k(orea) thurston

2009-10-25T11:26:00.002+09:00

so men, some men, some people, some day say that they could once do something. this something is usually something that they note they did well, especially when compared with others. 'i used to play a mean rhythm master' an old jazz cat thinks as he merges columns in an excel document. this something, this thing, for me is 'i used to clean a mean bathroom.'

my first wife (i like to assume) said to her family's maid--which, surprisingly, i was not related to--'kevin can clean a bathroom better than you.' this was when i was living with my mother. we lived just west of nowhere, and from my room i could view a silo and black smoke from when the reservation was protesting state tax policies by burning tires. how these condos were ever built, well, how is rather simple, tho it involves a long process with surveyors, architects, town planners, construction workers, electricians, etc. why they were ever built, well, why is rather simple, to make profit. i ask horribly stupid questions.

i think the reason i used to clean a mean bathroom is twofold: one, to impress girls (my mom and my first wife (i like to assume)). two, because other people's dirt truly disgusted me. i feel awful for having had this thought. i came out coated in my mother into this world. perhaps it is that drama, that reminder of debt, that reminder of mortality, that made me want to have a sterile environment as i tried in vain to clean myself at least five times a week. humorously enough, i believe it was around this time that i began to not wash my hair as much so as to have a 'just woke up' look about me.

to stop looking at the past, as long as that is possible, is a noble goal. it is also what i am going to try and do presently. now, i still can clean with great abilities--i tested in the 98th percentile--but it happens with much less frequency. this began after i moved out of the house i owned with my wife. it all just became my dirt. i should mention, i am relatively bald. i havent had a hairstyle that requires me, or even asks me, to use a brush or a comb in years. all hair that falls is hair that falls from my body. it falls in legions. there is a toupee in my bathroom drain. i look at the refuse in my bathroom, for example, tho this does extend to my apartment at large, and i think 'meh'.

it is fascinating how we can so quickly distance ourselves from what was once part of us. the most clear examples is feces, of course. of course, i am a male writing about feces now. jesus christ. i used to also be progressive. there may be a curiosity as to when i no longer was progressive, but that would be in the past and try as i may, i am typing about the present.

i start off thinking 'meh'. a week goes by. perhaps more. i begin to worry about how effective my drain will be in my shower. time passes. i have reached a point where i am disgusted at what once was mine! oh, existential crisis! i dont know if i should weep, mourn, simply clean, burn, or not even bother with these thoughts, but, oh, they are indeed there!

my apartment now smells of bleach, i have cleaned, scrubbed, and gathered the pieces of my body. i am scared to take a shower and begin the process all over again.

2009-10-08T21:55:00.000+09:00

sorry to see he has changed tense. this was an eerie read tonight.

2009-09-21T23:49:00.002+09:00

ron silliman looks like santa claus

Elephant under police investigation

2009-09-17T07:26:00.002+09:00

Bewildered police, for the first time, are to investigate an elephant on charges of assault on a person.

The unprecedented case was reported to the Gwangjin Police Station on Monday in which a 48-year-old woman surnamed Kim claimed to have been hit with large stones, thrown by an elephant, according to police officials yesterday.

Kim was talking a walk on Monday morning in the Children's Grand Park Zoo in eastern Seoul, when she was knocked down by a blow to the back of her head.

When she recovered from the initial shock, she found two stones close by, each the size of a grown-up's fist.

The only potential aggressor that she could see in the perimeter was the elephant in a nearby cage, she said during police questioning.

Despite the dull pain in her head, Kim went back home after reporting the incident to the zoo's control office

However, as her pain intensified, she decided to visit a hospital in the evening and was told the injury was worse than she thought, for which she decided to hold the elephant responsible.

"No one else other than that elephant could have thrown those stones at me," Kim said to the police. "The park should take responsibility for neglecting to supervise the animal."

The police are checking CCTV tapes and questioning zoo officials, in response to this unprecedented case.

The Korea Herald September 16th, 2009

2009-09-14T22:29:00.003+09:00

my job suddenly feels a bit justified. this is helpful for me existentially. also, i am under the impression i am getting better at it. i am learning korean. at least taking classes. when a language has a grammar that is drastically different--subject object verb--bringing in native speakers makes sense. further, it seems the criteria to become an english teacher in korea, for koreans, is different than has been my experience with foreign language teachers in primary, secondary, and university. in the US, all of my teachers seemed to be (?) fluent. all of them had spent time in a place with native speakers of that language. this is not the case for the people i teach with. this isn't a knock on them, necessarily. it just is. i have had a korean english teacher who has never left asia who has a firm handle on english (listening, speaking, writing). back to my korean class. the fact that any languages translate is amazing, but, again, when the grammar is different, it blows my mind. for example (literal translation)
케빈씨: 용씨가 예기 있어요? Yong here is?
미현씨: 아니요. 없어요. No, not here.
케빈씨: 그렴, 용씨가 어디에 있어요? Then, Yong where here is?
미현씨: 용씨가 권주에 있어요. Yong Gwang-ju (a city in Korea) is.
obviously, my korean is v basic. when the grammar gets more complicated, and oh it will, things will even be further away from my native grammatical structure. right now, it has sort of a cute yoda effect.

other things of note

in august i went to viet nam, good country. haven't been to a place where i am clearly am more wealthy than the majority of the population before, which caused some discomfort. in korea (at least urban korea) i am nothing special economically. not rich, not poor. people with my job in viet nam live in a bubble. it is attractive in some ways (and the variety of food, and the skill with which it is prepared, not to mention the coffee), but i am not sure i could do it for longer than 6 months or so. luckily, that is about how long it would take to get certified should i choose to do so.

i am taking the month of september off of drinking and i like it. i miss having *a* beer, but i also know that moderation and i aren't pals. not that i need to get *wasted* but if i am to drink, i usually will have 4~6 beers. kev 6 pack. last wednesday i went for a night hike with a small group. some of that small group were drinking. christ, booze can make one obnoxious, or at least irritating. one thing that was a frightening realization is that since 14 i have been at least smoking cigarettes. this is the first month, then, in 18 years that i am absolutely clean.

a touch nervous, i am headed to taipei october 1st which is the soonest i can have a drink. i am a big fan of cuisine, which includes local alcohols. but i cant read or speak chinese at all, so think it may be disastrous, riotous, or memorable, or or or getting drunk in taipei on chinese spirits especially as i will lack a tolerance.

kinda skipped over the culture i've been swallowing lately. lots of good art up now as fall starts. miru kim has been a highlight. the world brought me to her show since i received emails about her work, people on facebook mentioned her, and i read a newspaper article about her in the korean herald.

okay, there is more to type, but i am getting tired. hopefully i will be back soon.

2009-08-23T18:49:00.001+09:00

Hello Teachers,

If you are traveling outside of Korea for break, You will be
quarantined at home for a week before you can go back to school.
Please try to stay home and give yourself time to see if you have
symptoms of any illness/sickness.

If you do feel sick, please rush to the nearest hosptial for
treatment.

During this week, we advise you to stay home and try to avoid being in
crowded areas. You will not be deducted vacation days nor will this
count as sick leave. During this quarantine week, you will not be
deducted from your pay. No makeup is required. (Only from normal work.
22 Hrs per week. Special clases that has to be made up will be
determined by your school)

We send out offical documents to all the public school in the Seoul
area.

Thank you,

Jon Pak
Program Coordinator

2009-08-21T18:21:00.001+09:00

kevin! The thing which when comes in the world Oh!? The quickly friend and the beer has a

drink and wants and the gruel should! Vietnam is stylish like that thing Oh!? I will forget and as

i will throw away the beggar who is playing fun? some time goes to your house hotly but Oh and the soccer

which hits to you in Vietnam is many awareness buying soccer flaw Vietnam sees the Adidas

factory the new product ~ healthily knock-down place together many many anyhow plentifully, play fun and come ^^

2009-08-06T23:46:00.001+09:00

when i read about what striking (factory) workers threaten and/or actually do in other countries (china, korea, france to name a few) i wonder if workers in the US are more civilized or more complacent

2009-08-04T07:34:00.000+09:00

2009-07-19T10:03:00.000+09:00

if yer interested, i have work in 'a sing economy'

2009-07-19T09:51:00.003+09:00

Flim Forum Press volumes Oh One Arrow and A Sing Economy are now on sale for only $8 each (over 50% off, includes S & H). ^Oh^ and ^Sing^ contain extensive chapbook-size selections from a wide range of exciting contemporary poets (see below). Help fund our current and future projects by purchasing one of these, our foundational volumes, at an exceptionally low price! Go to www.flimforum.blogspot.com for more info, or see:

Oh One Arrow: www.editorgalaxy.blogspot.com
7x9, 208 pages

from Brandon Shimoda's "The Alps"; Thom Donovan's "Devotions"; poems by Jonathan Minton; Adam Golaski's "Voice Notes"; from Lori Anderson Moseman's "All Steel"; Katie Kemple's "Plant Poems"; Chris Fritton's "The String Witness"; poems by Eric Gelsinger; and Jacqueline Lyons; and John Cotter; prose poems + by Jeff Paris; a clutch of Michael Ives' lyric
constructions; poems by Jaime Corbacho; Matthew Klane's "The- Associated Press"; meditations from "the 40 Stations of Mansour Al-Hallaj" by Pierre Joris; and Aaron Lowinger's blog project, "Moundz", in print! w/ cover and insert drawings by Luke Daly.

A Sing Economy: www.asingeconomy.blogspot.com
7x9, 256 pages

from Kate Schapira's "How We Saved the City"; Barrett Gordon as "Bartimus"; two of eleven cantos from Jennifer Karmin's "aaaaaaaaaalice"; from Stephanie Strickland's "Huracan's Harp"; from "The New Poetics" by Mathew Timmons; Kaethe Schwehn's "Tanka"s; "Sin is to Celebration", elisions by Amanda Ackerman and Harold Abramowitz; "Sketches" by Jaye
Bartell; Jessica Smith's notebook-scrawled "Cortland"; from David Pavelich's "Boxelder"; "[Bestiary With A Broken Window & A Thin Though Not Unkind Smattering of Light]" by Erin M. Bertram; poems by Laura Sims - On Murder; from Deborah Poe's "Elements"; a collaboration, "Voyage", from a.rawlings and françois luong; from Michael Slosek's "A Sequence for Cinematic History"; from Kevin Thurston's "SPECIAL MANAGE MEET"; soundscapes by Hannah Rodabaugh; and all "The A Down" by Tawrin Baker. w/ three of Scott Puccio's fleeting films gracing the cover.

--

Meanwhile, here's what some critical readers are writing about Flim's
latest, The Alps, by Brandon Shimoda:

Jared White in Harp & Altar...
www.harpandaltar.com/interior.php?t=r&i=6&p=30&e=53

Brandon Downing in Jacket...
www.jacketmagazine.com/37/r-shimoda-rb-downing.shtml

Ching-In Chen in Galatea Resurrects...
www.galatearesurrection12.blogspot.com/2009/05/alps-by-brandon-shimoda.html

To purchase The Alps, or get more info, go here:
www.theplacethereof.blogspot.com

2009-07-16T23:47:00.001+09:00

Kevin is not small puts out? This newspaper inside us becomes too and long like also the alcoholic

beverage to have a drink the wants....Me beggar ^^; Kevin to be sorry Oh and Vietnam goes and thing preparation is small but?

Is born but travel wants going…. where When is time, like rice eating adrink beverage glass flaw, ^^

either/and/or

2009-07-16T23:44:00.001+09:00

oh? article 1
Experts say it is very difficult to get a girl who has sold sex to more than 100 men to go back to ordinary schoolgirl life.

oh? article 2
In Korea, a person is not guilty of any crime for having sex with a minor aged 13 and over unless it is paid for or forced. Sex with those under the age of 13 is punishable even if it is carried out under mutual consent.

interesting take on the US journalists being held in n korea

2009-07-13T19:16:00.001+09:00

Let them get a teeny tiny taste of what likely happened to those who have been caught when that part of the porous border was plugged up. Let them get experience a little of what they condemned others to. I mean, geez, it's not like these three accidentally crossed the border: It was a deliberate act that any reasonable thinking person would know was putting others at risk. Others that they were ostensibly there to help by highlighting their plight. Except that's not really what it was all about for these three. Ultimately, I believe in my heart, true motivation was to get that scoop, do the thing all the other journalists had not done.

read the rest here

my ear infection

2009-07-13T18:53:00.002+09:00

i am on anti-biotics for the 2nd time, carrying over into a 3rd week
the first time was simple enough, i had a throat infection, couldnt speak, 3 day anti-biotic, all better this time is much more devious

maybe three or four weeks ago when i was laying in bed trying to go to sleep a bug flew into my year i had a quick adrenaline sweat, paced around my apartment, stuck scissors in my ear, rinsed my ear out, debated going to the hospital, got to experience the incredibly unique sensation of a bug vibrating in my ear, and somehow managed to fall asleep

the following day i told two people about this: a canadian in her early 20s, and a korean in her mid 40s. the canadian told me since it wasnt bothering me, i should do nothing and that my body would naturally expel such an intruder, but i should never put scissors in my ear again. the korean simpy kinda laughed, offering no advice. having only one option, i went with the canadian's opinion

as mentioned, i then had a throat infection

last thursday (9.7.09 or 7.9.09) i was out with a friend, and by the end of the night my ear, left, the one that a bug flew into, felt a bit tender i simply hoped i could ignore it friday morning when i woke up, i realized that was not an option my ear hurt and/or itched internally when i arrived at school i informed the same korean woman in her 40s, she advised i go to the hospital recalling that a bug was involved with my ear just a little over a week before

i recently watched 'kill bill vol 1' and 'kill bill vol 2' i prefer volume 1, tho both are good the problem with volume 2, if it is in fact a problem, is that it gets very talky at the end, and really wants to wrap everything up taratino (quentin) is a fine director and often jabs conventions, wouldnt say he over-turns them tho anyhow, if the purpose of all the talking, and the down playing of the actual killing of bill (it is not an epic battle) is to upset the conventional revenge pic, well, that wasn't enough there is a scene in 'kill bill vol 1' wherein bride is buried alive inside of a coffin a classic fear she scratches at the cover before she recalls her training and ruptures the wood in order to free herself i want to focus on the scratching

the insect scratched at my ear canal as it was dying, this caused an infection perhaps the very 'unique sensation of a bug vibrating' in my ear is when the scratching took place there is no way to know

Topic: How would you like to kill that twat?

