Caveat: the austerians of reactionary Keynesianism

Found Online / Philosophy & Cultural Criticism / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

picture“Once upon a time Republicans were tax collectors for the welfare state. Now Democrats are the austerians of reactionary Keynesianism.” – Corey Robin

There’s a lot going on in that quote, so if you want to understand it, I recommend Robin’s essay at Crooked Timber. It’s pretty in-depth – but a good historical analysis of the way the Republicans and Democrats have evolved over the last several generations, such that modern Democrats more closely resemble Republicans of 50 years ago than they do historical Democrats. And not to everyone’s benefit.

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Caveat: Thank God Eh?

Banalities & Journaling / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

pictureDid you know that Canada has a strategic maple syrup reserve? Well, I didn’t either. I found out because I read on The Atlantic that someone has stolen some of its contents: $30 million worth. That’s a lot of maple syrup.

I turned to my coworker and commented on this. This was pertinent because my coworker, being Korean-Canadian, was possibly interested in this tidbit of trivia.

I said, “Canada stockpiles maple syrup. Who knew?”

Without missing a beat, he said, “Yea, but, I mean, thank God, eh?”

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Caveat: Your Mission On Earth

Background Noise / Philosophy & Cultural Criticism / Quotable

“Here is the test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished: if you’re alive, it isn’t.” – Richard Bach, in Illusions.

Do you like Mexican aggrotech (electro-industrial) music? Is it odd that I do?

What I’m listening to right now.

[UPDATE 2021-12-19: embedded video above repaired due to link rot.]
HocicoHocico, “Ecos.”

Letra:

Alguna vez te has enamorado, de alguien que no te correspondió,

eso no te impidió dejarlo de amar o ser capas de entenderlo o bien perdonarlo…

Solo era una niña desubicada, era solo un alma perdida….

Era como si pudiera tomar todo el mal y toda la ira del mundo y

con solo una palabra elevarlos al cielo y yo, le ayude, y le prometi que siempre estaria ahi, para protegerla. No es lo que pasa por su mente si no lo que pasa por la mia…

no puedo olvidar mi promesa, es todo lo que me queda

…

Dime, ¿qué es lo crees?
En este mundo de intoxicados
Una voz que te enfurece
hace eco en tus oídos alterdos

Deseos muriendo. ¿Crees en ti?
Estas huyendo de algo vil
Violentos cambios sufres hoy
Brutal ausencia. ¿Crees en ti hoy?

Y simplemente decides encarar
Lo que aborreces y quieres acabar
Y hasta ahora decides despreciar
Lo que te enferma y no puedes curar

Dime, ¿que es lo que crees?
En este mundo de olvidados
Un grito que huye de ti
Hacia lugares ya abandonados

Nada ni nadie podrá llevarse lo que sabes
Nada ni nadie podrá llevarse lo que puedes ver

Unrelatedly, but perhaps similar in overall tone, here’s another very strange quote I found: “I have a question that’s really more of a suicide note.” – some guy named Dave, in a comment on a blog entry about “Bingo in Utopia” – itself very entertaining, as it tries to discover Marx’s view on bingo. But the quote? Pure genius – utterly worth memorializing.

 

Caveat: I simply existed

Background Noise / Life is a Dream / My Poetry & Fiction

I wandered through the space station for hours. Then for days. I was isolated, but hardly alone. I didn’t feel compelled to interact with the detritus of 10,000 species around me. I simply existed.

A small cranny beside a crowded corridor, with plants growing out of the wall in the dim simulated sunlight, was my sleeping place. There was a food dispenser nearby. A child not much younger than myself would sometimes stop by the food dispenser and stand and watch me sleeping. I would wake up feeling her eyes on me, and she would run off down a curved stairway, always pausing just as her head disappeared below the stairs’ horizon to look back at me, only to return another time. She had a mark on her forearm – it was a symbol of some kind.

I never spoke to anyone. It never occurred to me that I could. Most people ignored me completely. Those who didn’t, I quickly learned to avoid or escape.


