Didacticism meets hiphop, and it all goes meta.
Boyinaband, "Tutorial."
It's not like I'm planning on taking up music composition, but the current "state of the art" in electronic music fascinates me.
Month: January 2013
Caveat: As Does Rain Or Snow
“Virtues are the fruit of self-discipline and do not drop from heaven as does rain or snow.” – from a Zen saying, supposedly.
Although I’m sort of a Buddhist, I find this conceptualization of virtue distasteful, for some reason. I should think that for a well-practicing Buddhist, virtue would indeed come as rain or snow … to those who can reach a state of mindfulness.
Or… perhaps it’s just the term “virtue” that I specifically feel uncomfortable with – I don’t like what I term the “purity-narrative” aspect of Buddhism (or of any other religious/philosophical tradition, for that matter – they’ve all got them).
Another unattributed Buddha-quote, that I prefer: “A man asked Buddha “I want happiness.” Buddha said, “First remove ‘I’ – that’s ego. Then remove ‘want’ – that’s desire. See, now you are left with only ‘happiness.'”
Caveat: 눈 감으면 코 베어먹을 세상
눈 감으면 코 베어먹을 세상
eye shut-IF nose chop-eat-FUTPART world
[It’s] a world where if you shut your eyes your nose gets chopped off and eaten.
This is another proverb on the theme of the “Dog-eat-dog world.” Ah well. While I agree with the sentiments in such proverbs at some level, I also suffer from a weird optimism about human nature that means I tend to think other things are more important – such as kindness, “presumption of innocence,” etc.
Caveat: Best Animation of a Snail Race, Ever
From the reliably entertaining series, "Simon's Cat."
In other news… I went to work early, but I still didn't get the things done that I needed to. This is starting to feel mighty elbridgey.
Caveat: The Infinite Library of Capital
Something very unexpected and unusual happened to me last Friday. I received a letter: a paper letter with a stamp on it, written out by hand. I'm not sure this has happened to me before, since coming to Korea, with the exception, perhaps, of some Christmas-letter type compositions from some members of my family. Not to discount those Christmas-letter compositions, but an actual letter is groundbreaking. I've been in Korea for over five years, and I don't want to rule out the possibility that I've received another paper letter in the past since coming here – my memory isn't perfect. Regardless, it was a striking occurance.
So who wrote me a letter? This is the funny part: my friend Peter, who lives in Bucheon, just across the Han River, about 30 minutes by bus from here. No, it wasn't anyone in my family, it wasn't anyone on another continent.
It was, actually, the sort of thing I get all the time from friends, family and acquaintances (including Peter): a sort of proto blog entry or comment on some cultural or political content. Normally, however, these things arrive via email, as is right and proper in the early 21st century. That Peter took the time to make it into a letter is what was interesting. Perhaps there was some intentional irony in the gesture, given the topic.
Anyway… included with Peter's letter was a clipping of an essay from the Korea Herald, which can be found online here. The essay discusses Borges' infinite library metaphor, as found in his story La biblioteca de babel (The Library of Babel). I have a long familiarity with and passion for this story, having first read it in my early teens (in English) and later during Spanish Lit classes (in the original Spanish). It is a classic of literature and deeply thought-provoking.
The essay, by someone named Eli Park Sorenson (hmm, is that Danish-Korean?), wonders if the internet, in this day and age, is becoming a real library of babel. My opinion is that think that the internet is, precisely, not becoming that, since the dismaying truth about the library of babel in Borges' story is that it turns out the content of the library was essentially random – just all the possible strings of characters a book could hold (a la infinite monkeys). Hence, the library's books were oddly devoid of any possible authorial intent or meaning. Meanwhile, the internet, as it is today, is nothing but intent (although the issue of meaning is admittedly a bit different, tongue-in-cheekwise). Internet content is, in fact, sometimes randomly generated (that's what spambots do), but even then, there is a broad authorial intent that is quite insistent and transparent: pageviews, which is connected to advertising, which is all about money.
The internet is not even close to being a library of babel. It is, instead, The Library of Capital (pace Karl Marx). It is the manufacturing of desire-for-stuff, to keep the whole global consumer machine clocking forward. And… I don't mean that in a bad way.
