Since the launch, things are really heating up down here on Earth. I’ve been getting extremely positive responses from non-Koreans to the Yi Soyeon videos, and I generally think the reaction amongst many Korean women is positive. My Ewha FLHS girls, for example, are enamored of her.
However, certain Korean netizens are forming an attack army [...]
It’s done. Now you can see the much-promised, much-delayed, final interview with Soyeon. I think that when you watch it, you might be able to see why I held onto it for so long — one reason was that I thought it would be most relevant around the time she went up, and the other [...]
I know this site tends to often center on testosterone-laden discussions of social issues, North-South relations, and Korean politics, but sometimes a change of pace can be refreshing. For those of you into this sort of thing, you might want to know that Seoul Fashion Week is on in full force this week, all the [...]
Sometimes I think there is justice in the world. (Thanks to James for the link, and Jennifer for the news tip!)
The news that the Russkies have forced a switch of people going into space just made my week. Regular readers of my blog know that we’ve always been in Soyeon’s camp ever since she made [...]
February 26, 2008 – 9:53 am
Ah, Pachabel’s Canon in D. Done by a Korean kid on YouTube. To the tune of 38 million views and counting.
[youtube]http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=QjA5faZF1A8[/youtube]
Oh, yeah. I remember watching that video and just thinking, “You rock, kid.” Then The New York Times did a piece on him, his true identity was unmasked (or un-hatted?), and he rocked all the [...]
January 25, 2008 – 4:28 pm
UPDATE: After months of not being accessible by KT, and this having worsened over the last two weeks, readers are reporting being able to suddenly get back in from the day this post went up. Something must have worked!
To those of you this may concern, no, Scribblings of the Metropolitician is not offline, but rather [...]
August 18, 2007 – 4:33 am
Calling fellow foreign bodies! Wanna see Quentin Tarantino’s new movie? For free? And you don’t even have to do anything, like give blood or register for a credit card.
Just show up and be ready to rumble – they want eager Americans and others who might “get” this film better than perhaps Korean crowds might, so [...]
Finally! The saga is complete. And the ending is brutal.
Susan finally finishes the jokbal she started in the previous episode. And no, she has not been continuously eating for weeks. And judging from the reactions to the first part of this feeding frenzy, I feel it my duty to warn you: don’t watch this unless [...]
And in celebration of that, we have a video made by “Notorious Joe” McPherson and his super group of special kids, whom he teaches in his school full of children with special powers.
The X-Men, you say?
Nay!
It’s the “Clash of the Superkids” and the fight is ON, baby!
[youtube]vdP2ssMqKr0[/youtube]
I think the budget and special effects in this [...]
Umm, I hate to bring this up, but I think it’s kind of relevant – why isn’t the Korean media talking about Woo Bum-kon (우범근), a Korean national (and police officer) who holds the world record for deaths by gun shooting spree? There were actually more references to this (here and here) on the Western Internet [...]
Listen to the Metropolitician give a sparkling podcast from last week’s rollout of “Korea, Sparkling” at the Seoul Foreign Correspondents Club and get an explanation of the brand straight (well, almost) from the horse’s mouth.
Sphere: Related Content
OK, the cat’s officially out of the bag and I don’t have to hold my tongue anymore, even though it had been leaked already by others. But not even wild horses got it out of me, a fact of which I am very proud.
So – Korea’s official tourism brand is fresh out the box [...]
Finally! Fellow marmots and other marsupials, we’ve finally got another episode of SeoulGlow for you, and let me tell you, it’s fat. No, not as in phat, but fat. If you don’t get the intense urge to go slay some swine and greedily slurp down its fat, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle. Well, we are [...]
I’m not making this up. The power of pig poop. Who knew? I didn’t.
Sorry for the lull last week – the video project had taken a bit of a toll. But I’m getting back into the swing of things, have a new monitor to stop the headaches, and have our first user submission for you here, done by Bum Lee, the creator of the SeoulGlow animation intro, no [...]
March 12, 2007 – 12:00 pm
An interesting piece from the The New York Times about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the fact that with the hot potato politics of late, neither an agreement on “truth” or coming to “reconciliation” seem possible soon. (HT to Vacilando)
Sphere: Related Content
A short and sweet little piece from The Christian Science Monitor on the history of Christianity on the peninsula, with an interview with Rev. Samuel Moffett, who was born in Pyeongyang in 1916.
Sphere: Related Content
It’s been a long time coming, but finally here – the Korea Journal announces its blog to the Korean Studies community and those interested in a more academic take on Korean society, culture, literature, and history.
This is Michael Hurt (a.k.a. the “Metropolitician”), but right now, I’m writing to you in my capacity as a consulting [...]
I love the fact that The New York Times is loving The Host. I’m still wigging out that my favorite director from back in the day is now the hottest thing since sliced tooboo around the world.
Sphere: Related Content
Here’s an example of something I notice from time to time with the Korean media.
The February 19 issue of New York Magazine reported in “The Inverse Power of Praise” on some new findings from a Columbia University study that showed it just might be beneficial to not praise your kid too much for being “smart” [...]