2009-07-10T19:15:00.000+09:00

Displaying all 14 posts by 13 people.

Post #1

Hasnat Abul (SKBZ Bangladesh Islamia School) wroteon July 3, 2009 at 6:17pm

1. Stab his neck
2. Cut his balls off,if he has
3. Drive a truck over him
4. Stick a cactus up his shithole

more options are appreciated

Report

Post #2

Jordan James Henry wroteon July 4, 2009 at 2:01am

Beat him to death with his own football boots.

Report

Post #3

Frank Andersson wroteon July 4, 2009 at 6:35am

i would take great pleasure in punching the cunt to death

Report

Post #4

Anthony Foster wroteon July 4, 2009 at 6:24pm

cut his eye lids off so he can't blink, then deep fat fry his eyes

Report

Post #5

Hasnat Abul (SKBZ Bangladesh Islamia School) wroteon July 5, 2009 at 12:39am

thats really thoughtful Ant

Report

Post #6

Keiran Lavelle wroteon July 5, 2009 at 12:56am

Anyway As Long As He Is Dead

Report

Post #7

Leah Douce wroteon July 5, 2009 at 1:12am

get 10000000000 guns and 10000000000 people and shoot the twat!x

Report

Post #8

Liam Speck wroteon July 8, 2009 at 5:05am

next time he dives ill make sure theere is a huge spike where his head will land

Report

Post #9

Bradley Fowler (Alder Grange High School) wroteon July 8, 2009 at 7:11am

crash his ferrari in a tunnel lol

Report

Post #10

Hamdi Kumbaraci (Ockendon School) wroteon July 8, 2009 at 9:08pm

Castrate him then (at gunpoint) make him 'dive' off an cliff head first. :)

Report

Post #11

James Button (Kent Uni.) wrote19 hours ago

Refer to SAW movies I-V.

Anything from any of those looks tame compared with what I'd do to him.

Report

Post #12

Bethan Thornton (Bristol) wrote15 hours ago

def torture him slowly.....start by making him watch all the great f'k ups he made that we all love but he prob stills cries to him mom about!!

then dress him up like the lil girl he is and stick him in a prison cell for a week with the biggest bloke there is to make him drop the soap!!!

as for the rest, i cant print it on here, id get locked up for sure and prob put in an asylum coz it is so sick id make make quentin tarontino look tame!

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Post #13

Sam Nicholles wrote16 hours ago

Punch the fucker in the face for a bit , then tie him up and torcher the twat

Report

Post #14

Margaret Mcnally wrote3 hours ago

hide all his mirrors

Report

N.K. refugee center open to public after 10 years

2009-07-09T22:53:00.000+09:00

North Korean refugees under protection at a South Korean resettlement center told their stories as Seoul opened the facility to the public for the first time yesterday in commemoration of its 10th founding anniversary.

Hanawon, meaning the "House of Unity" and located in Anseong, just an hour's drive south of Seoul, is the first stop for North Koreans who enter the South.

The facility, surrounded by hills and monitored by security guards, is a restricted area under South Korean law where photographing and disclosure of the trainees' personal information are limited.

The facility provides a compulsory 12-week education program to help defectors better adjust to life in the capitalist South.

More than 16,000 North Koreans have fled to the more affluent South since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War to escape hunger and oppression. The number of new defectors has been on the rise annually, from 1,138 in 2002 to 2,809 last year. Over half of all defectors are women.

The government expects some 3,000 more arrivals this year.

"A truly advanced society is where minorities are protected and humanitarianism and human rights are cherished," Unification Minister Hyun In-taek said in a video message sent to the anniversary ceremony yesterday.

"The issue of North Korean refugees is not simply a matter of providing support for their resettlement here but is becoming a touchstone for national advancement and unification."

About 400 members of the government, National Assembly, former unification ministers and vice ministers, local government leaders, volunteer groups and those who have completed the training course at Hanawon attended the ceremony yesterday.

The North Korean refugees currently staying in Hanawon entered the South in the first half of this year.

"I was sought after by (North Korean) authorities for criticizing socialism when I got drunk near the Daedong River in April last year," a 62-year-old former laborer surnamed Kim from Pyongyang and current trainee of Hanawon told reporters yesterday.

"People told me if I get arrested now, I would die in prison, so I fled."

Female defectors in Hanawon are mostly from the northern-most provinces of Hamgyeong where the shortage of food is suspected to be the most severe.

"I have a five-year-old child in the North and I cried endlessly for a year after fleeing in late 2005," said a 37-year-old former laborer surnamed Lim from North Hamgyeong Province.

"But then I thought crying wouldn't help me get my child back and decided to focus on moving on with my life and arrived in the South in February this year."

Lim said she lost favor with the North Korean authorities after getting caught watching a 1998 South Korean romance film named "The Promise."

After the defectors complete the 12-week cultural orientation and career development programs in Hanawon, they are given state stipends of 19 million won per person in monthly installments to live on their own - 13 million won of which is for housing.

Still, defectors generally say employment is their biggest challenge in the competition-driven South. Coming from different academic systems centered on the cult worship of leader Kim Jong-il and socialist ideology, most defectors settle for blue-collar jobs that don't require advanced education - working in the manufacturing sector (30 percent), lodging facilities or restaurants (19 percent), construction (12 percent) and retail (12 percent), according to government data released in March.

Manual laborers (paid by the day) accounted for 43 percent of employed North Korean defectors, compared to the 9 percent recorded for South Koreans.

The newcomers from the North earned an average of 937,000 won ($741) per person a month, about one-third of what South Korean workers earn.

Although a majority of the defectors struggle adjusting to life here, there are many who lead successful and happy lives in their land of dreams.

Thirty-five-year-old pianist Kim Cheol-woong, who graduated from a major music school in Pyongyang and arrived in the South just six years ago, is now a professor of an arts college here.

Kim Chul-yong, 35-year-old North Korean college graduate who left Hanawon in 2001, worked as the assistant director of the 2008 movie "Crossing" on North Korean defectors.

Well-educated women from North Korea find it easier to adjust to life in the South.

Yoo Hye-ran, 45-year-old former doctor in the North now works as a vicar at a church in Gangnam. Yoo left Hanawon nine years ago and undertook graduate courses in theology here.

Some 14,000 people who fled the North - 9,900 of them women - have completed the cultural orientation courses at Hanawon, which opened in 1999.

The main Hanawon facility in Anseong now has the capacity to house 750 refugees. A second Hanawon for male adults only officially opened last Friday to house another 250 people.

Hanawon is now looking to extend its three-month orientation to offer life-time support for the newcomers, who face a string of daunting challenges including unemployment, stereotyping and cultural barriers, said Youn Mi-ryang, the center's new director-general.

"Hanawon is now 10 years old and I believe it's time for the center to draw a bigger picture," Youn told reporters last week ahead of the 10th anniversary.

Youn said language is an unexpected major barrier for North Korean defectors, who often have distinct accents and aren't familiar with the slew of English words that have fallen into regular use here.

The demographics of North Korean defectors has drastically expanded - from borderline soldiers in the Cold War era to diplomats, party officials, fishermen, farmers and other working-class people who began to stream in during the mid-1990s.

They were mostly male at first, but 80 percent of new defectors now are female.

As their numbers increased, South Korean state incentives for defectors decreased. New defectors used to receive a hero's welcome in the 1960s and 1970s, and were often awarded luxury housing and hefty stipends.

Financial support has since been cut, but the number of defectors is now well over 16,000.

Despite all of the challenges, Youn said she is seeing small improvements, and believes Hanawon is a kind of litmus test for how South Korea could reunite with the North.

"I sense that there is a stronger will among the newcomers to stand alone. There is a better attitude to get a job rather than live off welfare," she said. "I hope our society will become more tolerant to embrace people who come from different cultures."

(sophie@heraldm.com)

By Kim So-hyun

4th of july

2009-07-09T17:00:00.001+09:00

i commit ceasless sex crimes

2009-07-01T11:44:00.002+09:00

the chosun ilbo has printed the following article:

With ceaseless sex crimes committed by native speaker instructors working in foreign language hagwons, two more were recently arrested for sexual molestation.

The “Anti-English Spectrum Cafe” (불법 외국어 강사 퇴출을 위한 국민운동) announced on the 30th that an American and a Canadian currently teaching children at a famous language hagwon in Seoul engaged in lewd acts towards female elementary students at the hagwon.

According to the internet organization, the native speaker instructors in question repeatedly committed lewd acts towards the students, of course, and also touched their genitals to the buttocks of female Korean co-workers, also instructors, both in the teacher’s room and while at company dinners.

The native speaker instructors denied the accusations of parents and the female instructor by saying, “this is a simple misunderstanding of skinship due to cultural differences,” and the hagwon, concerned about damage to its image, staying uninvolved and not reporting the matter to police.

The instructors moved to another hagwon when the accusations grew fiercer, but currently are being paid and treated even better than at the previous hagwon, Anti-English Spectrum Cafe announced. The Korean female instructors who were the victims of their molestation had to leave the hagwon due to continuing nasty rumors.

Similarly, the native speaker instructors have not ceased to engage in sex crimes such as molestation and rape, and with no way at present for them to stopped or punished their crimes will continue to increase.

The biggest problem is that the victimized women prefer to keep the crime a secret, not reported to police, because of the prevalent view that “that’s what happens when you hang around with foreigners.” Thus once the affair dies down, their victimizers are able to move on to another hagwon and commit the same crimes free of a criminal record.

39-year old Lee Eun-eung, operator of the Anti-English Spectrum Cafe, said, “foreign instructors of low character frequently toss women away without compunction after attaining their goal of meeting them for money and sexual relations, so many of the women have their lives ruined by abortion or, of course, sexually transmitted diseases.”

Mr. Lee has created on the website a discussion forum for women to share stories of being victimized by foreign instructors, and such tales have been pouring in without end. The victimized women all tell dark stories of suffering sex crimes at the hands of foreign instructors.

Recently, 33-year old Tanzanian Mr. S, who taught students at a hagwon in Seoul, caused a great shock in Daejeon by entering in to a sexual relationship in 2007 with an underage female student (just 18 years old at the time) at an English hagwon. The crime was revealed when the student went on the internet after they had had sex to discover if she was pregnant or not.

Mr. S introduced himself to the female student as “a child of Tanzania,” asking her to keep secrets and telling her many lies and tricks. In the end the illicit relationship became known to the the hagwon and to the girl’s parents, Mr. S left for Seoul, and the family came near to ruin.

In December of last year a native speaker instructor attending a foreign language program run by a local government in Seoul was caught placing his hand into the underwear of a girl in the first grade of elementary school and was sued by the family of the victimized girl. The case is currently underway.

of course these things can possibly happen, but note the hagwons aren't at fault at all? mr lee seems to me a zealot of the rush limbaugh variety, but with more scare power. not even right-wing radio could have 'the anti-immigrant spectrum cafe'

i'm not crying oppression, but it is interesting that korea is trying to see itself more and more as a multi-cultural society, yet can't help but cast anything multi-cultural as intellectually, morally, or financially bankrupt

thankfully, my interactions with this type of idiocy is relatively minimal (tho the swine flu, known locally as 'pig sick', outbreak had some silliness come my way from a co-teacher)

2009-07-01T11:31:00.002+09:00

i have numerous emails from june 18-22 that i will most likely never read, but i hesitate to delete them yet

2009-06-29T15:41:00.000+09:00

ronaldo, zidane, beckham, thurston

2009-06-14T09:00:00.004+09:00

i never thought i would use this expression, but my legs are shredded. in the past 8 days i have payed more futball/football/soccer than i have in my previous 32 (or is it 31?) years combined. my friend played semi-pro in germany and, since we both agreed to quit smoking (2+months for me, 12 days for him), we decided i should learn the international language of males.

my first match was last saturday, at world cup stadium. i was already quite worried, having never even practiced, but the addition of 20 korean men and, again, world cup stadium, was enough to make me seize. i was a substitute, which was a good idea, and i also played goalkeeper where i performed admirably. but, i decided that my friend was going to have to give me lessons.

day one was very much day one, learning more than anything else, how to feel the ball with your feet. i should mention, all i originally asked to know how to do was to bend the ball. i can throw a curve-ball, and simply wanted to have the same ability with my feet. the first time we were (i thought) going to do this, instead he took me to world cup stadium.

i am thinking about hiring a film crew as i have received 3 hours of futball instruction, and i imagine it has to be rather amusing to watch
'what is, kevin?'
'right?'
'no, what is?'
'오른쩍, right'
'no (slaps leg)'
'leg'
'reg, okay'

yesterday i ended up playing in two matches, and then some extended playing time. i can barely walk. the first match happened by fluke. the night before i was out late, and knowing i was going to play last night, decided to go warm up, get the first round of sweat out of me. while i was there, practicing my dribble, etc, a group of korean men asked me to play with me. well, motioned for me to join. it was fun, but i was terrified. there was virtually no english, and these men had clearly been playing all their lives (see international language of males) and i was playing in my 2nd match. it was okay, i just stayed back on defense mostly. i need to get proper football shoes as this was a grit pitch (as most of them are at schools) and i nearly gave myself a hernia training to stop quickly in my sneakers. i did feel a bit bad, as it was clear i was uncomfortable and not fully able to assist my teammates. nice guys, tho. turns out one of them is "korean playboy" and we are all scheduled to drink soju as a group. also, one of them can be my friend, as we are the same age.