Caveat: Lego Inferno, Playground Inferno
Dante's Inferno, implemented using Lego.
I'm not feeling very healthy, lately. Kind of just taking it easy on this Sunday, but feeling some stress. Grr.
What I'm listening to right now.
The Black Keys, "Tighten Up." Very funny video, too – in a rather morbid, politically-incorrect way.
Caveat: 개미 구멍으로 둑도 무너진다
개미 구멍으로 둑도 무너진다
ant hole-BY dike-TOO collapse-PRES
Even a dike can be brought down by an ant-hole.
This is often what we call the “snowball effect,” I think. Small things have large outcomes. Also, lately, the “butterfly effect” metaphor, although that seems to be on a larger scale than ants and dikes.
Caveat: Andilar
I can't figure out what Andilar is. It doesn't seem to exist on the internet, except in the context of this song, and some city in Turkey. Did the songwriter, Townes Van Zandt, simply make it up? He also mentions Valinor, which is a name from Tolkien's mythopoesis, but I don't think it's meant to be the same Valinor, as Tolkien's is a beautiful, Edenic place, like heaven, while in this song it's described as "the lifeless plains of Valinor." Hardly the stuff of Eden.
What I'm listening to right now.
Townes Van Zandt, "Silver Ships of Andilar."
The lyrics,
Of those that sailed the silver ships
from Andilar I am the last
The deeds that rang our youthful dreams
it seems shall go undone
North for the shores of Valinor
our bows and crimson sails were made
Our captains were strong, our lances long
and our liege the holy kingThe hills did turn from green to blue
and vanish as on the decks we watched
But every thought in that noble company
was forward bound
To the lifeless plains of Valinor
where reigns the dark and frozen one
And with tongues afire and glorious eyes
we pledged our mission beThe clime from mild to bitter ran
the wind from fair to fierce did blow
Oath and prayer did turn to thoughts
of homes left far behind
Longed every man for some glimpse of land
and the host that did await us there
But each new day brought only a sea
and sky of ice and grayThanks give no word can drag you through
those endless weeks our ships did roll
Thanks give you cannot see those sails
and faces bleach and draw
Ice we drank and leather did chew
for the oceans are unwholesome there
The dead that slid into the seas
did freeze before our eyesThen a wind did fling the ships apart
each one to go her separate way
The sky did howl, the hull did groan
for how long I do not know
And what men were left when the winds had ceased
grew dull and low of countenance
For soldiers denied their battle plain
on comrades soon must turnSo one by one we died alone
some by hunger, some by steel
Bodies froze where they did fall
their souls unsanctified
Until only another and I were left
then just before his flame did fail
We shone ourselves brothers-in-arms
to serve the holy kingPerhaps this shall reach Andilar
although I know not how it can
For once again he's hurled his wind
upon the silver prow
But if it should my words are these
arise young men fine ships to build
And set them north for Valinor
'neath standards proud as fire
I like this singer a lot. His biography is interesting, too. Well, interesting in a depressing sort of way, a la William S. Burroughs, maybe. Here are some other songs of his:
Townes Van Zandt, "Sanitarium Blues."
Townes Van Zandt, "Big Country Blues."
Caveat: You Already Are
Last night, Ken, Curt and I were having a kind of light-hearted discussion of life-goals. Curt was going to get a fancy house and have a successful business – but I already knew that. Ken was going to become a billionaire entrepreneur. I know he likes to think big, too, though I have my skepticisms. I really get tired of most people’s obsession with making money as the measure of success (and to be clear, I don’t view it as a necessarily Korean fault – other cultures are just as bad, including my own). Just the other day, in surveying a debate class about the question, “Money is the most important thing,” I got all PROs and zero CONs. The money-obsession is everywhere.
I try to take it in stride, however, and stay light-hearted about it.
In a joking tone (but with utter sincerity lurking just below the surface) I said, “I want to become a Buddhist monk.” Without pause, and in unison (but without consulting one another even in a glance), Curt and Ken both said, “You already are.”
This was interesting. On the one hand, it shows that my inclinations are pretty transparent. But it also led me to think another thing: if I already am, I don’t really need to plan on that, do I?