Assemblage 23, “Alone Again.”
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Caveat: karma w/ odd icons

Banalities & Journaling / Buddhism & Zen / Found Online

pictureThis image (at right)  was shared by a friend of mine in facebookland, and I “liked” it there, but it’s grown on me, so I decided to curate it here, too.

The concept is awesome, if somewhat simple. I don’t really like the “cleanse” metaphor – it is part of what I call the “purity ideology” that I view as damaging to human mental health. But I like the individual suggestions.

It’s the icons that have grown on me.  My aunt Janet said they were odd. I agree. But they’re also interesting. They’re thought-provoking. A cloud for greatfulness? The heart for love is simple enough, I guess. But lightning for checking motives? How’s that work? What’s it mean? And a price-tag for attitude? Priceless! Uh… maybe.

The best is an umbrella for “forgive.” How perfect is that?

Now when I open my umbrella, I’ll think of forgiveness.

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Caveat: 또 하루 멀어져 간다

Background Noise / Banalities & Journaling

Another day. Melancholy.
What I’m listening to right now.

김광석 – 서른즈음에
[UPDATE 2020-03-22: link rot repair]
가사.

또 하루 멀어져 간다
내 품은 담배 연기처럼
작기만한 내 기억 속에
무얼 채워 살고 있는지
점점 더 멀어져 간다
머물러 있는
청춘인 줄 알았는데
비어 가는 내 가슴 속엔
더 아무것도
찾을 수 없네
계절은 다시
돌아 오지만
떠나간
내 사랑은 어디에
내가 떠나
보낸 것도 아닌데
내가 떠나
온 것도 아닌데
조금씩 잊혀져 간다
머물러 있는
사랑인 줄 알았는데
또 하루 멀어져 간다
매일 이별하며
살고 있구나
매일 이별하며
살고 있구나

점점 더 멀어져 간다
머물러 있는
청춘인 줄 알았는 데
비어 가는 내 가슴 속엔
더 아무 것도
찾을 수 없네
계절은 다시
돌아 오지만
떠나 간
내 사랑은 어디에
내가 떠나
보낸 것도 아닌데
내가 떠나
온 것도 아닌데
조금씩 잊혀져 간다
머물러 있는
사랑인줄 알았는 데
또 하루 멀어져 간다
매일 이별 하며
살고 있구나
매일 이별 하며
살고 있구나

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Caveat: Athens vs Sparta (Kid A vs Kid B)

Banalities & Journaling / Teaching & Methodology / The Wonders of Work

I frequently have "if I ran the hagwon" fantasies. And I'll admit, I've been somewhat disappointed in the putative "curriculum development" aspect of my job description – both due to my own failings and and due to the lack of genuine opportunities offered to do so. The constraints on what I can do about the curriculum at "KarmaPlus" are even more constrained than under pre-merger Karma, tool

But I still think about it a lot.  Lately I've been thinking, especially, about what might be characterized as the "fun vs work" dichotomy in parental expectations.

Some parents send their kids to hagwon with the primary intention that it be mostly "fun" or that it be educational but not, per se, stressful or hard work. I'm speaking, here, mostly about elementary-age students. At middle school and high school levels, the situation is substantially different, at least here in Korea. It's mostly about raising test scores, at those levels. But at elementary levels, it's definitely the case that many parents aren't looking for an academically rigorous experience so much as a kind of enriched after-school day care.

But then there are the parents already looking for the hagwon to inculcate discipline and hard work habits and raise test scores, even at the lower grades. They get angry and feel they're not getting their money's worth when their kids don't have a lot of homework, for example.

This creates a dilemma in managing the hagwon, because you have kids from both groups side-by-side in your classroom, and you have to be aware of that. I have exactly this, every day: Kid A and Kid B didn't do their homework. Sometimes, when kids haven't done their homework, we have a custom of making  the kids "stay late" (after the end of their particular schedule of classes) to finish their homework or do some kind of extra work to make up for  the missed homework. And the problem becomes manifest when Kid A's mom complains that we're not making her stay often enough, while Kid B's mom complains that we're making her stay at all. You can see the conflict, right? It creates inequalities in how we treat different students in the classroom, that eventually the students themselves become aware of. And that leads to complaints or classroom management issues, too. Eventually, there comes a moment when  Kid A is asking me why I'm not making Kid B stay. I can't really come out and say, "well, her mom complains when I make her stay, but your mom complains when I don't make you stay."

