about how American actors may like bibim-bap….and you wrote…well, you know all the ridiculous things you wrote. Read over your own comments again and see if you didn’t overreact just a WEE bit.
# 60,
Don’t want to beat a bibimbap and beauty care thread into the ground with martial arts talk, but I don’t know if you get my point. My point is that cultures will borrow things from other cultures and over time make them their own. Of course TKD was little more then Karate back in the 20′s and 30′s. No point in arguing that and I’m not. However, be it pizza, the burrito, the game of Rounders, or whatever the borrowing culture takes something and changes it over time, sometimes into something very different from the original.
Karate has the advantage of evolving in Japan for over 400 years (longer if you consider what the Okinawa’s were doing with it when it originally came from Southern China) so it would look very different from Chinese martial arts, although it’s ultimate origin was from there.
# 61,
I get what you are saying. There appears to be a population of people in the blog that just have a lot of unresolved issues so when they see an article, such as the one highlighted in this thread, they act like sharks in a feeding frenzy. I agree that venting is good for the soul, but I have a problem with it when it becomes habitual, celebrated and idolize.
And regarding said article. It’s in the culture and sports section! Com’on people, get over yourselves. It’s in the most nonserious, least journalistic section of a newspaper. It’s not like it’s front page news. It’s just an interesting bit of info that most people read to pass time and say, “oh that’s nice” to once they do read it. The news is not earth shattering, it’s not gonna change anyone’s life, determine the fate of western civilization, etc. Thus we should do the same and not dig for any hidden meaning or center anyone’s existential questions (be it Korean, expat or Korean American) on this one shitty article.
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