A conceptual artist named Neil Mendoza has created a combination of gadgetry and software that allows his pet goldfish, named Smashie O'Smasherson Jr, to interact with his surroundings with a robotic hammer. I'm not sure the fish is really in on the joke, but some stuff definitely gets smashed. Here is a link. I've embedded the video below.
Perhaps if several generations of goldfish were allowed to grow up in this environment, they'd evolve some interesting behaviors – I could imagine fish going on smashing rampages when hungry, for example.
Surely with technology like this, our future is bright.
A few days ago, I mentioned the popularity of “dance covers” in Korea. Then yesterday I ran across a very interesting case of cultural diffusion: apparently dance covers of Korean pop music videos are a popular thing in Latin America, especially Mexico. The idea of South Korea exercising cultural “soft power” in Mexico intrigues me, in part due to my longstanding interest in both countries, but also because it’s just so strange, from a broader historical perspective.
Here is a group of Mexican women from the city of Monterrey, doing an almost professional-level dance cover of the Korean group Blackpink’s song “Playing With Fire.” Note that they are even lipsyncing the half Korean half English lyrics. This seems remarkable to me.
Blackpink, “Playing With Fire,” dance cover by Joking Crew.
The original…. What I’m listening to right now.
블랙핑크, “불장난.”
가사.
우리 엄만 매일 내게 말했어
언제나 남자 조심하라고
사랑은 마치 불장난 같아서 다치니까 Eh
엄마 말이 꼭 맞을지도 몰라
널 보면 내 맘이 뜨겁게 달아올라
두려움보단 널 향한 끌림이 더 크니까 Eh
멈출 수 없는 이 떨림은
On and on and on
내 전부를 너란 세상에
다 던지고 싶어
Look at me look at me now
이렇게 넌 날 애태우고 있잖아
끌 수 없어
우리 사랑은 불장난
My love is on fire
Now burn baby burn
불장난
My love is on fire
So don’t play with me boy
불장난
Oh no 난 이미 멀리 와버렸는걸
어느새 이 모든 게 장난이 아닌 걸
사랑이란 빨간 불씨
불어라 바람 더 커져가는 불길
이게 약인지 독인지 우리 엄마도 몰라
내 맘 도둑인데 왜 경찰도 몰라
불 붙은 내 심장에 더 부어라 너란 기름
kiss him will I diss him I
don’t know but I miss him
중독을 넘어선 이 사랑은 crack
내 심장의 색깔은 black
멈출 수 없는 이 떨림은
On and on and on
내 전부를 너란 불길 속으로
던지고 싶어
Look at me look at me now
이렇게 넌 날 애태우고 있잖아
끌 수 없어
우리 사랑은 불장난
My love is on fire
Now burn baby burn
불장난
My love is on fire
So don’t play with me boy
불장난
걷잡을 수가 없는 걸
너무나 빨리 퍼져 가는 이 불길
이런 날 멈추지 마
이 사랑이 오늘 밤을 태워버리게
whooo
So are we doomed? Do we plummet down, toward
some kind of anodyne apocalypse?
Or are we all just victims who a fate
has blinded by perceptions hinting truths?
A strong wind had helped push away the smog
but nevertheless moods were dark at work.
I walked home under the peach colored moon
and wondered what strange thing would happen next.
In summer's light
concrete turns white;
the city might
fade into smoke.
Ants feel no mirth:
the grains of earth
have their own worth;
trails turn baroque.
So as time goes,
a full moon glows;
a damp wind flows.
Then the clouds broke.
– this is a Welsh form called rhupunt. I’m not sure I like it – the rhyme scheme is pretty demanding and with the short lines, it ends up too singsongy.
My middle school HS1T cohort happens to be populated by only girls. Sometimes these coincidences arise – there is another middle school cohort, that I don't teach, that is all boys.
Last night they were all giggly and distracted, talking about Idols, I guess – "Idols" means kpop music stars of various types. I got grumpy and serious. I yelled loudly and made them quiet down and we worked very productively and with great focus on some TOEFL-style speaking questions. I was pleased enough that during the last 15 minutes of class, I asked them what they wanted to do. Normally they ask to play a game – card games are currently popular.