So earlier today, after my morning debate class and waiting for a middle schooler to come see me about a missed debate speech test, I began daydreaming a solution. Here's how I think it should be solved.

The hagwon should have two parallel "tracks" – a "fun" English and an "un-fun" English. Tentatively, because it's marketing gold, I would call these "Athens" track and "Sparta" track.

The Sparta track would be about what we have now: lots of grammar, daily vocabulary tests, long, boring listening dictation work, etc.  The Athens track would be my "dream curriculum" with arts, crafts, cultural content, karaoke, etc. There would be some shared or "crossover" classes, like maybe a debate program for the advanced kids or a speech program for the lower-ability ones, to ensure everyone gets some speaking practice.

The advantage of these two parallel tracks is that kids could be placed into either track based on parental preference. Further, parents could move their kids back and forth between them, depending on changing goals or needs. And lastly, the kids themselves would be aware of the dichotomy, and there could be substantial incentives related to the possibility of being able to be "promoted" to the fun track or "demoted" to the un-fun track. It would require careful design, but I think it could be a strong selling point when parents come in to learn about the hagwon. That we have not one system, but two, enabling a more individualized style of English instruction.

Caveat: Time Flew

Banalities & Journaling

5 years ago this morning, I arrived in Ilsan, South Korea, to start my English teaching job. I never would have imagined I’d be living in Ilsan 5 years later. But here I am.

I’ve been having a lot of ambivalent thoughts, lately, about my continuing stay here – mostly induced by circumstances and awarenesses raised by my recent quick visit back to the US. It is undeniable, though, that I’ve stumbled upon a lifestyle that mostly “works” for me – as strange as that might seem to others.

Here’s a photo I posted 5 years ago that I took of Ilsan’s Jungangno (Central Avenue, which I called Broadway for about year until I figured out its name), about a block from my old apartment (and about a kilometer from my current one).

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Last night we went out to dinner after work – all the coworkers and I. It was goodbye for a couple of departing teachers. People come, people go. I was laughing with Curt yesterday over how many different employers I’ve had since coming to Korea (6), yet mostly working with the same group of people in the same neighborhood (except for the oddball one-year-long fling down in the rural south, at the public school at Hongnong).

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Caveat: Improbable Possibilities

Found Online / Media (Texts/Music/Movies etc) / Quotable

There’s an artist named Ward Shelley, who does this interesting thing where he makes hand-made “timelines” and data visualizations – the kind found in history books, but sometimes on strange or unusual or unexpected topics. I really like his stuff. Here’s a timeline of the history of science fiction:

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He calls these things “diagrammatic paintings.” Also, here’s an interesting quote,

The relationship of science fiction to belief is ambiguous but in some
way essential. Science fiction deals with improbable possibilities. It
has that in common with religion and patriotism, except SF is much more
candid about it.

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Caveat: Just Walking Around

Media (Texts/Music/Movies etc)

Just Walking Around

What name do I have for you?
Certainly there is not name for you
In the sense that the stars have names
That somehow fit them. Just walking around,

An object of curiosity to some,
But you are too preoccupied
By the secret smudge in the back of your soul
To say much and wander around,

Smiling to yourself and others.
It gets to be kind of lonely
But at the same time off-putting.
Counterproductive, as you realize once again

That the longest way is the most efficient way,
The one that looped among islands, and
You always seemed to be traveling in a circle.
And now that the end is near

The segments of the trip swing open like an orange.
There is light in there and mystery and food.
Come see it.
Come not for me but it.
But if I am still there, grant that we may see each other.