the second match was back at world cup stadium. the guys were happy to see me again, it was alot of fun. we got there a bit late, then had our quick warm ups. i started the game on defense (there were to be no substitutions this night) playing pretty well--getting in the way, disrupting passes, blocking a shot or two, clearing the ball out of our end. things really picked up when i got my first assist. prior to that point, all of my clearing efforts were lacking any sort of touch, just booting the ball out of our end, not concerned about where it ended up. this is okay in a pinch, but doesn't allow for break-aways, etc. this time, a simple chip over the other team and i hit my coach on the fly who finished it off. i had three shots on goal yesterday. one was a solid strike that even bent a bit, but the keeper had a perfect look at it the entire time so was able to stop it. the second missed the mark, but the third went right inside the goal-post for my first goal. funny part was this one happened very quickly (the first two i was shooting to challenge the keeper, this one was a rebound that was then passed to me to one time) that i didnt really see it. good times.

a nice surprise

2009-06-05T19:38:00.003+09:00

i got two mentions, for two different projects, in third factory's annual survey of poets and poet-types (mostly, if not all, americans) and what they've liked (?) over the past year

here and here

i'd like to thank steve zultanski, gina myers, lauren bender, nick schwartzmyer, and rob read

2009-05-31T15:04:00.004+09:00

lately my students, and some of my friends, have compared me to this cartoon:

2009-05-31T15:04:00.001+09:00

We must act now. If we don't stop North Korea from delivering a nuclear device into South Korea, the world of professional StarCraft as we know it may forever be altered.

advancedELVIScourse by CA Conrad, out now

2009-05-28T07:12:00.001+09:00

As St. Patrick DROVE the snakes out of Ireland to destroy THE WILL of desire, SO ELVIS brings those snakes back HOME TO US!
--CA Conrad

2009-05-24T16:55:00.002+09:00

officially lying

2009-05-24T16:42:00.002+09:00

in korea parents spend millions of dollars each year on private academies (학완) which are similar to japanese cram schools this is a hot issue as not every family can afford to send their child(ren) to private lessons also, if you attend academy your day begins at 730 or so, you go to school until 330 then from 5~1130 or so, you are at academy then go home and do your homework

with parents this interested in their children's education, there are also questions about how effective people who have my job are i work at a public school so am paid by the state am i good use of taxes last week kbs (korean broadcasting system) was in my classroom my school was nuts knowing that they were coming in classic korean style i was not told they were coming, and it happened to be a day i didnt shave i didnt look disgusting (it wasnt the one day a week i decided to wear jeans) but a warning wouldve been nice especially as i was told at the beginning of class to find something exciting to do

they film me and the class for a few minutes, then comes the interview the girl has been practicing what she is supposed to say, 'her opinion', since i walked into class she looks into the camera and says (in english):

kevin and miss cheon's class is fun and useful we learn everything from easy conversation to difficult grammars so we don't need to attend expensive academies

she says this a few times, eventually the camera people leave i give her a few candies and ask, 'you go to hagwon? (academy)'
"yes"

63 years later/9 years later

2009-05-24T16:20:00.002+09:00

notice only one person smiling

this is all over a week ago, so i won't remember details with accuracy, but would feel bad if i didnt mention the documentary 63 years later the japanese government found out that the vast majority of a regimen they had sent to eastern russia had caught an std this would obviously pose a problem for a government that had larger military ambitions so they began to try and find a solution there eventual solution was "comfort women" the japanese took this on as an official policy, using it to monitor the women the soldiers slept with and as a reward for soldiers who showed valor

where the comfort women were varied from in-town brothels to on-base sights the estimates seem to be between 200,000-500,000 women the majority of the women sent all over the japanese military empire were korean women this made sense as korea was colonized very early by the japanese war machine the other countries that contributed significant amounts of women were the phillipines and taiwan, tho any country that was conquered by japan added to the totals

women were held in horrible conditions, often not being fed, and were raped nightly one women (of the 5 interviewed) tells of how she was beaten because she became pregnant when the japanese soldiers were refusing to use the government issued condoms

the movie itself is well done and is aiming for a western audience to add pressure on the japanese government as they have never really fully apologized to the victims and the international community there is a 'michael moore moment' when the president of japan issues a kinda apology to george bush (the 2nd) who then accepts it

the whole thing is unsettling and makes you cry i dont have too much to add if you want to read more about the apology and how japan views things, read this

to learn more about what is being done in korea, read this

an article dealing with Lila Pilipina, the group set-up in the phillipines (no website) read this

i was gonna write about bamboozled (2000) which i recently watched again maybe i will another day let me say this, the movie is still good and relevant

2009-05-17T22:02:00.001+09:00

someday i hope to say to someone "you don't exist for me". sadly, i am not the dra...er...ger...er...dramatic.

art n life

2009-05-17T21:48:00.002+09:00

this friday went to see glen hansard and the frames, the mostly played songs from the movie 'once', however they had an excellent cover of astral weeks. when they encored i said to the person with me and said, 'i hope they play something loud from *fitzcarraldo*'. they then played *fitzcarraldo*. how easy was that? i think it was in part because they are known as being a better live band than on record (and this album version isn't as good as they one they played live).

actually, let me say this about a change i am having in aesthetic pleasure. i no longer need to like something aesthetically to enjoy it. what i ask in the performance is that it couldn't be done any other way. that is, some type of necessity or compulsion needs to be present in the presentation. if, however, i find that necessity or compulsion *and* i enjoy it aesthetically, then i am thrilled.

anyway, here is the song:

and here is a clip from the movie:

soon, more to be blogged about movies--bamboozled and 63 years later. couldn't find much on-line in my quick search for 63 years later, but there was this, so as to give you an idea:

Another documentary - 63 Years Later, directed by Kim Dong-won (Repatriation) also moved viewers with its interviews of former comfort women including a Dutch woman from Indonesia and Filipinas.

With the Japanese government refusing to acknowledge responsibility for the comfort women, the film has a near Michael Moore-esque moment when US president George W. Bush claims satisfaction from a Japanese prime minister giving a non-apology. Made for TV, the film is narrated in English and aims for overseas distribution.

game set match

2009-05-15T08:34:00.001+09:00

brian kim stefans:
Actually, I have made this point in my writing about Language Poetry -- that, for the most part, they strategically ignored a whole slew of continental precedents for their work, including near contemporaries like the Situationists, or Ian Hamilton Finlay, etc., which is just what I think happens in literature -- minor renaissances when old, forgotten ideas become fresh again (usually because the "traditionalists" want to clamp down on anything they see as deviant, but in this case because an avant-garde wanted to state a unique case). [emphasis added]

Actually, Lautreamont is seeming more like Kenny the more I learn

kenneth goldsmith:
I would say Lautreamont "sampled" rather than plagiarized wholesale, a mistake as well often attributed to Acker.

sports medea

2009-05-15T08:03:00.001+09:00

If you haven't heard the news, Terrell Owens will be shooting scenes for his upcoming VH1 reality show in Buffalo this weekend. However, #81 has used his Twitter account to hint he might even join his new team in Orchard Park for organized team workouts. Paul Hamilton will be on the scene at One Bills Drive to cover the OTAs starting Monday.

A School Girl Sues Her School

2009-05-13T17:06:00.000+09:00

A straight-A student got a C in cooking class and didn't like it. She didn't like it so much that her dad filed a complaint in federal court about it. He alleges that the teacher, who is white, discriminated against his daughter, who is black. He seeks to have her grade changed from a C to an A and asks for unspecified financial damages.

Virginia Brown is in the ninth grade at Ashley High School. Since her first year in school, she has had perfect attendance and all her grades have been A's. Virginia's father said her heart was broken when she got the C.

"She cried the whole weekend," he said. "She wouldn't come out of her room. Her eyes were red and puffy. My little girl hasn’t been this upset since her cat got run over by a car when she was 6 years old."

Virginia is a model student. She's the class president. She's on the swim team, the volleyball team, and the track team. She belongs to the chess club. She is a member of the Girl Scouts and sings in her church choir.

The home economics teacher is 28-year-old Jessica Smith. This is her first year teaching. Ms. Smith said that discrimination was absolutely not the issue. “Some of my best friends are African-Americans," she said. “This isn’t a black and white problem. Everybody in America wants to sue everybody else. I’m going to sue them for defamation of character and whatever else my lawyer comes up with.”

The school principal, who grew up in India, said that he supported Ms. Smith 100 percent. He said that Virginia is an excellent student who would have no problem getting into the best universities even with a C in cooking. “She won’t have any difficulty finding a great university, but she might have problems finding a husband,” he laughed. “She’d better look for a man who likes to eat out a lot.”

i lost my ipod (long weekend)

2009-05-05T09:35:00.003+09:00

got back into physical fitness this weekend, time to keep it up, even without an mp3 player
friday night went dancing at a place called m2 havent been to a giant club in a long time was fun and frustrating in that i forgot sometimes, even in a huge crowded club, people who do not want to dance will push their way through the dance floor to just stand there also, we were out for maybe 6 hours all told, and i drank a whole 5 drinks, so i got home at 3am or so, but was up at 10am with a clear head v refreshing
saturday i play basketball in the rain, then ate the spiciest fish dish in my life (아구찜):

i mean, i am a sweater, but this was beyond what my body normally does it was also delicious then played some billiards and pocket pool (getting a bit better at billiards) followed by sake then a street fight which i didnt partake in but was there for watching a stranger deliver a flying jump kick out of the blue kinda shakes you up a bit
sunday was a wash, did nothing in particular besides take a gigantic walk and watch yojimbo
yesterday, bought groceries, cleaned, dry-fried some tofu (to be eaten tonight most likely), went for a run and a light workout--most parks in korea have exercise equipment in them, its a great idea--found out tomatoes in korea are tasty, and then watched some improv

IMPROV
oh improv,
god knows people know no embarrassment
you are geeky
and the best line
was the real line
'ladies and gentlemen,
one of our members had a seizure
so we will be starting in about 10 minutes'

today, more basketball, and coming up with a goddamn lesson for the first graders

bea arthur takes on kenneth goldsmith

2009-04-28T18:27:00.000+09:00

Roast of Pamela Anderson

Bea Arthur Uncensored

also

2009-04-27T19:19:00.001+09:00

should you want to see how tight the drug-laws are here, and people's reaction to a few celebs getting busted for taking some e once or twice in a night-club, may i suggest the following article and comment stream

2009-04-27T18:59:00.003+09:00

stuck but content
when i clean i simple moves piles throughout my apartment and clean what was underneath the piles
have thought about art, and hope to firmly commit to someday thinking 'thinking about art is art'
weird little jobs and their potentials are springing up, all of which thus far require a computer
went and bought some clothes recently, also lost a friday night to sake
looking forward to a few days off from school, have a bit of the burnout
prolly gonna travel in the ol korea and see some new places, be good to get out of seoul for a few days
i may, but more likely will not, post 30-32 pictures of my 30th year, i can give you locations and people likely to show up
(buffalo, washington dc, baltimore, new york city, chicago, milwaukee, toronto, seoul)
(buck, kristin, rod, family, divya, steve, nick, michele, aaron, geoffrey, gina, sarah, andrea, mel, gregory)
actually, i will stop this list now as it occurs to me i may have to do some drafting to figure out how i would reduce my year to 30-32 pictures, also it kinda amazes me that some people that i was hanging out with alot last april/may have kind of vanished, even by the time i moved to seoul. it doesnt make me sad, but it does leave me a bit confused.

2009-04-14T18:27:00.001+09:00

i just got an email attachment from a korean friend that is 567.8mb

2009-04-12T18:11:00.004+09:00

this was one of the better things i have ever stumbled across a man next to me looked to see what i was recording, and he nodded his head at me at approximately 1:40 one of the men gets salty with the ass shake

study habits

2009-04-02T23:04:00.000+09:00

my 3rd grade (8th grade) lesson this week was pretty boring, "good study habits". after a tedious list i then asked students to write a letter to the 1st grade students about good and bad study habits. most of the students did this task, but these are some stand outs:

Dear 1st grade student,
Hi, I'm sixteen and a middle school student.
I like rice and candy If you give me candy,
I will love you
I don't know you you too? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Dear First Grade Student.
Hello. I'm third Grade Student.
New leaves come out, Animals wake up and begin to
move around.

2009-03-28T14:32:00.003+09:00

i am now a korean toddler. my big verbs (as opposed to 'to sleep', 'to eat', etc) are a few different versions 'there is/is there', 'to want', 'to be', etc. this week i cemented my toddler status as i learned how to ask 'what is this?' and 'what is that?'. luckily, like a toddler, i am cute, so when i ask people these questions over and over (and even worse, when i tell people things they already know like 'that is a spoon') they smile and tell me. but i am also a 30 year old man, with a literary/tragi-comic bend so i try to make jokes. last night i made a joke that seems to be successful. i think other professions would have more wonder as to the source of the laughter. did they laugh because it was entertaining to see a foreigner fumble through a joke in korean? did they laugh to be polite? did they laugh because they didn't even understand what i said? so many questions. thankfully, these are things that with koreans i do not think about. this may explain some of my happiness here.

2009-03-28T13:31:00.000+09:00

young recently showed up to my house with a bike
'oh, when do you get a bike?'
'ahh, kabinkabin, after...my job. walk home. fucking cold. and, my job, drinking, drinking, drinking. so, fuck. and then, walk by school, no money taxi, and then, thank you jesus heungnim (older brother--a joke i have introduced into korean) whoooaaa, no young makes cylindrical motion with hands you know?'
'tire?'
'no no no'
young repeats cylindrical motion with hands
'lock!?!'
kevin begins to laugh
'yes, rock. no rock, so'
young makes peddling motion

2009-03-24T18:08:00.004+09:00

a charming, but powerless man stands in front of his classroom

'everyone say 'nig-ga''
NIG-GA
'okay, now this is a form of the word 'nigger'. do any of you know the word 'nigger'? it is the worst thing you can call a black person.'
OH, OKAY

''homie'.'
HO-MEE
'good. now this is slang for friend.'