Caveat: He’s, Like, Retarded
In class today some student was acting like an idiot. This happens. They're kids. I muttered something under my breath. It was just a spur of the moment thing, but I guess I'm learning Korean, a little bit. Another student said, "Wow, teacher. That's really good Korean."
What had I muttered under my breath? "장해인 같아…" [Jang-ae-in gat-a]. It's definitely not politically correct. In essence, it's the sort of things teenagers and pre-teens say to each other all the time. Roughly, "He's, like, retarded…"
I felt embarrassed to say such a rude thing to a student, but weirdly proud to have said in flawless Korean (as reported by the other students. I supposed it goes toward a certain "street cred" with the other kids.
It's a sign of my environment that some of the things I know best in Korean are ways to insult kids in Korean.
Caveat: oOoOO
I’ve commented on the amazing greatness of this band’s name before.
What I’m listening to right now.
oOoOO, “No Shore.”
In other news… well, I’ll get to it later.
Caveat: Out Of Grace
My coworker Grace ended her work at KarmaPlus on December 31st. I've known Grace longer than anyone in Korea (she's mentioned in [broken link! FIXME] my blog entry from my 6th day in Korea in 2007). We worked together at Tomorrow School, and then LinguaForum, where we worked for Curt. When I left LinguaForum to work at LBridge (because LBridged acquired my contract from LinguaForum – it wasn't a choice), Grace quit and went with Curt to start Karma. And it was perhaps "karma" that led to her and I being reunited later as I was hired by Curt to work at Karma (which became KarmaPlus by acquiring WoongjinPlus, which was the corporate dregs of LBridge, ironically).
Grace is the best ESL teacher I've ever met. She can be amazingly grumpy in staff-room interaction, and she's a little bit strict with the kids, sometimes, compared to my style. But she is very professional in the classroom and she has great talent for teaching "immersion" style to even low-level students. I will be sorry to see her go.
We had a goodbye lunch (hoesik) for her and another departing coworker at VIPS, a Korean chain of allegedly Western-style "steak and salad" restaurants. I say "allegedly" Western, since the buffet-style "salad" bar is exactly like the food at a Korean wedding reception (or "dol" reception or any number of other events). It's just as mish-mash of self-serve things: salads, soups, bibimbap, noodles, pizza, pasta, hoe (sashimi). Then they take orders for steak, which is kind of like the old US chain Sizzler, maybe. It's not bad. But I always feel embarrassed because I don't get 20 helpings of food like all the Koreans do – there's a social obligation to eat as much food as humanly possible at buffet-style events. I think this may be connected to the fact that only 50 years ago all Koreans had experienced literal starvation.
Grace is going back home to Canada. "Maybe permanently," she hinted. But I don't think so.
Here's picture of the VIPS at Daehwa, across from the Goyang Stadium, where we went.
Caveat: 먼 친척보다 가까운 이웃이 낫다
먼 친척보다 가까운 이웃이 낫다
is-distant-PART relative-THAN is-near-PART neighbor-SUBJ is-better
A nearby neighbor is better than a faraway relative.
I’m not able to think of an equivalent English proverb off the top of my head, but this one is pretty straightforward. I guess all my relatives are pretty faraway.
Caveat: Ken’s Hair
Teacher: "How are you today?"
Student: "Fine!"
Teacher: "Good."
Student: "Very fine!"
Teacher: "Really? Why?"
Student, laughing: "Because of Ken's haircut."
Ken is a co-teacher of mine. Apparently his haircut made my student's day. It got her speaking at above-level English competence and confidence, at the least.
Caveat: Gradually
“Most of us, most of the time, are committing suicide. We just do it slowly, and unenthusiastically. We smoke or drink or pursue other vices, we neglect to look both ways crossing the street, we avoid the doctor despite some persistent minor health problem. We will all die, eventually.” – John Lucian Jones.
Caveat: Half and Half
What I'm listening to right now.
Toy Selectah, "Half Colombian Half Mexican Bandit."