– John Ashbery

Caveat: 아니, 맛없다

Banalities & Journaling / The Wonders of Work

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The middle-schoolers were taking a test today. They are mostly multiple-choice tests. Students have various strategies for coming up with random numbers when they don’t know the answer – i.e., how to choose a), b), c) or d). My favorite is using their pen as a sort of die – throwing it down on the desk surface and letting how it points determine which letter answer to choose.
But another method is to use the Korean version of eeney-meeney-miney-moe, which goes as follows, in it’s most complete version (the kids mostly seem to use various abbreviations of this):

코카코라 맛있다
맛있으면 또 먹아
또 먹으면 배탈나
딩동댕동댕!
척척박사님 알아
맞혀주세요
딩동댕동댕

The content of the rhyme is something to do with the deliciousness of Coca-Cola, drinking it, and getting indigestion. How did the Coke Corp manage this bit of viral advertising? Is it beneficial to them? Who knows…
Referencing this rhyme is a short-hand way to reference the fact that students are overwhelmed by the test and thusly using random-number-generation to fill in the answers.
One of my students was saying, “Oh, Teacher! I can’t.”
I said, “코카코라 맛있다” (i.e. the first line of the rhyme: ko-ka-kol-la mas-siss-ta = Coca-Cola has great taste).
Quick as can be, the student came back: “아니, 맛없다” (a-ni, mas-eops-da = No, [it] doesn’t have great taste).
Indeed.
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Caveat: Not Swedish

Found Online / Language & Linguistics

I recently saw an article on The Atlantic that explained that the muppet known as the Swedish Chef does not, in fact, speak Swedish. Well, of course not. But that hasn’t stopped some Swedish guy from “transcribing” his talk. Sample:

[UPDATE: sadly this video has disappeared. No replacement can be found. Yay internet!]

I like it mostly for the linguistic aspect. But he’s kind of funny, too – especially the turtle.

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Caveat: Always Departing

Banalities & Journaling / The Wonders of Work

Today at work I learned that one of my favorite students (and one of my most long-term students, having had this student in class a few times even when I was working at LBridge in 2008~2009) is departing Karma. I've seen this person "grow up" and it's always amazing and remarkable to see.

At one level, I completely accept it – there's constant churn and turnover in this business, as parents all struggle with their own highly individualized decisions about that's best for their children, what they can afford, whether they feel they're getting their money's worth. And I was impressed with hearing that in this particular case, it wasn't just a parental whim but something that apparently resulted from a fairly long dialogue between the parent and the child. That's pretty rare in Korean families, still.

But at another level I'm wounded, as always when a well-liked student departs. I wonder if there was something I could have or should have done differently to help the student better. And it's in moments like this that I feel the resentment for the unbridled capitalist nature of this market and job, that seems to grant so many choices and so little of anything else of value.

The news left me moody, and then there was an ad hoc half-hour-long staff meeting after classes ended, as we try to solve scheduling conflicts that are resulting from departing teachers (yes, that too). The meeting transitioned me from moody to pissed off, as I struggled to understand, made an effort to contribute only to reveal my failure to understand, and ended frustrated beyond belief at why it is I subject myself to this bizarre existence. Why don't I get my butt in gear and learn this language?! Why. I'm trying. But it's just not easy.

Caveat: Details

Banalities & Journaling / My Drawings & Paintings / The Wonders of Work / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean)

During yesterday’s staff meeting, I listened carefully. Really, I should take my dictionary to the meeting – as it was, I didn’t take very useful notes. In fact, here are the notes I took during the meeting. All of them.

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The agenda for the meeting looked like this.

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You can see why I have no idea what’s going on. Although I can generally make out the topic-headers and try to pick out things I might need to ask about later, as pertaining specifically to me.

Really, this weekly experience builds my empathy for my students, who sit stone-faced and politely incomprehending, as I prattle on in class.

