Open Thread #51

I’m wondering why R. Elgin is such a ideologue and a hippocrit. I’ve yet to see him speak one word of praise for the great PLA or the Chinese government following this response to the Sichuan disaster. Such a horrible government indeed! If only the American government was as efficent as the PRC! Of course, Egly has no morality and doesn’t care about the 80,000 dead Chinese. He only believes what he hears on CNN and the failed American news networks. He fails to realize how biased and broken his sense of morality is.

Elg, quit your bitchin and learn and thing or two. You are a failiure of a human being.

The new Indiana Jones film is so dull and dumb. Big, big vote against it.

#2, 3…

The assertion that the PRC government acted quickly in response to a single natural disaster is quite separate from the fact that over the years (and on a continuing basis) the PRC government has created more human suffering than all the earthquakes China has experienced in the 20th Century. If you really want to debate the issue, at the very least stop being so disingenuous about it.

And for something completely different….

I’ve asked this question to several contributors to this blog, including the owner, and haven’t received nary a response…

Is there any way of directly contacting one of the regular contributors here? I think I may have served with him when I was in Korea in the 80s.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

And for something very different,

Amigos in Itaewon sucks!!!!! Overpriced with small portions with no real flavor, tortillas that could have been frisbees, stale chips and lousy service.

When I saw the sign that said “Tex-Mex” I was really hoping they would come through. 45 minutes and 50,000 won later I can say they didn’t.

To piggyback on R.Rac: hey everyone. Ever since “Thai Orchid” closed in Itaewon, I’ve been in the market for a really good thai restaurant in Seoul.

Khaosan road in Hongdae is cheap and quick, but comes with the usual drawbacks of “cheap and quick”; the one right next to Hard Rock Cafe in Itaewon failed to impress, and ditto for Thai Garden in the same building as the late Orchid. The Thai restaurant in the Seoul Finance Center by City Hall is hella expensive…

Where can I go for some great Thai that won’t break the bank?

(PS: for reasonably priced, really great Indian food, I recommend Durga, on the second floor of the street front, straight ahead out exit 1 of Jonggak station (line 1), between Jonggak and Gwanghwamun stations. Try the fresh naan bread, the chicken butter masala, the palak prawn, and the dal makhani. Tell them the curly haired guy who always orders chicken butter masala sent you.)

#16,

While the Thai restaurant in the I-Park Mall is surely not a gourmet’s top choice, their prices are reasonable and they’re really accomodating in their preparation. My wife and I sometimes stop in there and ask to have their Pad Thai Goong prepared in an ‘original’ style – that is, not tweaked to the Korean palate. While it’s much more authentic than what’s usually served up, your dish should still cost the same.

Is this question for real? I like samson-jajangmyun, but I much prefer a bowl of some spiced-up champong.

I think Buddha’s Belly is the best Thai food in Seoul. Great ambiance, too. It is located behind the Hamilton Hotel, in the same building as USMania (just down the street from the Three Alley Pub).

Agreed on Buddha’s Belly. The fact that the chef is Thai seals the deal.

The only Bhudda’s Belly I tried was the little hole-in-the-wall rendition.

Anybody seen the Vera Cruz car commercial where the Western male narrator at the end pronounces it “Bera Crujuh”?

I don’t mind them showing Gwyneth Paltrow arm in arm with Korean guys in their commercials to prop up the Korean ego or all the other silliness that ends up in the local advertising, but having Westerners intentionally mispronounce English words to sound like the butchered Korean Konglish version is down right nauseating.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/23/AR2008052303158.html?hpid=topnews

X-D Innocent mis-speech, or Freudian slip?

@bum

I think it was an honest mistake. But still, for f*cks sake, get out already. It’s over.

The “peaceful” protesters against US beef/KORUS FTA are finally showing their true colors: a group of radical brainwashed leftists who want nothing but anarchy. They’re apparently marching towards the Blue House at this moment and some of them are even trying to seize control of the National Assembly. They will obviously fail, but I think physical confrontation between the protesters and the police is inevitable at this stage. I can’t wait for headlines on the Chosun Ilbo website tomorrow.

I think Lee MB’s biggest mistake in this whole debacle (aside getting an extremely crappy deal from the U.S.) was to do nothing about those tax-funded left-leaning media outlets such as KBS and MBC, which are still controlled by radical scumbags personally appointed by Roh and are primarily responsible for all the FUD regarding US beef.

#37 – Agreed. Chinese food is so diverse to begin with, once you find the good stuff it blows even the best Korean food away.

Zhajiangmian is about on par as jjajangmyeon though; better noodles but less sauce.

clinton stated a historical fact and shes crushed by the MSM as desperate

if obama were trailing by 150 pledge delegates and two large states were being excluded from the process that he won
we know that NO ONE could even hint at him waiving the white towel because the ACLU and Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson would be all over the race card
there are only 2 more states and PR left to vote so let it play out and he will win the nonmination

every vote MUST BE COUNTED!! right al gore??