'now this is 'blazed'. everyone say 'blazed'.'
BLA-ZEDUH
'no, BLAZE-D'
BLAZE-D
'good. this is the past tense of 'to blaze'. it is a verb. do any of you know what marijuana is?'
befuddled looks
'can i see your english to korean dictionary?'
types in 'marijuana', shows it to a student
'tell them that word.'

book recommendations

2009-03-23T23:05:00.002+09:00

a student has asked for some book recommendations. she says frankenstein and potrait of dorian gray to be easy reads, but currently finds sherlock holmes difficult (which i get given the puns and clever talk). she specifically then says this:

I really like fantasy novels like twilight or pendragon but I want to read other kinds of books as well.
It can be non-fiction or fiction.. I don't really care.
But please don't recommend something too easy (something 4th or 5th grader would like)
or too hard (something too philisophical or anything involved with advanced politics and economics)

any thoughts would be good. i keep thinking the stranger, but that seems somehow ridiculous (tho an easy enough read).

2009-03-20T07:32:00.001+09:00

japan has a new 'female' robot that will be appearing in a fashion show soon--nude. how close are we to bukkake with robots as the sponge?

round-up

2009-03-16T18:55:00.001+09:00

banned from japanese girls, korean ROTC, last train home, cold night, racist cabbies, who *are* you/what have you done with kevin?, so...you have an english accent, GOMORRA, liking 'webispodes/webisodic' but finding the name moronic, drunk dialed at 3 from ireland, what completely single person has sex sober before 10am, 강남>남부>강남>express>강남, pepperoni pretzels and kathy acker, everyone has shaved, UNI GLO, trinkets trinkets trinkets, jewslateforsubways.org, improv practice being better or worse than actual improv, spice smoke smoke walk, dr fish, these fish are bigger, shopping in korea: cell phone, socks, back scratchers, crab in bucket, bad chinese, learing the yong hand massage (마사지), garth marenghi's darkplace

in honor of j sirois. check out his blog, which includes his delicious new book cover design

back to our regularly scheduled programming

2009-03-06T17:10:00.002+09:00

school resumed this week, and, as always, i was the last informed of many significant things. to help combat this problem, i have started asking questions as otherwise i will never have *any* advanced warning of anything.

my classes seem pretty good this year, with only one or two dead classes where the students just look at me. i thought dead air was only a concern for radio.

my schedule is a bit nasty, i only have two classes on tuesdays which means i have 5 on wednesday and thursday. by thursday, students were comfortable with saying hello again, and it turns out that one of my first year students (i just met them this week) is already in love with me. sadly, 'all' of the people in love with me are western age 12-15, so it isn't very helpful.

today as i walked home, tired from my first week back to work, a high school boy called me over and asked me to buy him some cigarettes. while i have been in this boy's position before, what made the whole thing unique and exciting was that he asked all of this in korean AND I UNDERSTOOD. excitement got the best of me, i asked him 'how many packs?' and when he said four, i told him i would buy him two. then i asked what kind, 'mar-a-bo-ro-red-uh'. these kids are tough.

poem for my ex-wife

2009-02-28T10:04:00.000+09:00

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4' 33" -- the video game

2009-02-25T09:38:00.001+09:00

Petri Purho of Crayon Physics fame went for the ‘That’s pretty unique’ with a large dollop of ‘What the hell!!’ for his effort, called ‘4 Minutes and 33 Seconds of Uniqueness’. The object of the ‘game’ is to keep the program up for 4 minutes and 33 seconds, allowing the white to engulf all the black. The catch is, if anyone else in the world loads up the game, your game will end. I know… what the hell, right?

Petri explains:

“It’s an exploration to what actually defines a game. You can win or fail in the game, but there is no user input or interactivity of any kind. I was tempted to leave the graphics out completely, but I figured that the white progress bar is abstract enough.”

http://globalgamejam.org/games/4-minutes-and-33-seconds-uniqueness

2009-02-24T10:23:00.002+09:00

american folklore film site

2009-02-21T11:59:00.000+09:00

http://www.folkstreams.net/

why i love milwaukee

2009-02-20T11:44:00.001+09:00

2009-02-18T13:34:00.001+09:00

The figure of 1.2 suicides per day in Busan is probably roughly comparable to the 6.8 per day in Seoul in 2007 once you take population size into account.

some of the more

2009-02-18T12:02:00.002+09:00

2009-02-16T16:31:00.000+09:00

The historic slave port is to be transformed through the bizarre combination of a slave history theme park and a museum dedicated to double Grammy-winning pop-soul group the Jackson Five.

some of the paik nam june museum

2009-02-16T08:28:00.001+09:00

there will be more

graduation day

2009-02-15T16:32:00.002+09:00

why i love saint francis

2009-02-14T12:02:00.002+09:00

my dad is in the hospital, i found out his bed had been moved to the first floor quite some time ago because he can't walk well anymore. he went to the hospital because he can't walk at all. i can't call him or talk to him to find out how he is because he has hearing loss to the point where the phone is useless to him.

i thought i would celebrate both my divorce papers and valentine's day while looking forward to a visit.

a plane crashed and my friend's 6 month pregnant sister is dead.

i am approaching the ability to know the difference, as the man wrote.

shhhh

2009-02-07T18:06:00.000+09:00

otros aires

if you like it, i loaded it up here for you

2009-02-06T17:17:00.001+09:00

helluva month

2009-02-05T19:46:00.002+09:00

broke up with an excellent woman, then today signed and shipped my divorce papers back to the united states.

even more old work

2009-02-03T22:46:00.001+09:00

ANTHOLOGY SPIDERTANGLE

Visual poetry from members of the Spidertangle email group

http://xexoxial.org/is/anthology_spidertangle

2009, 8" x 10", 120 pgs, b+w $10.00 + postage.
ISBN 1-438258-18-6 ISBN-13 978-1-438258-18-8

1st edition printed in a numbered edition of 200.

Work by Brian Zimmer, KS Ernst, Grace Vadja, Derek White, Reed
Altemus, PR Primeau, David Chikhladze, Matthew Stolte, John M Bennett,
Irving Weiss, Geof Huth, Crag Hill, Carlos Luis, Dan Waber, Nico
Vassilakis, Michael Peters, Ric Royer, Bob Grumman, Amira Hanafi,
Donna Kuhn, David Baptiste Chirot, Joel Lipman, Lanny Quarles, Kevin
Thurston, Ross Priddle, Petra Backonja, Reid Wood & Michelle
Greenblatt, Karl Young, Karl Kempton,Marilyn R. Rosenberg, Michael
Basinski, Sheila Murphy, William James Austin, Jukka-Pekka Kervenin,
Peter Ciccariello, C Mehrl Bennett, Maria Damon, endwar, Martha Deed,
Laura Goldstein, Igor Satanovsky & Lenny Drozner, Camille Martin,
Marton Koppany, mIEKAL aND, Richard Kostelanetz, Derek Beaulieu, Cecil
Touchon, Marco Giovenale, Liaizon Wakest, Jefferson Hansen, CamillE
Bacos

Edited by mIEKAL aND. Front cover & design by Liaizon Wakest.
Endpapers by David Baptiste Chirot.

ugh

2009-01-30T17:15:00.001+09:00

iTunes won't sell the single version of the ronettes 'be my baby'. so i bought another one, but it turns out it is live and lacks the wall of sound. fuck you dirty dancing soundtrack, you imperialist bastard!

oh this is weird

2009-01-28T18:14:00.000+09:00

selling out or selling it

2009-01-26T17:07:00.001+09:00

Who Needs Small Press?
Ric Royer and Kevin Thurston are getting rid of their small press collection!

couple of things

2009-01-23T13:26:00.003+09:00

this will end up being a very long blog post.

i have downloaded marvin gaye's 'what's going on?' and my life is improving. today on my walk to school today this song made me shed a tear (it is all -10 centigrade):

i thought of my friend gg returning from iraq, getting denied his application (?) for PTSS, "you joined the marines, you must have been crazy to begin with". but for all the sadness in the song, and the fact it is an accurate depiction of the USA currently, gaye's voice really gives you the feeling that we'll (yes, collectively) get through. here are all the lyrics:
(Marvin Gaye/James Nyx)

Hey baby, what'cha know good
I'm just gettin' back, but you knew I would
War is hell, when will it end,
When will people start gettin' together again
Are things really gettin' better, like the newspaper said
What else is new my friend, besides what I read
Can't find no work, can't find no job my friend
Money is tighter than it's ever been
Say man, I just don't understand
What's going on across this land
Ah what's happening brother,
Oh ya, what's happening my man

Are they still gettin' down where we used to go and dance
Will our ball club win the pennant,
do you think they have a chance
And tell me friend, how in the world have you been.

Tell me what's out and I want to know what's in.
What's the deal man, what's happening
What's happening brother
Ah what's happening brother
What's happening my man
Ah what's happening brother
What's been shaken up and down the line
I want to know cause I'm slightly behind the time.

part II

today was the last day of winter camp. it was filled with some high points and low spots, as teaching tends to be, but the last week worked quite well. they were able to talk about movies (the two we watched) with a minimum of my getting involved. they aren't at the level where they can talk about a movie with each other, but they know (or should!) genre, setting, character, actor, plot, special effects. the character/actor confusion took a bit of sorting out. and there was a funny moment when talking about setting. we covered the definition, and they seemed to get it. i asked, 'where are some settings for a movie?'
--school
'sure, many movies take place at school'
--home
'yes, a lot of movies involve a house'
--movie theatre
'movie theatre? ahhhhh! no no no. setting isn't where you watch the movie, it is where the movie takes place. like...harry potter, hogwart. star wars, outer space.'
--ahhhhhhh!
we watched The Nightmare Before Christmas and reviewed the songs as they came up.

today we worked on pronouncing 'b' 'p' 'v', koreans have a nasty time with 'v' especially. when they say it it often sounds like 'bwee'. so we were saying each letter, then i wanted words that had multiple occurrences of each. the first two where easy:
bubble
puppet
but two 'v's? i suddenly found myself writing the word 'vulva' on the board, confident that at least they wouldn't know what it was. i lucked out. it got better, too. half way through the drill i came up with 'volvo' and 'valve' so was able to erase 'vulva' before they entered it into their translators.

then we made sandwiches and watched How The Grinch Stole Christmas. i asked them to think about comparing the two movies while watching--what is the similar/what is different. we were able to quickly say 5 of each about the two movies. that made me happy.

then, when class was ending, two of the girls came up and gave me a present. there is a box of snacks, which may or may not be good, given korea's sweets are sub-par to what we are accustomed to. they also gave me a chalk holder, which is marvelous because my pants always get completely chalk covered. also, a piece of soap. it looks nice. there were also two letters which i will type verbatim.

from Soug I
Dear. Kevin
Hi :) How are you? I'm fine. Thank you for your teach. I like America. Because Americans very very kind. I want go to America. So I want to see Statue of Liberty myself.
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
-->FROM. CHOI Song I
P.S the soap was hand maded by my mother

TO: Kevin teacher <3
Hellow ~ <3
How are you today? I'm find. today is last day in English conversation therfore I write letter ~ <3
youer teaching is very good and fun
I'm very good and you are very kind...^_^ I like you ~~~
and I miss you ~~~
* I'm very thank you <3
and last I like you ^_^
From: Da Yoen

all of her mentions of like have white-out over them, so i have a feeling someone may love me~~~~~~~~

it was very sweet

hongdae nana

2009-01-23T07:55:00.002+09:00

HONGDAE NANA
STENCILS IN SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
francis van maele's photographs of stencils
taken in Hongdae in 2007 and 2008
some pictures are digitally modified

11 x 16 cm - 52 pages - ring binding
2009, 75 signed copies
35 euros - 45 US $ - 30 UK Pds

for more pictures see http://www.redfoxpress.com/SK-nana.html

to order this book reserve your copy by email
and we will send you the book with an invoice.. no postage charged

old work, new publication

2009-01-22T13:34:00.000+09:00

i am included with an absolutely large group of poets in the new interval(le)s 4/5 funded by the centre interdisciplinaire de poetique appliquee from the universite de liege in belgium. the issue, edited by jon cotner and andy fitch, features over 1000 pages and quite a few videos. you can download individual contributions here:
http://www.cipa.ulg.ac.be/intervalles4/contentsinter4.php

poets included include
ammiel alcalay
meena alexander
bruce andrews
david antin
eleanor antin
rae armantrout
jennifer ashton
joshua beckman
susan bee
steve benson
lauren berlant
charles bernstein
mark bibbins
dick blau
christian bok
lee ann brown
sarah campbell
mary ann caws
maxine chernoff
rachel blau duplessis
craig dworkin
kevin dwyer
elaine equi
clayton eshleman
zach finch
robert fitterman
kenneth goldsmith
loren goodman
george green
bruce hainley
carla harryman
zarina hasmi
michael s hennessey
sheila heti
james hoff
ben hollander
paul hoover
eliza jackson
pouran jinchi
mary reid kelley
myung mi kim
noelle kocot
wayne koestenbaum
richard kstelanetz
tim krause
dorothea lasky
legends
david lehman
alan licht
tao lin
donato mancini
russell martin
walter benn michaels
eileen myles
kirin narayan
nature theater of oklahoma
murat nemet-nejat
ron padgett
bob perelman
dushko petrovich
richard price
sally price
rebecca reilly
joan retallack
enrico riley
matthew rohrer
marina rosenfeld
bob rosenthal
rebekah rutkoff
richard schrechner
christopher schmidt
leonard schwartz
jeremy sheldon
jonathan skinner
danny snelson
wendy steiner
susan stewart
gail taylor
kevin thurston
lynne tillman
hannah tinti
trampoline hall
lewis warsh
mara l werner
roger white
tyrone williams
reva wolf

press play and read while the audio (video unimportant) goes

2009-01-20T18:04:00.003+09:00

this was on full blast in my local grocery store and a man was shouting over the top of it selling radishes and other such things. i was already a bit dazed, took nap, have been watching too much OZ, woke up, had a pepsi, trying to set my emotional barometer to a normalized level. suddenly i was transported back to buffalo, circa 1995, with nick, iwan, karen, and others into asberry alley (ashberry ?) and suffered another mental shift. the second in the last 45 minutes. very confusing, all of it. especially as i then struggled trying to figure out which rice to buy. the size wasn't the issue, i knew the size i wanted to buy. size was not the issue, as previously stated, the type of rice was the issue. and was it even rice. this is, after all, asia. they have many different grains.

i know what white rice looks like in hanguel, sadly, and of course, nothing says just white rice on it as companies put other information on their labels to sell their products and to build brand equity. i was in a circle of hell. and transported (as mentioned) by the song being played, and wondering if the man yelling over the perversely quick beat--especially for post-work grocery shopping--actually helped sell more of 'x'.