Curt likes to put little sayings and aphorisms on his meeting agendas. The one on this one says,

내가 원하는 사람이 되기 위해서는…

당신이 되고 싶은 사람이 되기 위해서는
하고 싶지 않은 일을 해야 하고,
듣고 싶지 않은 말을 해야 하고,
만나고 싶지 않은 사람을 만나야 한다.
워치 않은 일을 하지 않고
진정 원하는 일을 하는 사람은 없다.
우리는 누구나 당장 하고 싶지 않은 일,
어려운 일보다는
편하고 쉬운 것은 찾게 됩니다.
그러나 당장 하고 싶은 일,
편한 일부터 찾아하는 사람은
자기가 되고 싶었던 원래 모습과
가장 멀리 있는 자기 모습을
발견하게 욀 가능성이 그만큼 높아집니다.
– 조정민, ‘사람이 선물이다’에서

I may have made some typos in transcribing it. I wanted to try to translate it, but I haven’t, yet. Maybe sometime. I tried googling a translation (as opposed to googletranslating, which is utterly bad) and failed – so if you want a translation effort, you can plug it into googletranslate but don’t trust the result.  The author, 조정민 [jo-jeong-min = maybe Cho, Jungmin] wasn’t even particularly googlable – I think (but I’m not sure) he’s a preacher or pastor. I can’t sort out the search results on Korean websites very well.

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Caveat: Typhoon Holiday

Banalities & Journaling

I went to work today, and because of the typhoon, classes were canceled. We still had a long staff meeting, and everyone had some stuff to work on – I worked on my debate class materials for a while: since I have no textbook, I have to put my own materials together.

Sitting in staff meetings is quite stressful for me – perhaps the most stressful aspect of my job. They are conducted in Korean. I can only understand the broadest aspects of the content.  I compare it to taking a listening test that is too far above my ability level.

I got out of work early and walked home in the wind. I still think this typhoon is pretty wimpy, although there was plenty of leaves and branches being blown around.

Caveat: Wheee

Banalities & Journaling

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According to the locals, this is a big deal. Some schools are closed in Ilsan. But… no notice that Karma is going to be closed today. And looking out my window, so far, it seems kind of wimpy for a typhoon. I’ll get back to you.

I guess I’ll make like a Republican-in-Tampa, and adopt a more somber-but-still-upbeat tone.

The sky is full of fast-scudding clouds and luminous orange gray at 7 am. I’ll give it that. It’s a lot worse down south where I used to live in Jeolla-nam. I’ve heard about downed powerlines, etc. But here, I’ve seen worse on an entirely nondescript, average January afternoon in my hometown of Arcata.

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Caveat: what’s wrong with this article?

Banalities & Journaling / The Wonders of Work

In class earlier, I had a student giving her considered opinion on a rather difficult article we’d read.

“It’s not good,” she said.

“What’s wrong with it?” I asked. “There’s something wrong with this article,” I agreed, elaborating. In fact, the article was a rather exaggerated rant that I’d adapted from a US newspaper website editorial about the horrors of government regulation. I expected the students to eventually figure this out, and express it somehow. “What do you think is wrong with this article?” I probed.

“I think… ” she began, thoughtfully. “In my opinion… after thinking about this a lot,” she continued. I was expecting her to nail the problem in the article at this point – she seemed to be on to something, anyway. But then, she concluded, “It’s too long.”

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Caveat: cosecha de renuncias

Español Aleatorio (Random Spanish) / Media (Texts/Music/Movies etc) 
Ateo

Dame
minuto perdido
tu sentido entero.

Dame
nube olvidada
tu hermosa tristeza sin arraigo.

Dame
Vida mía única
tu imposible verdad.

Dame
mi soledad
tu repleta cosecha de renuncias.

Dame
muerte mía
tu relámpago de abrasado total.

Y tu -electrón terrible,
y tu -velocidad de la luz,
y tu -vértigo de distancias,
y tu -infinitud de guarismos
:y tu -secreto goce germinal de las pequeñas larvas que bucean hacia el sol,
y tu -lindo caballito de cartón de mis sueños de niño destripador,
dadme en seguro trance
vuestro centro inexorable
de palpitar dulcísimo;
entregadme en éxtasis deslumbrado
el devenir ciego de tanta primavera tronchada.
A ver si así
solo y con todo
compongo de mi sed indecible
el tremendo suceder de la Totalidad.