Caveat: The Enraged Sea
I dreamed I was staying at my uncle's house in Alaska. He wasn't there – which is quite common when I go to visit him. I go to visit him and he says, "oh, nice to see you, I've got to go work, so, enjoy the place." So I was there alone. Except then my mother showed up (my uncle's sister). She was complaining about the cold and rain. And then there was a storm and the sea began to dig away at the "lower shed" which is right at sea level on the Port Saint Nicholas Fiord, where my uncle has built a dock. We watched the waves begin to destroy the shed, and my mother and I got into a discussion about global warming, while several panicked-looking wallabies tried to flee the rising waters. There aren't normally wallabies in Alaska, but I suspect they'd followed my mother there into my dream. My uncle showed up in a helicopter (appropriate) and said "bah humbug" to global warming, even as his shed was being destroyed. This was all very realistic to their personalities. I just felt sad, and decided I needed to go back to Minnesota, but I couldn't find my bag. Perhaps it had been in the destroyed shed?
Here is a picture I took from the door of the "lower shed" at my uncle's in Alaska, taken in October of 2009.
Caveat: Rabbits, Chickens, Fish
My youngest students drew pictures. Here are some cute ones.
Meanwhile, a seventh grader who goes by Paul and/or Pablo surprised me with a surprisingly well-excuted doodle of some fish in the middle of some notes from the grammar class that preceded my debate class.
Paul's combination of genial polymath and utter disorganization remind me a little bit of … me, at that age. I find him both annoying and charming.
Caveat: 말하기는 쉬워도 행동하기는 어렵다
말하기는 쉬워도 행동하기는 어렵다
speak-GER-TOPIC is-easy-TOO act-GER-TOPIC is-hard
Speaking is easy but acting is hard.
“Easier said than done.”
I found some translations of this proverb offering something in the vein of “A word is worth a thousand dollars,” and the spreadsheet-o-proverbs that I made and have been working from for all the proverbs, which is cut-n-pasted from various bilingual compilations found online, offers this elaboration: “If you are nice to the person you borrowed money from, maybe they`ll forget about the debt.” Frankly, this doesn’t make any sense at all.
I think the proverb just means actions are harder than words, which is almost what it says literally. I’m not sure where the other comes from – perhaps it’s some cut-n-paste error.
On the other hand, I’m not sure I agree with the proverb. If the words are in Korean, and the person speaking them is me, then I think the words are harder than the action. And if the words are in English, and the person speaking them is one of my students, I think the same. Words are only easy if you know the language. Otherwise, actions are easier. Heh.
Caveat: I, Unfathomable
The blush of the new year is off, and I'm feeling a bit ill-content with life. Having lunch with Curt and Kwon yesterday, things waxed a little bit philosophical as we ate Kimchijiggae, and I realized my Korean friends don't understand me at all. It's unfathomable for so many Koreans, as they try to conceptualize a life (such as mine) dedicated to constant simplification and less money. But I'm utterly sincere in that commitment, despite the way that it leaves me feeling entangled in broken commitments to my own family. Sigh. What am I doing?
Caveat: No cuento nada
“No jodas, Señor Facebook … No cuento nada.” – quoth an aquaintance, responding to the new facebook feature requesting users’ “feelings,” etc.
“Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.” – Nietzsche
What I’m listening to right now.
Barry White, “Never Never Gonna Give You Up.”
Caveat: Buckaroo Banzai
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (commonly just called Buckaroo Banzai) is one of the most totally awesome strange weird crazy sci fi freak movies of all time. I highly recommend watching it at least once a year, whether you really need it or not. Plus it has a really hooky and memorable theme song.
What I’m listening to right now.
“End Title Credits Music to Buckaroo Banzai.”
And these days, who can think about Buckaroo Banzai and not think about Genki Sudo, and listen to some song of his a few times around?
Caveat: 뚝배기보다 장 맛이 좋다
뚝배기보다 장 맛이 좋다
clay-pot-THAN sauce taste-SUBJ good
The sauce tastes better than the clay pot [that it’s in].
Everywhere I looked, on the internet, the equivalent proverb given for this one is “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” But I’m not sure I see how this works. If I had to guess the meaning, rather than trust the internet, I’d be more inclined to read it as something like, “there are rewards to looking more deeply into something.” That’s obviously related to the “Don’t judge a book by its cover” aphorism, but it’s not exactly the same. “Don’t judge a book by its cover” really seems to be about not jumping to conclusions, while this is more about knowing there is something better inside. Perhaps the distinction I’m trying for is too subtle? Maybe I don’t really understand the English aphorism, either?