2009-01-15T14:22:00.002+09:00

the wheels fell off

i was in a groove, stepped out, and messed up all in a few weeks. more soon.

a bit of me & a whole lot of others

2008-12-25T20:59:00.001+09:00

Download the new issue of Source Material here

In this issue:
Calvin & Hobbes by Russell Pascatore
Light Remains by David Baptiste Chirot
Cyber Money by Shane Meyer
Patented Brides by Barrett Gordon
Basic Principles of Speech by Devan DeCicco
Jean Michel Basquiat by Andy Warhol by Damian Weber
A Word About The Ditch by Jonathan Skinner
The Optimist by Brian VanRemmen

Including work by Eric Gelsinger, Michael Basinski, Kevin Thurston, Linda Russo, Michael Slosek, & David Mauro

Call for submissions for Source Material 04

learning korean

2008-12-21T21:30:00.002+09:00

so i have thrown myself pretty hard into learning korean now. the school year is essentially over, and i will soon have massive amounts of time on my hands. it is interesting for me to learn a foreign language at this point in my life in that i get to compare it to when i (and most US students?) first learned foreign languages (middle school through college).

the biggest difference is my amount of patience. when i was studying foreign languages the first time around (3 years of latin, 1 year of german, 3 disjointed years of french) i would get extremely frustrated not being able to express myself as well as i could in english and then see no use for it--what is the point in learning how to say 'there is a window in the classroom'? let's see if i can still remember: il y a une fenetre in dans classe that definitely is close, but definitely not right.

what else is helping me in studying a foreign language currently?

clearly living in a country wherein i dont speak the dominate language is a reason to give it a go. i mean, and i may have written about this before, i have many korean friends with varying degrees of english (from fluent to rocky), but i also know that that means i am interacting with a very specific segment of this country. granted, english education is now mandatory, but still not everyone excels in a mandatory subject.

so i desire to speak with more koreans, and to make my life easier, is there more than that? yes. i also want to show my korean friends that i am making an effort to meet them, there are times where i can tell they wish they could just speak korean with me. i know i won't reach that level of fluency any time soon, but just being able to make plans via text message in korean, i have been told, means alot to them.

also, there are basically about 4 people i can talk to at school currently (2 1/2s equal a whole) and many of my co-workers seem like genuinely nice people that i would at least like to be able to say something more than 'hello' to.

that is the basic sketch of why, here are my thoughts on the actual learning/what i am learning:

1. the inversion of english syntax is wild.
subject adjectives/prepositions direct object verb.
I smart at home korean am studying.

2. pronouns are often implied, but not used. this is nice as you don't conjugate verbs for each pronoun, it is basically 1 or 2 changes to the infinitive, and off you go.

3. currently i am just in the present tense. the closest thing to the future i can talk about is anticipating something. for example: 여자친구의 방문을 기대하고 있어요. in order: girlfriend her journey looking forward to. (i wish i had a hangul keyboard at home, it would help in practicing.)

being in the present tense is kind of fun. it makes my think i am an animal ('if a lion spoke, we wouldn't understand it'--or vice versa). i am eating, i want to sleep, i don't like him, etc.

4. pronunciation. oh what a treat this is. i laugh as when i try to use my korean if i am a little off in speaking people aren't quite sure what it is i am saying, whereas in my life here nearly everyone is a little off in what they say, but i get to use context clues to figure it out. i mean, when people were talking to me about 'the american erection' a few months ago, i knew what they meant. here, i can just meet someone and ask them their name and if i am a little off they look at me like they have no idea what i could possibly be saying. my friend rob made a decent point on this, namely how often do you think someone has spoken to them with an incredibly thick foreign accent. but still, work with me a bit, please.

anyway, that's it.

okay, one more delay tactic then i may actually do something

2008-12-14T13:01:00.002+09:00

here is a list of all of the dvds i have bought in korea (legitimate stores). they have all been on sale for 3900 (a little less than $2):

charlie chaplin:
the gold rush
the great dictator

krzystof kieslowski (with english and korean subtitles):
blue
white
red

david llynch:
eraserhead

vincent gallo:
buffalo 66

2008-12-14T11:56:00.007+09:00

had a decent, busy week, even if it was occasionally melancholy. sunday was cold, so i wore a hat. early this week, i met antic-ham and francis out for dinner then we made some collages together at a cafe in insadong. if you read this blog with any regularity, you know i have been stagnant artistically since coming to korea, so it felt good to exercise those muscles a bit. when i got home, spoke with my mom for a while (skype is an incredible invention, and incredibly economical, if you assume internet access and a camera and electricity), then i believe i also spoke with kristin for a bit. yes, indeed i did, as tuesday i couldnt fall asleep until 2 or so, which made me a very sleepy boy the next few days at school.

wednesday i had agreed to make dinner for marta and chris. marta is who i usually spend weeknights with. we make dinner then play scrabble and drink tea. it is nice and simple. chris, marta's (boy)friend has arrived this week from toronto, so i thought it would be a nice gesture to make them dinner. i have now invented asian gravy. it is a delicious soy-based reduction with a kick from hot mustard, along with a few other secrets thrown in.

i had a half-day thursday, and since chris basically sits alone in marta's apartment while she is in school, i went with him to find a converter and a non-down pillow, both were successfully found. i also paid too much for more coffee.

thursday night was supposed to be 'wank on the yank' night with myself, and 3 brits (frazer, james, and robert), but it became the opposite as it was just james, rhett (an american from south carolina) and myself. we had dinner and went to rolling stone. while we were there young said (to rhett, then james, then me), 'rock star, movie star, cute guy.'

they left to catch the subway on time, i stayed and got pretty drunk, and then a few koreans spoke with me into the wee hours. normally i enjoy conversing with koreans, but this guy i dont particularly like, and his friends seem to similar. i didn't really know how to get out of speaking with them, but eventually i just left.

friday (actually, monday, tuesday, and thursday to) at school was spent with my small class of 8 3rd graders from 9 until 11:30. for the last two weeks we have spoken about travel, politics, etc, as they have very good english skills, but this week we have just been hanging out, showing each other pictures, and they have taken to teaching me a bit of korean. its been really great.

since friday, like thursday, was a half-day, i would have had to eat alone in the cafeteria (my co-teachers have plans on these days, like friday all the female teachers--which include all my co-teachers--went out for lunch), and i didn't want to do that. fortunately, i ran into one of my good students and asked what she was doing for lunch and she said, 'i guess i am just going to eat at home, alone.' i asked her to lunch, and that quickly got out of hand as she then called all the other advanced girls and now we were a gang of 8 heading to mcdonalds (which i havent eaten in a few years). on the way to mcdonald's other students asked what i was doing, and when i said, pointing, 'we're going to lunch' suddenly 4 more wanted to go, and i had to turn them away. as it stood, i already was going to spend 20000 on lunch for everyone.

mcdonald's was very fun, albeit i was tired from the night before. more of my students arrived and they were surprised to see me (they are always surprised to see my not in school, as if i materialize every morning, and then disappear at night), and they seemed slightly jealous. middle-aged women were smiling at us (which made me feel vaguely creepy), and some of the girls from the attached high school said, 'kevin! how are you!? why don't you leave them and come sit with us!' i just smiled and waved.

that is one aspect of my life in korea that i wasn't anticipating. i knew that i would be a novelty, and so some people would want to get to know me--which has completely happened--but it also seems to have gone slightly beyond that. sometimes. almost like a celebrity status? i can't quite describe it. one of my gang of 8 said, 'everyone likes kevin.'

after lunch i came home, spoke with kristin, read some more dostoyevsky (i have been devouring 'the idiot' this week as i manage to get further behind in the blurb i am chipping away at, and a collaborative project with ross), and took a nap.

friday night i had dinner with my co-teacher (and nu na--older sister) kim and her family. one, or both of the boys, have appeared on the blog before. we had a korean hot-pot soup, which is similar to shabu-shabu (which i love) but apparently it isn't called shabu-shabu. afterwards we went for dessert at red mango (a better tcby, which apparently also exists in the US). i came home and was still tired and a bit melancholy, but then young texted from rolling stone, and told me to come there. i had some beers with vick (they guy who took me to the east sea) and then, suddenly, 4 foreigners came in to *my* bar. it was really weird. one of my korean friends said to me, 'is this the new itaewon?'

it was the classic interaction: pictures, flirting, loud speech, the whole bit. 1 of the 4 was a good guy, however. he was making an effort to get to know some people, and work on some korean. the other 3 were douche-bags, from what i could gather. tho my mood certainly may have colored my perception.

saturday i ran down to gangnam to meet a friend of my father's for lunch at the ritz-carlton, which was funny. he is a good man, but apparently didn't know the whole chronology of things, when he asked, 'so tell me a good story about your dad, where he tried to be a super-man but failed.' i didn't know how to answer, so i thought for a moment, and replied, 'well, i dont really have any, my parents got divorced when i was pretty young, then he moved to tennessee where you two met. my older brother might have some, tho.'

we had a nice lunch (3 courses, whoo-hoo) and had an interesting talk about the incoming obama administration and what america should consider doing to compete in the global market place. while he is on the right side of the spectrum, it was interesting to hear him say that an international court and other such measures only make sense in the long run and that he hopes the US would sign on to such efforts.

after lunch, language class in sinchon. gangnam is about an hour away from me, so that is a long haul, then sinchon is about an hour away from gangnam, so i did quite a bit of train travel. class was good. we split in to two groups depending on our korean ability, and then exchanged language with koreans. it was the first time anyone has explained anything grammatical to me about the korean language, which i think is key to understanding a language's structure. when it became our turn to speak with the koreans, it was much different as they all have enough vocabulary that they just want to practice conversation.

afterwards we all ended up going out for dinner together, and then i split off with a new friend, tae sung, and we had some beer and continued to talk about korean, english, and things in general. was home early, skyped with the lady.

now it is sunday, early afternoon, and i wish i had a washington post. or more space to make collages, or finished things i have obligations to finish, or cleaned my apartment, but i don't really want to do any of those things. eventually, i will have dinner with young tonight, around 7pm.

some school pics

2008-12-09T22:54:00.006+09:00

these are two girls from 3rd grade the week after they finished taking finals. learning was done, we just played scattegories. the girl on the left single-handedly came in 2nd place against her class, the girl on the right likes to be extremely loud. they are friends.

same class, the week after finals, etc. i made staying awake optional, i wasn't gonna win anyway.

it has snowed two or three times this winter. every time the kids go nuts. these 3 girls are from one of my favorite classes (grade 1-5). when the weather permits, they have taken to having me play dodgeball with them after lunch. the first day i hit it a girl in the glasses with the ball. i fell over with shame. they kids, and my co-teacher told me 'stop pouting, if she didn't pay attention she deserves it.' these girls don't play.
the one on the far right, whenever she sees me, waves at me with her arm at a complete 90 degree angle, and lowers her voice to say, "hi, kevin."

with 3rd grade classes no longer on my docket, some of the kids asked if they could take an extra class with me. seeing as how my work load was reduced by a third, i was happy to. it has been great. they are all excellent english speakers, so we can talk about actual things (politics, art, travel, and food thus far).
they wanted to play hangman one day, but i couldn't think of anything. so, since they are all english stars i handed the chalk over to them. one of the girls came up with the little gem seen above.

i blurbed

2008-12-03T20:47:00.000+09:00

Homage, mockery, and compliment, the man/boy who fears death inhabits the aesthetics of himself (and as is the case, his friends) in younger days. Like bathing in a virgin's blood, "back roads leading/to garbled / sexual advances", Royer points his hands into your body and makes more than just the mouth move. There is an acceptance in this poem(s) of what is inevitable, showing a maturity, or stoicism, that years of snow reinforce, "even / the loveliest/things are attended/by/loss."

and need to write another one.

approximately 40%

2008-11-30T00:09:00.003+09:00

that is the (theoretical) pay-cut i have taken just be being here for 3 months*. theoretical, because they pay me in won and i live in korea, however i am the sort that needs to send money back to the US. this can potentially, and does, have very real implications for me.