- Miguel Labordeta, de "Punto y aparte" (pag. 86) Editorial Ciencia nueva 1967

Tal vez ligeramente relacionado, por la temática ateísta.

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Caveat: Controlling Yourself

Philosophy & Cultural Criticism / Teaching & Methodology / The Wonders of Work

I have a very smart 8th grade student who has shown a strong ability to muster well-argued libertarian positions. She obviously does a lot of reading and research online – but I really think she understands the ideas she puts together, and she argues them well. We recently had a debate on the merits of regulating junk food (e.g. New York's recent soda-size law or San Francisco's ban on Happy Meals).

Caveat: Memorializing the Time Travelers of London

Background Noise / Banalities & Journaling / Found Online

I ran across the image below of what looks like a memorial plaque somewhere in London.

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It’s funny.

I also experienced this funny cartoon, below.

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These things are unrelated, except as being basically nerd-humor. I guess today, I’m nerdier than usual.

I’m predicting a very lazy Sunday for myself.

What I’m listening to right now.

Cephalgy, “Du bist das Licht.” Why do I listen to German goth-rock? I can’t answer that.

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Caveat: 영영

Background Noise / Banalities & Journaling

What I’m listening to right now.

나훈아, “영영.” [yeongyeong = forever].
[UPDATE 2020-03-22: link rot repair]
picture가사.

잊으라 했는데 잊어달라 했는데
그런데도 아직 난 너를 잊지 못하네
어떻게 잊을까 어찌하면 좋을까
세월가도 이직 난 너를 잊지 못하네
아직 나는 너를 사랑하고있나봐
아마 나는 너를 잊을수가 없나봐
영원히 영원히 네가 사는 날까지
아니내가 죽어도 영영 못잊을꺼야

잊으라 했는데 잊어 달라 했는데
그런데도 이직난 너를 잊지못하네

아니 내가 죽어도 영영 못잊을꺼야
아니 내가 죽어도 영영 못잊을꺼야

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Caveat: Horrible Sanity

Quotable

pictureI will share some random quotes accumulating in the quote-queue.

“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.” – Edgar Allan Poe.

“Write drunk; edit sober.” – Ernest Hemingway.

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Caveat: make book

Kids / Life is a Dream / The Wonders of Work

pictureThe following essay by 4th grader Han-saem seemed exceptionally charming.  I reproduce it with spelling and grammatical errors uncorrected.

today, I made book.  because it’s Homework over the vacation. I
have paper, glue, colored pencil, and scissors.
I’m cut into strips paper by scissor and painted with colored pencil on
the upside. Finally, I’m cheak but … oh my god!!! this is strange because it
is a dream ㅠㅠ

This is a child to whom I can most definitely relate – dreaming of making books.

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Caveat: Bob Knob’s Daddy-O

Banalities & Journaling / Language & Linguistics / Media (Texts/Music/Movies etc) / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean)

Someone attempted to comment on a recent blog entry of mine – the one about PSY’s “Gangnam Style” song. The commenter was what I would I consider a troll – mostly by virtue of the fact that he (or she, but I suspect he, since he called himself Bob Knob – a very troll-like name, too) declined to provide a means for contacting him (i.e. the email address provided was invalid).

Because of the troll-like nature of the comment, I didn’t approve it. Yet I feel compelled to address his criticism, which struck me as nevertheless having some validity. Here is what Bob Knob wrote:

Ehhh… 오빠 (oppa) is what young Korean girls call guys that are slightly
older, in particular their boyfriends. The literal translation is “big
brother” (but guys don’t use it to refer to their older brothers), so
“Daddy-O” isn’t all that accurate.

First and foremost: duh. I know what 오빠 [oppa] means. I suspect that Bob Knob doesn’t know what ‘Daddy-O’ means. ‘Oppa’ literally means a woman’s older brother, but it’s used to address older men affectionately and also (and this is important) it’s used to address boyfriends. Daddy-O is not really current American slang, but in the 1960s it meant someone in authority but who was being addressed informally, and it also was used by some “hip” women to refer to their boyfriends. I seem to remember seeing it a lot as a form address between prostitutes and clients (and or pimps) during a particular epoch, too.