Also, Clinton’s comments were not a historical fact. Her point was that in the past, primaries used to take a long time. But back then, primaries started much later (March, I believe, in 1968), so a June primary was not evidence that the primaries used to take a long time.

And Indiana Jones still sucks.

From the Guardian: Studies show that the average Teuton family goes on holiday for two weeks a year, mainly within Germany, although their favourite destination is Majorca. He (45 years old) is 5ft 10in, she 5ft 5in. He is invariably overweight (83.5 kg) while she (67 kg and 42 years old) has mid-length hair, has sole responsibility for running the household and likes horoscopes and diet books. They both like Harry Potter.
In the same spirit: The average Korean woman (30 years old) is 5 foot 3, likes “Sex and the City,” Starbucks, avidly watches [insert most popular weekly drama of the moment here] owns at least one knock-off brand-name bag, and dreams of getting the real thing. Lives with her parents in a satellite town in Kyunggi. Agrees with the 여론 on the big public 문제 of the day. Once spent six months at language school in Australia, where she made lots of new Korean friends. (Speaks no English.) On cellphone: 240 pictures of self opening eyes as widely as possible. As she drifts out of her marriageable years she finds herself less appalled by the idea of marrying a foreign man. (Once went out with a Canadian English teacher.) Her last holiday: Thailand. Hobbies? Movies, shopping with her friends. Dream date: Outback Steakhouse followed by one of those jazzy wine bars like in the TV dramas. Afraid of cats “because of the way their eyes look at night.” She likes Harry Potter.

#34, why do you think LMB got a lousy deal from the US on the fta?

John Brandt, I was talking about the beef deal. Sorry if I wasn’t being clear enough.

#42 first i dont give a rats ass about florida or Michigan my point was if the tables were turned but i guess you missed that

#43 and it was a historical fact the guy was killed in June campaigning but the MSM wants her out so they can prop obama up as their next big thing

Yeah, I did miss that since it wasn’t very clearly stated, but ok.

“…we know that NO ONE could even hint at him waiving the white towel because…”

No, we don’t know that.

But then your point isn’t really to support Clinton’s staying in the race, is it?

Sorry, #50. I could recommend a decent kamjatang in a suburb of Vancouver, but I’ve never lived in LA. Happy hunting!

For Thai food I always go to Sawateed in Songtan, but only because it is close.

Very interesting. Thanks, Linkd.

Link, I’d say that the reporter/reviewer missed something when making a point: Rome, ‘at the height of [it's] decadence’, was able to avoid doing so much work because it forced the burden of production on the many non-citizens in the empire who toiled on its behalf.

These days, while we may live in a world built on patterns of increased consumption, true capitalism lies instead in amassing greater wealth, not consumer goods. Further, it could also be argued that the ‘City banker’ continues to work in order to make marginally more, so as to compare favorably with his banker brethren. The article seems to imply that those who earn less are somehow more cognizant of time’s imputed greater value, yet arguably, lower-income earners are as entrapped in their bid to ‘keep up with the Joneses’ as anyone else may be. I’d say that the desire for greater relative wealth is the real motivator/destroyer.

Linkd, time spent reading your thoughts on Marmot’s Open Threads is never wasted.

I agree that capitalism may be defined in various ways, and I’d aver that you’d agree that the production of goods and services in excess of personal need and/or want goes toward the accumulation of wealth, while the consumption of goods and services beyond the level of need goes toward the demonstration of wealth.

And it’s the desire to demonstrate relative wealth that drives many to consume, which I’d argue can keep folks working extra hours as much as anything else.

re stacked: his comments provide a fair demonstration of a diminishing marginal utility for most consumers.

I personally find the authentic Chinese black bean sauce they use for zhajiangmien to be quite different, and I guess it’s the difference from how it’s made in comparison to jajang. Still, the smell of it is very peculiar to me, enough so that I can’t stand eating it, and oddly enough, it’s one of the few dishes I think a number of Chinese youths favor over their own.

Can anyone provide me some info on the wireless internet options in Seoul? I’ve been tipped that KT’s WiBro is good… what else is there and at what quality? Thanks in advance.

Speechless…

Check this video out of some morons making fun of Koreans in Korea while getting drunk on Crown Royale on the subway.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=DAkwynW2EMM

I can’t believe how rude these guys are. I don’t think they are real Pakistanis or Punjabis. Seems like they are from New York or something judging from their ghetto speak. However, amidst all the anti-Korean tone that we get in here, I feel really bad when I see a video like this. It wouldn’t be as bad if they are targeting idiot college students or VANKers but the targets are nice elderly people who can’t understand their language. Definitely not cool.