1. i offered to fly my darling lady over, she charged the ticket on good faith, and then international finance happened. she was fantastic to me (in every way, but for the sake of this) financially when i was unemployed and running out of money, essentially keeping me feed for two months. unfortunately, her finances have changed just as rapidly as mine, and she is fucked since i can't get her the money. that is to say, what i thought was going to be my opportunity to (literally) repay her kindness has caused fiscal problems beyond our control^.
2. i have some debt that i planned on paying off while here, that has changed drastically.
3. i have to go to europe after my contract for a wedding, and some of the money (actually, all my money for europe) needs to be earned here

those are the biggies.

there is one large question that comes from all this, that is a lead-in to the really big question. first the smaller one that is easier to handle: what do i do after my contract is up?

it is only 3 months into the 12 i have signed, so who knows how the exchanged will look 3 months from now. that is the most obvious point, but why not speculate?

i really like my job. i enjoy teaching, but more than that, i like where i teach, where i live, and the life i am living here. this isnt to say it is 100% joy, but it beats the pants out of my life since 2006. is there a point where the exchange rate makes being here prohibitive? unsure. some experts say it can get up to 1800/1usd, but experts are often proved wrong. [side bar: the real shits'n'giggles aspect to this devaluation vs the dollar is that the people who are benefiting the most from this are the US armed-forces personnel stationed here, and they are the ones that, generally, koreans dislike the most.] as long as i have enough to keep paying my debts, perhaps the idea of saving some money stays a point that i cannot currently reach.

my goal is to re-sign for another year. i have given myself these two years to live abroad (part of what makes the lady so wonderful is working with me on this) and i plan on using them. what happens if i dont sign in korea? i need to then find a brand new country to go to, and walk away from what i have just stated is a life i enjoy. i mean, i can do it, sure--i didnt come to korea for a korean-centric purpose beyond being really excited to see all the paik nam june works, but i do love me some habit (that i can modify as need be), and i have found some (i have a local bar, have befriended many koreans, and, for the first time in my life, go to the gym 3 days a week, and volunteer once a week). plus, if i re-sign, i don't need to develop a brand-new curriculum, tho i am sure some of it could carry over to say, poland or viet nam.

the really big question is: what happens after these two years?

before i left dc, my friend threw a party for me and another guy who was leaving dc. at this party a friend of mine who is quite grown-up (is a partner in a marketing firm, has a house, married, with child) said, 'you know, when you come back, you need to settle.' i thought at the time, and still do to a certain extent, 'i'm not sure i need to be as middle-class as you', but there is still a very valid point to what he is saying. i have been pondering what will happen when i get back to the US and the only thing i know is i will be spending some time in buffalo with my family, then moving to where the marvelous woman is. (did i mention she will be here in less than one month!) but beyond that, it seems likely it will involve me heading back to school. this comes as a bit of a shocker. didn't think i would be doing that at what will be 32/33.

the idea of re-entering school at that age colors what i go back to school for. i still would love to take two years and get an mfa (so i can enter the factory;) but i have always thought an mfa is kind of an indulgent degree, at least i don't think i want to teach creative writing (not that it would be that bad to do, but...) so the only reason for me to get one would be to have full-time dedication to art production for two years, and since i am taking two years for myself now, that starts to add up. who knows, i will prolly end up getting an mfa and laughing at my current outlook.

the other possibilities that attract me are: getting certified as a teacher, social work, and community organization/activism. teaching makes sense. i could potentially start teaching when i got back and have my school pay for my degree (assuming i find employment). what level (elementary, middle, or high school) and what subject are open for debate. this in many ways is the most logical path, since i will have two years teaching experience, but as it is the most logical, it is the one i approach with the most skepticism as i am a smidge nuts.

social work seems like a good one. my biggest fear is burn-out (even more so than teaching--actually with all of these 'career minded' degrees i am terrified of burn out. it has been my practice since graduating college to not do the same job for employment for more than two to three years. the idea of having the same categorical job for 30 years or so worries me.) it turns out i want a job that will make a difference in the lives of other people, and while teaching offers that (and yes, it does 'help' people to be educated) social work seems like a much more concrete example of help.

community organization/activism. this one seems quite natural. while in buffalo i organized (with chris fritton) the buffalo small press book fair and worked with just buffalo in curating the small press poetry series. also, i think my public relations experience would be helpful in this field, tho i admittedly know the least about it.

appedum
a friend of mine thinks that i would make an excellent fact checker. that too has some attraction, but would require me to live in a large city with lots of publishing, i think. also, i wonder what the qualifications for such a position are.

*
when i signed my contract and came to korea, it was approximately 1040 won/1 usd. it is now about 1475/1. it has been higher (over 1500/1) and lower in the last two months.
^
fortunately, part of her super-awesome goodness is recognizing that these problems that have occurred all well beyond either of our control, and getting me to get closer to accepting that truth.

Rock The Vote

2008-11-29T12:43:00.002+09:00

VOTE KAFKA 2012

ces soir

2008-11-25T22:43:00.001+09:00

a man asked where i am from, i told him.
he then asked
gun? boom! boom! boom!

i told him i didn't own a gun.

a man asked, mafia?
i think he ignores context.

2008-11-23T14:06:00.000+09:00

the regular life

2008-11-20T18:05:00.002+09:00

photo-documentation

2008-11-15T14:56:00.003+09:00

eating

2008-11-13T16:20:00.004+09:00

i came to korea a vegetarian, and i could very well end up a vegan back in the states, but in the mean time, i eat whatever.

there are a few reasons for this.

when i first arrived i would walk the streets trying to find food. of course, there is tons to eat in korea, but wanting to stick to my veggies, i didn't want to just order anything. so the language barrier was a gigantic issue. also, koreans don't quite grasp the concept of vegetarian. there are numerous stories of people telling their koreans co-teachers, or whomever, they are vegetarian only to the get a pizza with ham on it and they saying, "look, vegetarian!". add to this that seemingly vegetarian things, like kimche dumplings, have pork in them and it was quickly a war that i couldn't win. or at least for now. in addition to those practical problems, i was also thinking about a conversation i had with steve z before i came over. steve is a vegetarian and stuck to it when he went to france to visit his then girlfriend and he said he regretted it. not because french meat was more appealing, but that food is a gigantic part of a culture and he felt that he literally missed out on a part of french culture.

so i went on a meat eating rampage.

i am an adventurous eater. i want to try nearly everything once. as meat was done being a road block, i set some korean gastronomic goals: dog, live octopus.

i asked my co-teachers about the first goal, and it turns out one of my co-teachers--a very demure woman, who is also the youngest--loves dog. i asked her out.

'(laughs) are you sure? i hear western peoples they...think we are barbarian for dog.'

not wanting to explain the concept of entrapment and that i wasn't doing that, i told her that i am very curious about it and that i was fairly certain if i tried on my own to get dog that korean restaurateurs would most likely not give it to me.

they day came she took me to eat dog ("healthy soup") she was very nervous.

there is usually the possibility of another western being in a restaurant, but that wasn't going to be the case in this establishment. every korean who came in the restaurant did an even larger double-take when they saw me (i am accustomed to koreans looking surprised to see me, but here it was an even bigger deal).

after the meal the proprietor was very curious as to my reaction to the meal, and it turns out, so was my school's vice-principal as it quickly spread that i was trying dog.

my conclusion: it is okay. it isn't the best thing i have ever had, nor anything i need to eat again in my lifetime. it is extremely tender, and a mix of red meat and game.

(ugh, its is over-dubbed)

last night i was out with my friend rob for dinner and some beer. when we met he was fairly certain the establishment we went to had great galbi (ribs). it turns out he was incorrect. this restaurant only served one thing, and so we got what they serve. a korean man at the table next to us said, 'this may not be the restaurant for you. food is below stomach.'

rob had lived in viet nam last year teaching and both of us like to try whatever the country we are in throws at us, so we ignored what the man said, tho i had a feeling what 'below stomach' meant, and i was right.

they serve pig intestines and liver. i am not a big fan of liver. even when i ate meat it seemed like i shouldn't eat anything that serves the function of filtering bad things out of the body. but, in comparison to intestines, liver is good.

while we were out i was getting texts from my bartender that i should come in. then i got a text from a regular at my bar telling me i should come in. so, while on the subway i decided i would go.

the bar was very quiet, only about 5 people, but people i know well: 'vick' who took me out of town one weekend, young (my bartender), billy (the owner), ji who sells things on the korean home shopping network, and young, a man who is often at the bar. i was told that since it was 'rolling stone family night' they all started asking about me.

i was already drunk when i got to the bar and i showed them the two new swearing flash cards i got when i was out with rob and this korean man joined us. now, young (bartender) had already taught me 3 swear words, and one of them is extremely bad. however, these two new words are (apparently) abhorrent. ji asked to see all of my flash cards and he saw the one that says (roughly) san nag che, or live octopus.

'why do you have this?'
'i want to try it'

customer young yelled, 'i love san nag che! we go now!'

i didn't really want to eat at 145 in the morning, and i tried to protest, but then he said, 'i serve you!'

vick clarified, 'he is buying, you go'

so young and i went across the street for live octopus. it isn't as dramatic as the scene above, as it is cut up, but it is moving all over the place. it was very interesting to eat. i decided to night bite into it right away (after it crawled up my chopsticks) and let it just sit in my mouth. the suction cups affix themselves to anywhere they can. there was one piece that attached to the roof of my mouth. i was told there can be a danger of it sticking to, and therefore, blocking off your throat. so, to take care of the one that was stuck to the roof of my mouth, i took a sip of soju (korean liquor) and pushed it with my tongue.

a few minutes into the meal, the rolling stone family came and joined us. it was quite flattering that young and billy closed down the bar early just to eat live octopus with the foreigner. so there we were, a table of 6, eating a growing meal (they started adding courses) at 315 in the morning. my favorite question was, 'is sushi okay?' and i laughed and pointed out that if i will eat live seafood, uncooked seafood shouldn't be much of a problem. it was a good night.

pepero day

2008-11-11T17:11:00.004+09:00

"can i touch it?"

this is what caused me to turn around to a gang of girls standing behind my office chair.

i have what they refer to in korea as a high nose. an extremely high nose. from what i gather, this means that i have a high nose bridge, ie, my nose comes right out of my forehead, not the gentle slope of the swedes, or the low bow of many asians. in turns out, this is a desirable feature that koreans want. this, of course, makes me laugh. in america, people get plastic surgery to lower their nose bridge, in korea, they get plastic surgery to raise their nose bridge.

never having left 6 years old, i replied, "only if i can touch yours"

suddenly i am having 2 girls (out of 5) touch my nose, and i am touching the noses of 2 girls (out of 5). they eventually leave.

kim, who saw all of this, and who is one of the best students, and kindest human beings, then drops off my pepero.

today is pepero day. (see photo)

after she gives them to me, she says, hesitently, "many asians...like high nose. you have a very high nose, so we like your nose. if i may, may i touch your nose?"

"sure"

kim touches kev-kev's nose.

"do you want to touch my nose?"

now i was only touching these girls' noses because i think the entire thing is funny, and in part to remind them that i am a human being, and not just here for their nose touching curiousities. kim, however, seemed worried that i didn't immediately want to touch her nose. not wanting her to feel left out, i touched her nose.

the bell rings, kim smiles and heads to class. i eat a pepero. kim's pepero gift also came with a note.

it is 4 pages of various morsels of wisdom in english. my favorites:

Nothing matters very much, and few things matter at all.
Arthur Balfour

Why don't you go and sin a little?
So God deserve to have something to forgive you for.
Martin Luther

Money may be the husk of many things, but not the kernel.
It brings you food, but not appetite; medicine, but not health;
acquaintances, but not friends;
days of joy, not peace or happiness.
Henrik Ibsen

It is preoccupation with possessions,
more than anything else,
that prevents us from living freely and nobly.
Immanuel Kant

after class she returned and said, "did you read my note?"
'yes'
"it is my hope that these things, that they help you."
'thank you'
"i was worried, i was up, i was writing them at midnight, and that, ohhh, at 1am i was so tired."
'you...you didn't have to do that. thank you very much. you are very kind.'

kev-kev shares a pepero with kim

e.strange

2008-11-06T22:10:00.002+09:00

been less than inspired to do many of the things that i hold dear. actually, held? this has been coming to a fore the last few years. basically since i left baltimore. in particular, reading, writing, and making collages. i used to spend hours on these activities, now not so much. i am still passionate about these subjects, and that passion may be in part why i do not participate as much in them.

my last big project was KEVIN IS RUNNING LATE BUT WILL BE IN (available for download here, reviews here, here, and here). it was an easy project for me to make. i did it at my day job. i have a tendency (work ethic) to throw myself hard at whatever is occupying the majority of my time, so as this project came about, i simply allocated resources from managing my department into making this project. now i am teaching, and i am throwing myself at it full-tilt. but i don't think this explains my drop in production.

the majority of the work i make is extremely personal to me (even if it seems it is simply documenting). last week on the walk to school, when i initially was going to write this post (see what i mean about delays and lack of motivation), i was listening to my ipod on shuffle. one of the tracks came on. at first i was shocked (hearing my own voice). then i giggled. then i was left with this absolute feeling of distance. this was so much a part of my life (9 hours a day at the job, then the self-identification with an art object) for so long (2+ at my day job, countless hours with nick recording it) and now that is over. not completely over, as the object attests, but in many ways, a relic.

let me back track. when i was in baltimore i wrote a book, made many collages, was active in mail art, and was making poems regularly. none of that has been the case in the last few cities i have lived in (buffalo, dc, seoul).

it isn't that i haven't made *anything* just that the size and scale has been drastically reduced. a few weeks ago i bought collage materials. and that night i was cutting things out, coloring things, and thinking about organizing things on the page. and then, nothing happened. i was also working on a new transcription project, that too has fizzled.

post-baltimore, i was invited to perform in many cities (nyc, toronto, milwaukee, chicago, dc, baltimore, buffalo, etc) but even then, my work was always made to order. it seems that shy of having 'an order' i am unproductive. i have written or conceived numerous things in my head, but i never follow through. this has left me in a peculiar situation.

i don't mind not producing, i am quite content focusing on teaching, but there is something about this challenge to identity (tho, perhaps i am still an artist) that i think about. it could be very well that i am incubating, or i am on hiatus, or i am done, or tomorrow i begin another period of production.

the only real 'conclusion' i've reached is that without a community (define that abused word, at least in american poetry) any way you will, i am simply not active enough on my own. or perhaps it is that now i am a fan of various communities (including the art scene i have found in seoul, which is quite active, and great), more of a fan than an active participant, and that the free-time i alot to art is spent taking things in. it is, i repeat, not a bad thing at all to be absorbing. nor is this a woe is me post. it is simply something i wanted to put out there, no matter if i am sharing it with the same six people i could simply email this to, or if it is read by hundreds.

okay, time to shower. gotta teach tomorrow, after all.

correcting papers, pt 2

2008-10-28T14:21:00.000+09:00

kevin nos to china
has kevin been to
china to been
has been to china
kevin china has
kevin never china
has never been
to china to china
been to china

correcting papers

2008-10-26T22:45:00.002+09:00

had this activity called, 'Have you ever. . .?'. the first 10 questions are supplied, the last two i ask the kids to make up something.