Caveat: Democracy Demo
This is such a phenomenally awesome video that I had to post it immediately having found it.
데모그라시:데모, from studio shelter.
It’s a little bit “late” – the South Korean elections have passed. It’s intended to be a sort of “get out the vote” thing, I think, showing how relevant and important the elections were.
I laughed a lot at the bit where ghost of Park Chung-hee (the game lists his character as Takaki Masao, his Japanese name, which is symbolically very significant) throws the baby off the tank and the baby becomes Park Geun-hye (the new president-elect, now).
Caveat: Drawing The World-Tree
Last night (or this morning) I had a strange dream.
It was a dream where I was drawing pictures – which makes some sense, as I’ve been doing a lot of drawing, lately. I so vividly remember this dream that I made an effort to reproduce, after waking up, one of the pictures I was drawing inside the dream. Of course, pictures and images that seem profound or amazing inside a dream rarely seem that way on the outside, and my artistic talent seemed higher inside the dream, too. But at right is a sketch of the image I was drawing – a sort of “world tree” where there were many things in a large, top-heavy tree, including houses and smaller trees growing out of the top of it.
The dream got weird (don’t dreams always get weird?). A child came into the room. Well, maybe a young adolescent, about 12 years old. He wasn’t Korean (that’s odd, remember, because all my students are Koreans). I looked at him carefully, and my heart jumped – this child was me. Me, at age 12. Me said, “You’re late for class.” His tone was judgmental.
I rushed, following the me doppelganger down the halls of KarmaPlus to the appropriate class room. It was my beloved advanced debate students, mostly 13 or 14 or 15 (in Western counting). And the me doppelganger sat down among them, apparently a welcome member of the class. One of the Korean students said to me (the teacher, not the doppelganger), “Oh, we’ve missed you so much.”
“Was I gone a long time?” I asked. There was an odd, long silence.
The me doppelganger nodded, sagely.
Ellen (who has graduated from middle school and is no longer, in fact, a student in the debate class) stood up and made a little speech, in a mix of Korean and German (huh, German? where’d that come from?), on behalf of the other students. I understood most of it, much to my own surprise – of course, it was dream-Korean and dream-German, so that really means nothing. Then she sat back down and held out a small, neatly wrapped present. The me doppelganger jumped up and grabbed the gift, and ran from the room, laughing.
I looked down at my notes for the class, feeling crestfallen… robbed. My notes were nothing but the world-tree picture I’d been drawing earlier.
That’s the dream. I awoke to a square of very deeply blue morning sky outside my window, which was rimmed by hard rime on the inside.
Caveat: Cold, Colder, Coldest
Try walking home for 30 minutes in the -15 C (5 F) cold, and then finding and reading a well-written, deeply moving article found online about freezing to death. You will shiver at the thought of your own mortality, and huddle close to your little portable heater.
What I’m listening to right now.
Depeche Mode, “Insight.” Listening to it over and over, obsessively, I might add – what’s with me and my periodic Depeche Mode revivals?
Caveat: On Paywalls and Washing Machines
So one of the blog websites I most frequently visit, Andrew Sullivan’s Dish, is apparently implementing some kind of “leaky paywall” and is hoping readers will pay for content. As I’ve stated before, I’m not opposed to paying for content, but most implementations of pay-for-content tend to piss me off, not because they’re requesting money but because they do so in a pestering or technically inefficient way that requires things like memorizing new passwords and logging on every time I go to the website from a new computer (and my computer is always “new,” because I abhor cookies on my browsers), not to mention the dumb-ass implementations of IP-address-based paywall and metering schemes that more often than not get broken by the very existence of such bizarre internet arcana as an oh-my-god-it’s-South-Korean (!) IP address – such as mine. It is for reasons such as this that I not only ceased to be a regular reader of all the major US newpaper websites (first WaPo, then NYT, and most recently LA Times all broke my access and thus my heart), but in fact essentially boycott them, normally quickly clicking away from even “free content” on their allegedly leaky-paywalled websites when I should happen to naively land on such.