The term ‘Daddy-O’ thus means “informal flirtatious term of address directed by a woman toward a man, with vaguely incestuous connotations.” Which is exactly how I would define ‘oppa,’ too.

In that way, by translating ‘oppa’ as ‘daddy-o’ I try to capture that same semantic field (since in Anglophone culture there is nothing that resembles calling a boyfriend “brother”); but also, because the term ‘oppa’ is clearly being used somewhat ironically (same as the ‘manly man’) in the song in reference to the middle aged man singing it, I figured using an out-of-date slang term like daddy-o would serve that purpose well.

I was tempted to use the term ‘papi’ which is used in hispanic culture to address older men and espeically boyfriends – ‘oppa’ works similarly in Korean culture.

Well, anyway. I doubt the troll named Bob Knob will read this, but I felt compelled to respond with this cultural/linguistic observation. I should also note that this same “Gangnam Style” video has gone sufficiently viral in the US that there’s an extensive write-up about it at one of my favorite US news websites, The Atlantic. Max Fisher, the article’s author, himself pointed to an extensive write up by Jea Kim at her blog My Dear Korea (a blog which looks interesting enough in general to be someplace I may return to regularly). She further returns with a comment on Fisher’s article, in which she takes issue with just how revolutionary the video’s satire is – and in that, I’m inclined to agree with her – to see the video as revolutionary in a Korean context is to be rather myopic vis-a-vis Korean cultural history.

I’ll conclude with this fascinating bit of Americana. Watch it through to the end for some original Daddy-Os.

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Caveat: August 23rd

Banalities & Journaling

A spell of slightly cooler weather compelled me  to throw open my windows last night and sleep with the windows open. I slept much better, as I always do, when I do that.

My motivational deficit persists – I'm not doing any of the various projects I set for myself upon my return from the US, although I'm keeping up with work, if only just barely.

I guess this is a pretty pointless blog entry. I'm feeling very discouraged by life, lately.

Caveat: 22 2e E2 Ee

Banalities & Journaling / The Wonders of Work / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean)

The mathematical phrase '22, 2e, E2, Ee' forms a sort of tongue-twister in the Korean language, because the English letter 'e' (used in e.g. natural log functions, etc.) and the number/digit '2' are pronounced the same way: /i/ (IPA).

So the phrase as a whole would be read '이의이승, 이의이승, 이의이승, 이의이승,' [i-ui-i-seung, i-ui-i-seung, i-ui-i-seung, i-ui-i-seung = two to the second power, two to the e power, E to the second power, E to the e power]. But there are added complications, too.  First, the genitive '의' [ui] is normally reduced to '이' [i] in rapid speech. The second problem has to do with the evolution of modern standarrd Korean versus regional dialect: middle Korean (i.e. around 1400 AD) was a tonal language, while modern Seoul dialect is devoid of tones. But some regional dialects retain the tones, and in those dialects, the number '2' and the English letter 'e' are assigned different tones. This makes the phrase less of a nightmare of pure homophones, but it ends up sounding quite odd and singsongy, and is difficult to sort out, if you try to get the tones right – not to mention sounding like a country bumpkin.

The real miracle of all this is that one of my students explained this to me. Pretty well, too.

Unrelatedly, this very smart student said to me today: "Teacher! I am very, very, very, very, very humble."

I laughed, and suggested she was maybe unclear on the concept of humility.

Caveat: Aargh’s New Career

Found Online / Media (Texts/Music/Movies etc)

Oh this looks truly entertaining.

pictureThe blurb from the video:

Aargh. Once a successful actor and a true shooting star in Japan. Today he is beginning his new job at the Berlin zoo. What has happened? He is accompanied by the film crew on his first day of work at the Zoo where he is faced with new colleagues and challenges on the one hand and fighting prejudice and overcoming obstacles on the other.