11. Have you ever pissed on the sheet?
Yes, Su Hyun has pissed on the sheet.

i'm so glad i decided to collect and review these papers.

kisaeng becomes you, seoul arts center

2008-10-26T11:41:00.010+09:00

NOTE:
this is more of a meditation and a report. also, it is long (for a blog).
also, i would add more photos, etc, but i can't find any documentation of the performances on-line

'i'm interested in the kisaeng as the holder of culture'
dean moss, during the q&a

october 25th i attended the world premier of 'kisaeng becomes you' a collaborative event orchestrated by dean moss and kim yoon-jin. i want to call it a collaborative circuitry for a few reasons which i will flush out more fully as i continue to write, but to start with, this was not what we are conditioned to view as a 'regular' dance performance (as i know it) and what i left this event with was the feeling of having witnessed a profound meditation collaboration.

the seoul arts center's jayu theatre is essentially a black box on steroids. it has 3 levels of 4-sided catwalks, and i would guess it holds about 100 spectators on folding-back seats (that is, the seat part is attached to the ground, the back simply folds up or down if it is being used). the performance was sold out. the stage was unadorned (which from the limited dance performances i have been to is not uncommon) with a suspended screen, mid-stage, stage right, approximately 15 feet from the ground. downstage there was a table with speakers, a camera, speakers, electronics, and props.

like dean moss, at least initially, i came to this performance lacking a socio-historical context. unlike moss, i also lack a deep socio-historical dance context. what exactly was i getting into? first a dancer walks upstage, extremely close to the audience, and looks us over. immediately the 4th wall is broken, and it would be completely removed in moments. she walks away and heads for the table and begins to sew her skin (left thumb) making a series of knots. the camera is used to project this onto the suspended screen. i'm already thinking about social inscription and the well-worn historical thread. it is an elegant gesture to start the performance.

slowly, 3 dancers enter from various sides and are on their toes, their mouths look like feeding fish. these long bodies, extended, begin to travel like a school of fish, essentially heading in the same direction, but with only a weak bond uniting the mass. eventually sewn hand joins them and they continue to travel as a group--except she is marked with her hand and thread. sewed hand stops, looks us over in the audience, and enters the audience and speaks. of course, beyond 'hello' i don't know what is being said--and the language lack shows up more later, but with no real problem from my perspective, though i am sure it colors my perception and pushed me towards focusing more on the collaborative meditation. taking an audience member on stage, after she looked us over from the beginning, the feeling of collaboration grew. while she takes the audience member on stage, 2 dancers are setting up a scrim more or less at centerstage.

the audience member is introduced to the dancers and is given a mic pack, dressed in a white gown and given a wig (later i learned this is a kisaeng wig, i'm willing to bet the audience member's costume was based on traditional kisaeng clothing). the audience member is slowly paraded around, and video-taped the entire time. she performs a (traditional?) gesture, and then enacts the same route and gesture. a circuit is made.

the dancer with the sewn hand serves as her director/choreographer. she feeds the audience member lines, the audience member is being video-taped the entire time. the audience member enacts the circuit again. the scrim at centerstage now has flowers projected. 1 dancer is standing behind the scrim casting a shadow.

the audience member is again photographed and videoed. the director/choreographer (director from here on out) continues to feed her lines and then a gesture. the gesture seems sad, a stylized crying, loss. she picks up a veil, holds it to her eyes--the director is constantly talking.

it is all a beautiful way to represent collaboration/exchange--its like watching a piece incubating. workshop as performance. she performs crying, lifts veil again, music begins. soft.

artaud speaks of how in theatre now gesture can be made the same way twice.

the director and the audience member are watching the video on the suspended screen that was taped earlier. the video switches to a live feed. no longer performing a rehearsal, now a performance.

a dancer is blindfolded with the veil and performs the same acts as the audience member. they are from up stageleft, cascading backwards to the scrim at centerstage. this act is repeated with another dancer joining in. the 3rd circuit. finally, the director yells cut and it all stops.

1 dancer is 'fish feeding' as in the beginning while the director takes photos of the audience member with the other dancers. audience member is given the veil to keep and paid 20,000 won.

pt2 (make lack of experience taking about dance is apparent hear, its mostly base description)

this begins with the only appearance of a man in the entire production. it is a 'man-on-the-street' interview, but is all in korean, so i have no idea what happened.

2 dancers approach the audience, with about a 5-7 second delay between them, lip synching something. they lay down, then go into all fours, mouth wide open. we've clearly entered the sexual aspect of the kisaeng, which makes me wonder about what the man said on the screen all the more.

janis joplin plays, they now look angry (there still is the 5-7 second delay between the two), now they walk holding their crotch. sexy jig, then squat. while they squat, the put the fingers in their anus, smell them--sodomy. then, sexy again. finally, they begin to scurry in a crab-walk of sorts, then lament. silence. they get up and begin to walk in circles around the stage, then they run in circles.

stop.

walk up stage.

shaken breath, like angry or terrified. the original gestures from act 1 are occurring with these two, but the staging is reversed. the director shows up, and the 2 dancers leave. a new dancer arrives and dances like she is being choked.

the 2 dancers that have left are now at the back table. one of them is using the camera that is connected to the projector. it has a webcam/porn aesthetic. upstage 1 of the dancers takes the directors microphone away, and they do this very entertaining dance as she tries to speak into the microphone that the dancer is keeping away from her.

the director is now on-screen, pre-recorded, speaking lines. this dissolves into 'random' shots, mostly flowers if i recall correctly, and the dancers dance and the director is given her microphone back.

pt 3 (if pt 2 was sexual and controlling, pt 3 is sexual, crude, and expressive)

2 dancers. 1 (the smaller of the two) walks into 2, repeatedly, like the beginning of a fight. 2 walks away. 1 and the director walk arm in arm. director rubs 1's face with the microphone, puts it against her mouth. she opens her mouth, then licks the mic. she takes the microphone away from the director, and now the director watches. a new dancer holds the mic against 1, she willfully tries to put it in her mouth. all leave the stage, except the microphone girl who chases the dancers with the mic.

she strokes it. it goes limp. she then tries to put it in her mouth. meanwhile,

a dancer stands statuesque on the back table and is touched by the 3 other dancers (which is projected via what was the webcam). now all 4 jostle her in her pose--she is taken away on 2 dancers backs while being showered in flower petals and is taken on a lap around the stage. circuit. she is then layed down on the table. the wig from earlier is placed on her head. circuit. she smiles into the camera. she is touched.

a dancer runs, screams, dies. another covers her in flower petals.

director tries to put table girls' fist in her mouth. circuit. she is dragged away, screaming, then placed on top of her. 3 dancers then put the dress the audience member was wearing on top of her. circuit. the woman on the table, wearing the wig, wraps her legs around the director, strokes her head, like a baby at the bosom.

pt 4

meat is projected. 2 dancers push flowers into it. 3 dance slowly, upstage, with leaves in their hands, in the petals.

a korean table is brought out with hite (beer), windsor (whiskey), and snacks.

2 women are brought down from the audience. a very korean party ensues. they knock shots of whiskey into the beers and go. they yell "one shot, one shot", chant, etc. audience and dancers are drinking on stage. slowly, a few dancers begin to perform/dance in a more obvious way. they go in and out of it in 5 second spurts. the audience and the performers have melded into one mass at this point.

eventually, they sing a song everyone in the audience knows. i do not know if it is a kisaeng song, or a korean drinking song, or neither. everyone is clapping. this small little gesture, this song, goes further in uniting the performers and the audience. they (all) take turns dancing and singing the song, while those on stage not participating stuff money in each others pockets, shirts, boots. anywhere, really.

a short break as 1 audience member is given the video camera, and the other has the audio feed. director again is providing the audio feed. circuit. the director instructs her to move the camera to the other's side. they hold each other. she is feed words to say. she takes the camera from her and walks away. 1 audience member, on stage, by herself. spotlighted. lights fade for 60-90 seconds.

so what i witnessed was a series of repetitions with difference. as these gestures begin to overlap and add up and create their own narrative, my lack of socio-historical context for the kisaeng matters very little for me. and this may be the triumph and potential problem (at least for some) with this piece. if i, as a non-korean, can walk out of this piece feeling like i saw a truly artistic accomplishment, while the aesthetic beauty of this piece 'take away' from what could otherwise be a historical production? i don't care, really. art shouldn't be just about documenting and recreating (even when it uses documentation), it should be about providing an experience. again, there could be so much cultural coding that i missed--and i am certain there is--but i would still recommend anyone who could see this show as it travels the world to go see it.

2008-10-23T20:06:00.007+09:00

i've really been quite busy lately, and i can't remember when it happened. i like it mostly, tho it has interrupted a typing project i began. i am very close to a routine, it is basically this:
monday: work, gym, home
tuesday: work, huh?
wednesday: work, gym, home
thursday: work, huh?
friday: work, gym, home, out
saturday/sunday: mystery guests

here is an overview of the last few weeks

some of the 1000s of korean students that were at seoul land on 16.11.08
went to seoul land with my school and about 50 other schools from around seoul. it is not korea's biggest theme park, but it is seoul's theme park.

the ones looking right at the camera, with the V-sign are with me.

she dressed up in heels and wore make-up etc. she suddenly looked like a little adult. funny outfit for a theme park, tho. on tuesday, it took me a moment to recognize her.

when we left, i bought a cup full of bugs for about .50 cents from an old woman on the way to the subway. my co-teachers said, 'first dog, now bugs, you are really becoming a korean!' they were okay. bugs in liquid. they tasted like unwashed mushrooms, essentially. extremely earthy. my co-teachers kept laughing that i was calling them bugs. 'they are...larva.' and indeed they are, but my counter point was 'what would you call this if you saw it in your apartment?' we then, collectively, ate my bugs. larvae.

i had what turned out to be all you can eat sushi, and it was marvelous. i turned into a fish, was placed in the han river, and swam home.

the post below has two lil vids from the seoul contemporary art museum. that was saturday. they are illegal videos. we went to a tapas restaurant in hongdae. it was good and not completely unreasonable. it was the first time i had used a fork in over 2 months, it felt clumsy. afterwards, we met up with some people, who were drunk, so we left to my bar.

we got drunk, had a hard time asking for two-more drinks when we handed over the card and the bill, and convinced two koreans whom we didnt know to join us at a norae-bang*. it was alot of fun. especially singing 'bohemian rhapsody' with them.

sunday i was invited by a professor from a local university to go to a concert. in the backyard of the 3rd president of korea's house. i have a knack for stumbling into this type of thing anyway, but in korea it has been amplified. while there, i met dean moss. he is a choreographer from nyc and now on saturday i am going to see the premier of a piece he has collaborated on with kim yoon-jin (the korea times is by no means an exceptional paper, but you at least get an idea). leafing through the brochure he gave me, i have decided to go see a production of electra called 'electra perpetrator'. the photos i have seen look beautiful. i had my co-teacher call for tickets and my fortune continues as they are half-price for foreigners. koreans can stare at me all they want if i get half-price tickets. but back to the 3rd president of korea's backyard. its nice. very nice. and in the middle of seoul. it doesnt feel like it. the rich always have a way of making it seem like they don't live in your surroundings. i then had dinner with a class of people i shouldn't know: an architect who lived in paris for 10 years, a gallery owner, a man designing the future of digital tv programming, etc. thankfully i have read some books in my life.

monday was a grateful day: to work then gym.

tuesday met zach and ross (ross is linked at the upper right) and, as it always seems to turn out, 10 other people, for mexican. it was actual mexican food. not even the 'not quite' that is korea's take on everything. it was pricey, which wasn't actual mexican food (unless your are close to the mci center in dc) but worth it.

last night, after working out, marta and i went to get our grill on. then she told me she hasn't been to rolling stone, so we went there and ended upstaying too late. i will be back there on friday, which made the whole staying there late thing all the more silly. i do like that bar. a lot.

so, there you have it. tired thursday, got a haircut, and had to save my beard from being completely scrapped when the korean guy accidentally hit one side of it with the clippers (they wont touch my beard below my ear lobe), looking forward to sleeping early (tho i want to chat with people back on the other side of earth), and transfering money to my US account since tomorrow is the monthly pay-day, then hanging out with jin-woo. saturday is world premier dance, and sunday is open as of now.

* from the web
Norae-bong

Norae literally means singing or song. So, yes, you guessed it, this is your own personal karaeoke room. Koreans love to sing and took Japan’s karaeoke and made it all their own. You rent a room by the hour and it includes funky lighting, a disco ball, several televisions, a huge song book (English songs too), comfy seating, and even tambourines.
If you had qualms about karaeoke before, it is suddenly erased with this added privacy, the accompaniment of friends and, for most Koreans, a bit of alcohol.

making plans

2008-10-22T08:40:00.002+09:00

i have been teaching my class how to make plans, prefacing it by telling them 'it is one of the most useful things you can do in english'. no idea if that is true or not, however i have made tentative plans for the summer and thought i would share them here.

i will go to scotland in august and visit mr ross gardiner before i go to portugal for a wedding. while in scotland, we aim to introduce comic vignette #4.

comic vignette #4
equipment: hand held camera, modes of transport
setting: anywhere, especially pubs

kev kev enters numerous scottish pubs. the camera should already be placed inside, it follows his walk up to the bar.

kev kev (with pride) Hello, and how are you? My name is Michael Jefferson, from the States, and I would just love to try one of your famous fried Scottish cunts.