This time, however, they wanted to watch music videos. I am somewhat hesitant to turn over control of the internet to my students – it ends up being hard to find anything pedagogically redeeming. So I said if we watched videos they had to be in English. One girl said she knew just the one. I guess there is an "American Idol" style competition show where these boys are competing to become a typical kpop "boy band." They danced and lip-synced to several songs in English.
The girls didn't really listen to the music – I'm not sure they're even interested in the music. They were focused on swooning over their various favorites of the boys in the video, discussing fine points of their appearance and personalities. One girl said about her particular favorite, "I don't actually like him, but he's too handsome."
The boys are just lip-syncing – the show seems to be more a dance and beauty competition than a singing competition. That's in line with what these typical over-produced kpop groups do. They very rarely are involved in making the actual music involved – they're just a performance medium. So in the cases the girls were looking at, these are American pop songs.
In general, "dance covers" are a HUGE thing in Korean youth culture. They're all over the internet, and I have more than once come across kids literally dancing in the halls (both boys and girls), very clearly practicing moves related to one or another of these types of covers.
What I'm listening to right now.
프로듀스 101 시즌2, "Shape Of You." I think this song is originally by Ed Sheehan.
Lyrics (abbreviated as performed on Produce 101).
The club isn't the best place to find a lover So the bar is where i go Me and my friends at the table doing shots Drinking fast and then we talk slow And you come over and start up a conversation With Just me and trust me I'll give it a chance Now take my hand stop Put van the man on the jukebox And then we start to dance And now I'm singing like Girl you know I want your love Your love was handmade for somebody like me Come on now follow my lead I may be crazy Don't mind me Say boy let's not talk too much Grab on my waist and put that body on me Come on now follow my lead Come on come on now follow my lead I'm in love with your body (Shape of you) Every day discovering something brand new I'm in love with the shape of you (Shape of you) Every day discovering something brand new I'm in love with the shape of you Come on be my baby come on
프로듀스 101 시즌2, "Get Ugly." This song is originally by Jason Derulo
Lyrics (full lyrics, I think they're performing only a part of these on Produce 101)
Girl, ladies, let your hurr down Let your hurr down We's about to get down
Oh my, oh my, oh my god This girl straight and this girl not Tipsy off that peach Ciroc Like la la la Ching-a-lang-lang, ching-a-ling-a-lang-lang Jeans so tight I could see loose change Do your thang, thang, girl Do that thang like la la la
Tell them pretty faced girls tryna grabs each other And them undercover freaks who ain't nun' but trouble Baby, I'mma tell you some' only 'cause I love ya People all around the world sexy motherfuckers
Get ugly Yeah, get ugly, baby Get ugly You're too sexy to me Sexy to me You're too sexy to me Sexy to me So sexy Damn, that's ugly
Bruh, I can't, I can't even lie I'm about to be that guy Someone else gon' have to try me La la la Bang-a-rang-rang, bang-a-ring-a-rang-rang Bass in the trunk, vibrate that thang Do your thang, thang, girl Do that thang like la la la
Tell them pretty faced girls tryna grabs each other And them undercover freaks who ain't nun' but trouble Baby, I'mma tell you some' only 'cause I love ya People all around the world sexy motherfuckers
Get ugly Get ugly, baby, woo hoo And everybody say la la la Get ugly You're too sexy to me Sexy to me You're too sexy to me Sexy to me So sexy Damn, that's ugly
Ay, Ricky This beat give me that ugly face, man Everybody lose control Let's get ugly, dysfunctional Everybody lose control Let's get ugly, dysfunctional
Tell them pretty faced girls tryna grabs each other And them undercover freaks who ain't nun' but trouble Baby, I'mma tell you some' only 'cause I love ya People all around the world sexy motherfuckers
Light them up then pass that, pass that La la la Everybody lose control Let's get ugly, dysfunctional Get ugly You know what I'm talking about You're too sexy to me Sexy to me You're too sexy to me Sexy to me So sexy Damn, that's ugly
To find success, you might try just to change
what that word means. It then will come quite fast.
If we allow those other people rights
to choose our goals, they choose our failure too.