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Caveat: 일월오봉도 (日月五峰圖)

Life in Korea / Media (Texts/Music/Movies etc)

In the Korean art history book I’ve been reading (in English), I ran across the following painting. I don’t think I knew about this – it’s not just a painting, but a many-times-repeated symbol: it’s the image that goes behind the Joseon throne, and thus symbolizes the Joseon kings. Joseon was the dynasty of kings that ruled Korea for 600 years, ending in 1910 with the Japanese annexation.
Anyway, I did an image search for it and found many, many versions. But here’s the one that I saw in my book, that I liked enough to try to find.
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It’s almost VanGoghish. It’s called: Sun, Moon and Five Peaks (일월오봉도 (日月五峰圖)). It’s overladen with symbolism.
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Caveat: 포켓몬

Banalities & Journaling

picturePokemon cards are harder to find than I thought they would be. One thing I discovered when I was visiting with my nephews in Arizona two weeks ago was that they were utterly absorbed, both of them, by Pokemon. They keep these organized little binders of cards (their mother’s influence), and it turns out the thing they would most like “from Korea” is Korean Pokemon cards (meaning the character’s names and stats are in Hangeul – the characters themselves are still the same Japanese ones, presumeably.
I found some finally yesterday (slightly out-of-focus picture at right). I’m not sure they’re specifically what was requested (they had a particular character in mind), but they are definitely Pokemon.
Also, I got my giant box of books that I mailed to myself. So it was a productive morning.
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Caveat: The Witch Must Be Killed

Banalities & Journaling / Internet & Blogging

“Facebook isn’t Google; it’s Yahoo or AOL.” – Michael Wolff, at MIT’s Technology Review.

I find this observation to be almost obvious. The similarities with AOL’s “walled garden” of the 1990’s is especially notable, although in that case, at least AOL had a revenue stream in subscribers that facebook doesn’t have. And that being the case, facebook isn’t the next step forward in the internet’s technological revolution, but, in fact, a small step backward, which is probably temporary. The real revolution will come when the “social network” that facebook has universalized is successfully propelled out of that “walled garden” and into the wider internet. Google as tried with google+ (and failed, so far, in my opinion). Apple or Microsoft may give it a try, or facebook itself may pull it off somehow. But whoever does that will destroy facebook’s already shaky business model, and new revenue streams will have to be found fast, or the empire will collapse like a house of cards.

What I’m listening to right now.

Black Boned Angel, “The Witch Must Be Killed.” This is a “drone metal” group from New Zealand. My tastes are so weird.

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Caveat: Quick to Hope

Banalities & Journaling / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs / Quotable

I know people probably don’t wan’t to hear my thoughts on politics. But I’m feeling discouraged. Reading blogs like Stop Me Before I Vote Again doesn’t help. Here’s a writer named Al  Schumann (who sometimes gets on my nerves), capturing some of my thoughts with his extreme sarcasm:

The “nice” brand of advocacy has to take the form of pleas to participate in deranged comparison shopping. This is not just any lemon, ladies and gentlemen, this is a genuine proletarian lemon, certified by veterans of Students for a Democratic Society. It’s far superior to the bourgeois wingnut lemon. It enhances your unique sense of self. The neighbors will feel like fools when you drive off the cliff in style.

Does it matter how you look when you drive off a cliff?!

Is it that bad? Am I just in a bad mood? I like the phrase “deranged comparison shopping.” Now that’s US politics.

Here’s a meme-picture I ran across. Perhaps it resonates because I was one of those guilty of feeling hope – despite my evident lack of youth.

picture

“On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people.”

“Odd,” said Arthur, “I thought you said it was a democracy.”

“I did,” said Ford. “It is.”

“So,” said Arthur, hoping he wasn’t sounding ridiculously obtuse, “why don’t the people get rid of the lizards?”

“It honestly doesn’t occur to them,” said Ford. “They’ve all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they’ve voted in more or less approximates to the government they want.”

“You mean they actually vote for the lizards?”

“Oh yes,” said Ford with a shrug, “of course.”

“But,” said Arthur, going for the big one again, “why?”

“Because if they didn’t vote for a lizard,” said Ford, “the wrong lizard might get in.”

– Douglas Adams, in So Long, And Thanks For All the Fish

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