December 2009
39 posts
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pardon me
this is the story of lee kun-hee (이건희). for those who are unfamiliar, mr. lee is one of the richest men in south korea today, with an estimated net worth of u.s. $3.4 billion. how did he happen to come about this vast fortune, you ask? well, lee just so happens to be the third son of lee byung-chul (이병철), founder of the corporation currently known as the samsung group.
little lee, when he was...
on korean organization and scheduling practices
if you live here, then you know. if you don’t, this is pretty much how things unfold on a daily basis.
wednesday, dec. 23rd, 8:50am (class begins at 9)
mr. lee: classes might be canceled today.
me: why?
mr. lee: there may be a nationwide test for middle school students. but it’s not decided yet.
me: i see.
wednesday, dec. 23rd, 8:57am
mr. lee: yes, it’s confirmed. there...
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today's forecast
upcoming english language releases that those in korea can look forward to:
there are, of course, more than these. you’re just not allowed to look forward to any of the others. what’s here is what is tentatively scheduled through january, though there will surely be additions to it.
crossing fingers, but not holding breath, for:
the aught-omatic
apparently some genius (absent sarcasm) over at slate has decided to make a sort of best-movies-of-the-decade aggregator and ranking system, resulting in a big bad grandaddy best-of list, and sortable by aggregate, individual, most lists appeared on, alphabetical and director, no less. so far it includes the times london, the telegraph, time out new york, paste, the onion avclub (of course) and...
shazbot
the onion avclub’s year in film 2009. two movies that i expected to figure rather prominently in this list are nowhere to be found, but i’m just going to go ahead and view that as a sign of promise for those i’ve not yet seen.
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one please.
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shanked it
though the korea times has never really been known for its journalistic integrity, its recent trend towards tabloid-level journalism can’t really be taken as anything other than troubling. not only are some stories hardly newsworthy, many are based on rumor, citing blogs and other tabloid publications. not to mention that in several of them, the english has been less than, well, polished. i...
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can i call you 'chico'?
yes, i realize that i’ve basically started just reprinting everything that the onion avclub puts up, but, well…get used to that. it’s not likely to end anytime soon. this week they’ve got a random roles feature with one of my favorite actors working today, michael shannon. they cover two of his best, shotgun stories and before the devil knows you’re dead, as well as...
“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the...”
– Roald Dahl
please
a moment of silence for the dearly departed.
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sam cooke - another saturday night
slow down
well, these should keep me busy for a while/ put a strain on my emusic account:
top 25 albums of 09 and, even better, the ballots.
also, nice to see a couple of old acquaintances get rec in the ballots as scott gordon calls out dumate for their album we have the technology, which i admittedly have not yet heard. but congrats go out to laduma (now dudu stinks??) and the boys, making some noise in...
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in the news
a couple of eye-catching stories (1)(2) in the kt from a couple of days ago. for those who aren’t in korea, the reason these stories are of greater interest at the moment is because of an horrific, ongoing story here which has generally been referred to as ‘the na-young case’. if you are particularly (or not particularly) sensitive about matters involving rape and children you...
“I know it’s easy to imagine, but it’s easier to just do
See, if you can’t do...”
– Kid Cudi, “Enter Galactic (Love Connection Part 1)”
(via fuckyeahkidcudi)
more on the onion list
so, after closely examining the onion’s movies of the decade list, i have to say that the biggest thing that stands out is that 2009 seems to have been ignored entirely. i suspect that this is partly due to a desire to not overlap with the coming best of 2009 list, but still. nothing? outside of in the loop and big fan mentions in the personal favorites list, there’s not a word. i...
Stars by Freya Manfred
What matters most? It’s a foolish question because I’m hanging on, just like you. No, I’m past hanging on. It’s after midnight and I’m falling toward four a.m., the best time for ghosts, terror, and lost hopes. No one says anything of significance to me. I don’t care if the President’s a two year old, and the Vice President’s four. I don’t care if you’re cashing in your stocks or building homes...
in the neighborhood
i posted a picture by a photographer named ben sklar a few days ago, and after checking out his site, saw that he did some shooting in korea at some point. fellow seoulites might recognize this one:
anyway, check out his site if you’d like to see more.
aww, biscuit.
not going to bore you with my thoughts on this, and besides, i haven’t had time to absorb it yet. maybe later.
best movies of the 00s
and
almost best movies of the 00s
enjoy.
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more on a single man
tha nyt gots an interesting article on tom ford, first-time director of the movie a single man, which i posted the trailer to in one of my first posts. unbeknownst to me, ford’s last two jobs were serving as creative director at both gucci and yves saint laurent. the nyt goes so far as to say that ’in the 1990s, Mr. Ford was arguably the most influential fashion designer of...
awesome
via the kt, an inarguably credible, newsworthy endorsement of the wachowski bros new rain vehicle (or perhaps rain’s new wachowski bros vehicle), ninja assassin. journalism at its finest.
i drink your milkshake
very exciting week for lists. it’s time for movies of the 00s over at the onion. two things that i’m regularly known for placing far too much confidence in are the opinion of the onion avclub and the relevance of lists, and surely by coincidence, the two are nigh inseparable. so much so that the avclub just put out a whole book of them. they’ve been trudging through their best...