– Lately these haven’t been so “random” – mostly I’ve been doing quatrains in blank verse (unrhymed pentameter). But I already did quatrains in a different style, so that name is taken. I guess I’ll keep calling them “Random Poems.” Anyway I get to keep the freedom to change my mind about what format to use, then. I define my own success.
Here is another incident in the seemingly growing category of “7th graders making unnecessary random announcements.”
It was a few days ago.
I think we were talking about parables and allegories. Completely out of the blue, Sally’s hand shot up, and, before I could even acknowledge her desire to speak, she said, “Teacher! I don’t need a boyfriend.”
“Well… good,” I responded, cautiously. Then I asked, “Why are you telling me now?”
If there had been some boy in the class, just then, pestering her in some way, I could almost have seen it as a kind of oblique comment intended to discourage that kind of thing, but in the event, there were only 3 girls in the classroom just then.
Sally shrugged. “It’s important information.”
Another girl, Michelle, nodded knowingly. I suspect this was just the conclusion to some discussion between the two girls that had been proceeding in Korean some time earlier.
In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think that many of these inexplicable “announcements” made by students are most likely much more explicable to their peers, who are in a different, broader social context – the kids have their ongoing, not-during-class interactions, mostly in Korean, with each other. I should feel that it represents a kind of success in language teaching, that they choose to “code switch” into English to express these off-topic thoughts.
Regardless, as the clueless adult in the room, they are often mildly entertaining. [daily log: walking, 7km]
The corpses of long expectations dwelt
against the broken earth like homeless men.
Dark green mosses grew fierce among the stones
but nothing moved; only falling raindrops.
"El poema creado es un poema en el que cada parte constitutiva, y todo el conjunto, muestra un hecho nuevo, independiente del mundo externo, desligado de cualquiera otra realidad que no sea la propia, pues toma su puesto en el mundo como un fenómeno singular, aparte y distinto de los demás fenómenos. Dicho poema es algo que no puede existir sino en la cabeza del poeta. Y no es hermoso porque recuerde algo, no es hermoso porque nos recuerde cosas vistas, a su vez hermosas, ni porque describa hermosas cosas que podamos llegar a ver. Es hermoso en sí y no admite términos de comparación. Y tampoco puede concebírselo fuera del libro. Nada se le parece en el mundo externo; hace real lo que no existe, es decir, se hace realidad a sí mismo. Crea lo maravilloso y le da vida propia. Crea situaciones extraordinarias que jamás podrán existir en el mundo objetivo, por lo que habrán de existir en el poema para que existan en alguna parte." – El Creacionismo (Vicente Huidobro)
Hay palidez tremenda desdeñada desde cielo como olvido vestido de un color apagado en el tiempo.
Hay días amontonándose como vidas sobre la columna de la flor y su memoria de agua triste callada.
Hay esqueletos en fila demostrando como cada idea tiene el dolor como carne sobre el vacío como hueso.
Hay figuras rojas temblando al desvanecer bajo un sol que se confundía con el calor de la guerra.
Hay más existiendo para abarcar en la marcha cuyo motor es ritmo de pura noche estrellada.
Hay secretos acompañándose porque adolorida está la verdad al madrugar en una montaña la creación sin alas.
Hay lividez a las seis de la tarde cuando el pensamiento es una campana dándole raíz al trueno sucio en tierra.
Hay cantos que queman que dejan la sangre bebiendo crestas de fuego que el mundo no ve desde su esquina de humo.
– Pablo Saborío (poeta y artista costarricense-danés, n 1982)
Yesterday, as I was leaving work, I said somewhat in passing that there was a certain thing I would work on tomorrow. A coworker expressed surprise that I would be working, and I, in turn, was surprised at her surprise.
The outcome is that today is a holiday, and somehow this had completely escaped my notice. I knew that it was what they call a "red day" in Korean – because these types of official government-sanctioned holidays are always marked red on calendars. But I had been under the impression that there had been some kind of compensation such that a day off at some other point was being counterbalanced by a plan to open the hagwon today. I had been mistaken.
I suppose I was quite close to missing the information completely, and going in to work. That happened to me once.