2 paik nam june clips

2008-10-19T14:18:00.003+09:00

gook

2008-10-16T21:38:00.003+09:00

국

the online dictionary of etymology says that "gook first pops up in 1899, U.S. military slang for "Filipino" during the insurrection there, probably from a native word, or imitative of the babbling sound of their language to American ears (cf. barbarian). The term goo-goo eyes "soft, seductive eyes" was in vogue c.1900 and may have contributed to this somehow."

however, this is debated historically. it certainly returned to currency, and i guess, as this is not scientific, took on its more familiar term for asians in general during the korean conflict. the word in hanguel 국 (pronounced 'gug' 'guk' or 'gook') means person/native things along those lines. as an american i am a 미국 or 'me gook' (humorously enough). it seems likely that during the korean conflict that beyond 미국 americans heard 한국 'han gook' which means korean and also 외국 'way gook' or foreigner. hearing all these 국 why wouldn't americans just start calling their koreans enemys (and i imagine their allies) 'gooks'. you take this one step further, when in viet nam some of the higher ups have experience in korea and are influencing the soldiers already in or headed to viet nam, and the sticking power of 'gook' becomes complete.

the first time i heard all this 국 talk from koreans, this was my immediate hunch, so i am sticking with it--not that it is a revolutionary thought, and i know there is some on-line documentation that supports my thinking, i just thought i would type about it here in case some of you didn't every google 'gook etymology' on your own. also, i couldn't help but laugh as all of my knowledge of 'gook' comes from viet nam (vietnam being another example of bastardized language) movies.

if anyone has more solid information, please leave it in the comment box.

2008-10-15T21:32:00.002+09:00

Next morning, they are walking to Central Park. There are a lot of people. Mi-na and David walk around for about an hour and then they take a short rest.

David: Central Park is a great place. There are swimming pools, open-air restaurants and more. But it can also be very depressing.

Mi-na: What do you mean?

David: Mi-na, did you see all those people sleeping on benches?

Mi-na: Yes. Why do they sleep there?

David: Well, many people have nowhere to go and in the summer, they sleep out in the open.

Mi-na: I see.

David: Let's go home and get ready for our trip to Columbia University. It's one of the oldest universities in the U.S.

Min'a trip to New York was fun. She saw many interesting things and met a lot of people. It's always exciting to get to know a new culture.

2008-10-14T20:29:00.001+09:00

2008-10-05T19:44:00.005+09:00

i met park for dinner--it had been a few weeks since i last saw him. we had spicy cuttlefish and i had a chee-gay (stew) made from beans. it was quite good. it turns out i can use chopsticks well. i get told this often enough. we ate, then left, as is so often the chronology. he asked during dinner, 'how often do you drink?' these questions always sound so big, but usually its because there is a lack of nuance with english. 'two times a week or so.' 'at home? alone?' 'no, generally out at a bar.'

generally, park and i have easy nights--some dinner, then some talk about hangul and english, with a coffee or tea, then we part. when he asked if i wanted to go do something else after dinner, this was what i had in mind.

apparently the drink-frequency questions were to gauge what i could handle.

we went to yangpyeong, which has a reputation for being a smidge seedy. we were driving through back alleys trying to find somewhere to park. he was telling me, unlike hongdae, which is a late teens-20s crowd, yangpyeong is more 30 plus. as we were looking for parking we passed THE RITZ MOTEL, THE DYNAMIC MOTEL, and THE BEST MOTEL. the seediness was becoming more than a rumor.

as we were crossing the street, he pointed to a large neon sign and asked if i could read it. (i could.) he said it means 'massage'. i asked, 'just a massage? its near quite a few motels.' 'yes (laughs) it may be illegal'.

while discussing what i like to drink at dinner, i mentioned that i really like makgeolli (or makkoli) and so we headed into a traditional korean bar. basically, it was set up with all these old contraptions that use to be common to korean life. we ordered our makgeolli and anju (in most korean bars--always if you are with a korean--you have to order anju, which is basically some food to eat along with what you drink).

bowl of makgeolli and anju

we drank and talked. we talked about kristin a bit. how she is going to be a poor lawyer. i acted out representing abused women and animal rights. 'very good person'. he told me how he went to law school, but failed the examinations to actually become a lawyer--which i thought was interesting as he is a director at a company that designs cellphone games and ring tones. then we talked about how my hangul limits shape 'my korea' in that most everyone i talk to is well educated, otherwise they wouldn't know english. amongst other assorted things. then he asked me, 'do you find korean women attractive?' 'some,' he laughs, 'there are attractive women all over the world.' we talk about that for a bit, then, 'are you okay to drink some more?' 'yes, i think so'. 'i have a friend who is fillipino that you should meet.' i went to the bathroom.

i paid the tab (as i also paid for dinner, since he had bought me dinner every time prior to this), and we left, as is so often the chronology. 'i like liquor, but it doesn't like me'. i thought this should be a t-shirt if it isn't already. 'i turn red when i drink'. 'ah, it just means you are korean'. (many koreans turn very red when they drink, even if it is one or two drinks.) 'let's go meet my friend, it is a very bad nightclub, but that is where she is'. 'okay'.

we arrive at the CARNEGIE NIGHT CLUB and it is weird. the women who great us all have red blazers on, all the male waiters look like they are at a prom, or in a wedding--paisley gray vests, with pink paisley ties. the club is extremely dark, and the club area is partitioned off with giant black walls, with blue neon piping. we are lead to a table, and we sit down--no friend of his in sight. we sit for a minute, then park tells one of the women in red blazers something. he turns to me 'we are going to get a private room, it is too loud out here.' it is loud. the patrons are korean couples, mostly, in the 40s or 50s, completely dressed up, doing the fox-trot to house remixes of WHO LET THE DOGS OUT.

we get in the room, and it is basically a u-shaped couch, with a table, a closed circuit feed of all the action on the dance floor, and two microphones. essentially, it is like a deluxe nor-ae bang (singing room). a moment later, a bottle of whiskey, some iced teas, some green tea, a carton of milk, and a fruit tray arrives.

the spread

'do you want to get girls?' 'um...' 'or do you just want to sit in here and drink?' 'um...' i have no idea what this means. especially given the occupation of most fillipinos in korea. lots of scenarios are running through my head. most of them involve things that i shouldn't be doing until kristin gets here.

'do you normally get girls?' 'yes, it is common.' ohfuckohfuckohfuck. 'okay, let's get some girls.' a minute later this ridiculously cute girl enters the room and sits down right next to me. 'um...do you need some more room?' 'maybe he doesn't like girls,' park says. 'i could be a man if that makes you more comfortable,' she says. i am now in some adolescent-psycho-sexual drama.

we start to drink, i am being feed fruit, things could be worse. he keeps being called 'mr park' and i decide for the rest of the night to call him 'chairman park'. i'm on the verge of thinking everything will be fine, then chairman park leaves the room. i light a cigarette, so at least i have a weapon. 'you need to calm down.' and i should. but the only time anyone has ever said this to me has been in my strip-club experiences, which i haven't had in years. 'well, i just have never been in a place like this, so i don't know anything.' 'well, you seem like a good one, and mr park is very kind.' 'oh, there are some real assholes here?' 'yes, some just say to me 'how much?' just like that. the owner hates me, because i won't sleep with anyone in here. i am just here to work tables. and i tell them, 'no, no, no. julia doesn't do that.'' i am relieved. she is just here to hang out. chairman park comes back in. he is married with two kids, i wouldn't have known how to react to that. we sing songs, and all sorts of shit.

i go to the bathroom, and look to the neon white disc in the middle of the dance floor where earlier a heavy-set korean man in a shiny white suit was singing TOM JONES. currently, there is a stripper/dancer. she is wearing a jeweled g-string and bedazzled pasties. this was quite surprising. my experience in korea is generally you can get a handjob when you get your haircut, or go to the numerous whore-houses (there are two around the corner from my apartment), but pronography is off limits, and there aren't any strip-clubs. i suppose 'cabaret' gives them enough wiggle room. in the bathroom i look up and see two korean men gazing at my dick, they give me thumbs up.

as the night goes on, i find out i look like bruce willis, am handsome according to the male waiter, and cute, but not frightening. bruce willis threw me for a loop. we get outside, late, and chairman park says, 'i have had too much to drink. do you have money for a taxi?' 'yes, what are you gonna do?' 'sleep in my car'.

went to the gym and it didn't work out

2008-10-03T16:45:00.002+09:00

tried to sweat it out, which i did, but for different reasons. i joined a gym a few days ago, and decided since i was out last night, but not too wounded, i should go initiate myself at the gym. (i have not been to a gym since i lived in baltimore, 2005-06?)

i know how to get to the gym from school, but school is past the gym, so i tried to find it from my apartment. it took a little while, about 40 minutes or so, carting my clothes, a towel, soap, etc on my back, but eventually i found it.

i walked downstairs and went to turn in my membership card for a locker, but the woman working that desk said (at least) 'no' and sent me back up stairs. the women behind the front desk, i am sure, tried to explain to me why my card wouldn't work, but damned if i know (the stroller). eventually she shows me a calendar, and i know today is a national holiday, so perhaps that is why. i motion to my wallet, and yes i can pay to workout today. nothing much, just 4500 won (about 4.50). i get my receipt (which the woman downstairs showed me before i went upstairs) and head back downstairs. i turn in my receipt, the woman who originally sent me upstairs is smiling. my locker was number 63, i walked in the men's locker room.

there are no benches really, and you take off your sneakers before you enter (reason 63 i need to get some flip-flops sent over). kids are sitting on the floor changing, there are a few men about. pretty light day, which i wanted. i am nervous enough going to a gym the first few times, add to that i am a sweater, and in a foreign country, and it is all underlined the more.

i change, carry my sneakers to the small hallway between the main hallway and the locker room, put them on, and am ready to go. i walk out into the hallway with my water bottle, towel, and iPod and the woman shakes her head 'no'. i'm confused. i make motions that are to convey 'running' and 'weights' and thankfully there is a guest at the desk who says, 'you want to train today?'
'yes'
'ahh, no, not today. just swimming.'
damn holidays.
i smile a bit crooked and head back in, making sure to take off my sneakers first, change, and walk out. the woman at the desk hands me back my receipt after i give her the locker key. she motions that i should stop at the front desk with my receipt to get my money back.
lightly giggling, thinking i should be annoyed, but am not, i head back to the front desk and she is on the phone, i assume with the lady from the desk in the basement. we are both smiling as she refunds me money, and then i walk home.

from an article entitled 'Why Do Expats Here Complain so Much'

2008-10-03T12:17:00.002+09:00

most of it is obvious, and aimed more towards the 22yo who came here after college for some quick cash, but the article becomes quite useful when writing about the last 50 years of korea to give some perspective:

A cursory look at Seoul shows a fantastically futuristic city. Peole carry around crazy technological gizmos. The internet works at blinding speed. Everywhere you go there are flat-screen panels showing moving images. . . Upon seeing this spectacle, it is only reasonable to expect Korea to be a fully modern country, and for its citizens to behave in a fully modern way.

But this outlook could not be more misleading. This is really the point that anyone who wishes to understand modern Korea must know - Korea has only become this way in the last 15 years. All those born and raised in the pre-modern era are not only still around, but they are people who are in their 50s and 60s, leading the country.

Few people, including younger Koreans themselves, understand this point: only 50 years ago, Korea. . .occupied the place in the world where the poorest African countries are now.

There is a Korean expression describing poeverty - a person is so poor that "his anus would tear out." This expression came to be when Korean people were starving, and they would peel tree bark, boil it and eat it. Since tree bark has a lot of indigestable fiber, one's anus bleeds. This is the kind of world in which Koreans in their 50s and 60s used to live. Can any expat from a wealthy country (regardless of how poor s/he may have been in that country) imagine the worldview of a child growing up in this level of deprivation?

Miraculously, Korea managed to pull itself out of such abject poverty into the wealth is currently enjoys. However; that was not a normal development. This incredible, borderline mutative economic growth could not have happened without the attendent mutative changes in Korean society and culture. A country does not go from $87 per capita GDP in 1962 to $24,783 per capita GDP in 2007 without instances of things that appear strange and not readily comprehensible.

Truly, this is the keystone in understanding any aspect of modern Korea. . . . Accordingly, almost all complaints about Korea are related to this central keystone in one way or another. For example: "Koreans drive like maniacs!" But the vast majority of Koreans did not start driving until the early 1980s.

2008-10-02T15:15:00.000+09:00

one of my co-teachers just came up to me with a smile and said 'famous celebraty suicide today, so everyone is talking about that'

scoliosis, via bathroom

2008-09-30T17:59:00.002+09:00

k(orea) thurston

Elephant under police investigation

if yer interested, i have work in 'a sing economy'

either/and/or

interesting take on the US journalists being held in n korea

my ear infection

Topic: How would you like to kill that twat?

N.K. refugee center open to public after 10 years

4th of july

i commit ceasless sex crimes

ronaldo, zidane, beckham, thurston

a nice surprise

advancedELVIScourse by CA Conrad, out now

officially lying

63 years later/9 years later

art n life

game set match

sports medea

A School Girl Sues Her School

i lost my ipod (long weekend)

bea arthur takes on kenneth goldsmith

also

study habits

book recommendations

round-up

back to our regularly scheduled programming

poem for my ex-wife

4' 33" -- the video game

more

american folklore film site

why i love milwaukee

some of the more

some of the paik nam june museum

graduation day

why i love saint francis

shhhh

helluva month

even *more* old work

ugh

oh this is weird

selling out or selling it

couple of things

hongdae nana

old work, new publication

press play and read while the audio (video unimportant) goes

a bit of me & a whole lot of others

learning korean

okay, one more delay tactic then i may actually do something

some school pics

i blurbed

approximately 40%

Rock The Vote

ces soir

the regular life

photo-documentation

eating

pepero day

e.strange

correcting papers, pt 2

correcting papers

kisaeng becomes you, seoul arts center

making plans

2 paik nam june clips

gook

국

went to the gym and it didn't work out

from an article entitled 'Why Do Expats Here Complain so Much'

scoliosis, via bathroom

even more old work