I pay a monthly “membership” for NPR – which is most definitely pay-for-content – but their website and streaming services are technically easy to access and still de facto free, and the feeling I get as a “voluntary” payer-for-content feels more in line with the open-source spirit behind my particular conception of how the web should be. Another example of a “volunteer” website model is the “donate” button some blogs put up: The League of Ordinary Gentlemen and Brain Pickings are examples of this, where I’ve come very close to donating and may do so in the future.
I will be conflicted if I pay for Sullivan’s blog. On the one hand, I do, in fact, derive value from it – even though I don’t always agree with him. I wouldn’t begrudge paying for the content in principle, even given my voluntary “life-of-poverty.” I think many readers on his site are accurate when they say that they read him regularly because he seems to understand the idea of “intelligent debate” about real political issues more than most current media personalities. I tend to attribute it, at least in part, to to that good old Oxbridgian education I reckon lies at his roots – and it’s the same classical rhetorical tradition that I attempt to imbue when I teach debate to my middle-school students.
I suspect my most likely response will be a) pay for the content, initially, because I value Sullivan’s voice, but then b) gradually decline in visits and time spent on the site, because of annoyances with the technical aspect of having to be a paying member where usernames and passwords must constantly be resubmitted (again, because my computers don’t do cookies because I’m a bit of a security freak), and finally c) ceasing to pay for the membership because I’ve stopped visiting the website.
I’m going to try emailing a link to this blog post to the Sully-blog team, in hopes of my voice allowing them to consider some of the issues raised – though in the past my efforts to communicate with the Sully-blog have been at best a mixed bag, unlike the usually rave reviews for reader-communication and dialogue as reported on his site.
And with all that said, I’ll change the subject completely. This kid plays a mean washing machine.
This embedded video is, appropriately, courtesy Sullivan’s Dish. Just remember – music (and art) is where you find it.
Caveat: Beginning The New Term
Today was the first day of the new term at KarmaPlus English Academy. It’s winter term, which means that the kids are on “vacation” from public school – the consequence is that enrollments at hagwon often go up, and additional classes are offered. Also, there’s been a lot of turn-over in staff. Because of these things, I have hugely increased teaching load. I’m going to be very busy for the next few months.
I’m not really minding it. Today’s classes went well. I have some younger students, now – first and second graders. I really enjoy teaching kids this age. The overall balance of my class load is more toward middle-schoolers, though. And I’ve come to find things I like about teaching the older kids, too. I guess I’m feeling comfortable with teaching, lately. And I noticed something remarkable, today: my schedule has a lot of debate classes on it. That’s cool, because I remember when I started the debate classes, at Karma. It was viewed as a risky proposition, and not necessarily destined for success. The fact that I have a lot of them means that it’s apparently popular, at least with someone.
So I had some first classes. I had fun introducing Steve The Blue Plastic Alligator to various kids. One girl asked, as her very first question, very tentatively and wide-eyed: “Teacher! Do you like alligator?”
It was busy. Tomorrow will be busier.
It was cold, today – a reminder of why I like to call this place I live “Lower-Far Siberia.” I think it will get below zero Fahrenheit tonight – something like -18 or -19 Celsius. I like how the air feels brittle when it’s so cold. Walking home felt like those late nights coming home from studying at the U of Minnesota on winter nights. There’s a lot of snow on the ground, too, by Seoul standards. It’s all thick and solid and crunchy.
At right is a picture of Munhwa Elementary – though I’ve never been inside, I think of it as my “home school” in Korea (public school, I mean), since I’ve walked past it on my way to work for all of my Ilsan jobs. There’s lots of snow on the playground.
Caveat: 콩심은 데 콩 나지 팥이 날까
콩 심은 데 콩 나지 팥이 날까
black-bean sow-CIRCUM black-bean sprout-REV red-bean-SUBJ sprout-INFER
If black beans are sown and sprouted, [I] wonder if red beans will sprout?
“You reap what you sow.” This is very important for teachers to remember. Each day we are sowing ideas and behaviors among the students – and they will learn as much by what we do and how we do it as they will by the sometimes empty content of our words – doubly empty when it’s a language they don’t well understand.
Caveat: Coming Apart
I spent some of the day doing various things. I made a rather more ambitious drawing than usual – I spent several hours on it rather than just my five or ten minutes. It’s called “Coming Apart” – I used an ink pen and pastels.
What I’m listening to right now.
Crystal Ark, “Paradise.”