Anyway, it didn't happen this time, and so I'm enjoying the unexpected holiday. What is the holiday? Korean "Memorial Day" – which is possibly the Korean holiday most similar to its US counterpart, in how it's celebrated (somber ceremonies at cemeteries, many flags, but mostly picnics and hanging out).
It's hard to know why he kept fighting them;
they were just spinning windmills after all;
but he announced they were demonic beasts,
and battled them till they, bewildered, fled.
달팽이 뚜껑 덮었다
dal.paeng.i ttu.kkeong deop.eot.da
snail lid cover-PAST
The snail keeps covered.
This means that people who keep to themselves are unknowable. Which seems kind of self-evident, but in a culture like Korea’s where a major portion of socialization among peers is “enforced” (obligatory at some level), keeping to oneself is an outlier personality trait. [daily log: walking, 7km]
An escalator carried me below,
where I met ghosts who haunted subway trains;
their writhing nothingnesses captured me
and caused my eyes to droop in naked sleep.
Sometimes some strange new germ of a story idea occurs to me, and I feel fairly certain I won't actually write that story. In such events, I think maybe the best thing to do is to publish the idea on this here blog thingy and maybe someday, someone else might decide it's an interesting idea.
I was thinking about the interior of the Earth. The Earth's core has a solid inner part, and liquid outer part. The boundary is a kind of surface of crystallization, expanding gradually outward at a rate of a millimeter a year or some such tiny amount, as the Earth's core cools. Not that it's cool, in there. The liquid is mostly iron and nickel, with dissolved lighter elements: sulfur, calcium, oxygen. The idea that oxygen is included got me to wondering: could some type of chemo/thermophilic lifeform emerge in such an environment?
It wouldn't be carbon-based, or even silicon-based. Iron-based, maybe? Is that chemically plausible? I don't know enough about it. But I also thought back to a book, Dragon's Egg, by physicist Robert L. Forward. It's science fiction, but it's quite "hard" science fiction, in that he's worked out the physics of the emergence of intelligent life on the surface of neutron star. It's a rather interesting book.
Anyway, couldn't a similar treatment be applied to some core-dwelling lifeform, evolving intelligence over a billion years or so down there in the deeps, in a soup of liquid metal. And maybe their main sensory systems are based on magnetism (which makes sense in an iron-based environment, maybe). And these creatures start exploring upwards… building rivers of "breathable" molten iron upwards through their sky of stone. Until they arrive on our surface and meet us – dwellers of the outermost atmosphere, frozen beings made of puffs of something less than air, from their perspective.
By means of time small people take on weights
they would not otherwise begin to bear
and understanding each year's progress till
at last the heaviest thing buries them.
– this is my first ever effort at blank verse, which is arguably English’s most important poetic meter.
In the wake of last week's talent show, we had some "market day / game day" events with the elementary students this week. Yesterday, I was with our relatively small and not terribly talented Tuesday/Thursday cohort, and we were playing a "picture game" that is popular with the kids – it's a bit like charades, but instead of acting, you draw a picture on the whiteboard, they have to guess the word. The vocabulary involved can be as simple or complex as necessary for the given group. This group can handle "dog" and "television" but not "parachute" or "tears."
It was this last word that led to a kind of entertaining result. A student drew a face with tears on the board, with a little arrow to a tear drop. It was a respectable representation. I knew the kids knew what it should be, because they were saying it in Korean. But they lacked the word in English. The word "tears" was simply not part of their vocabulary.
One kid got innovative, though. The Korean for tears is "눈물" [nun.mul, literally "eye-water"]. But the first element, "눈" [nun "eye"], is a homonym in Korean: "눈" [nun] also means "snow." So when I rejected "eye water" as unacceptable as a possible word meaning "tears," he tried "snow water," grinning triumphantly at his cleverness. Unfortunately, puns don't translate.
For some reason, this seemed quite funny and poetic at the same time.
I'm sure this pun has been quite productive over the years in Korean symbolism and poetry.
The free spirits of mountains,
of ephemeral cities
lacking well-conceived futures,
of unnamed rivers and lakes
shimmering on horizons,
of towers spiraling up,
asymptotic to time's lines,
these spirits will not speak, but
loiter on the pale edges
of maps, of dreams, of stories.
