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"There is no progress in art, any more than there is progress in making love. There are simply different ways of doing it." Man Ray

Anthroblogogy - April 2007

a fantastic weekend - incheon part 1

April 30th 2007 10:35
korean melons
some of the beautiful food on offer in incheon

this weekend was one that was full of excitement, travel, new people, and education about places that are older than i have ever really considered. the majority of my time was spent in incheon, a city north of seoul and just south of the demilitarized zone that separates north and south korea. it is a place that is made up of many different lifestyles and cultures and has history oozing from every pore that you brush past. each area has its own tale but my journies allowed me to explore two very different lifestyles within the one area.


as i have previously mentioned in earlier posts, the best way to stay in korea is in the love motels that are scattered around the countryside. they offer clean well kept rooms at an affordable price to the traveler, but also have a completely different purpose for the koreans.

korean apartments
we stayed in an area just south of the main city and it was one of the most surreal experiences i think i have had thus far on this journey. the demographic of the area was one that continually made me question the lifestyle of the koreans whilst i was here, and allowed to draw some of my own conclusions from it. let's call this area a province, and this province was surrounded by many of the pictured apartment blocks. these apartment blocks are reflective of a modern lifestyle that the koreans enjoy, and they are literally scattered over the entire country as the main source of accommodation for the koreans. but what was interesting about this place was what these apartments were surrounding.


nestled in amongst these big bad boys were an entire city of love motels, so much so that you felt like you were in las vegas when you walked down the street amongst them. now the real purpose of these motels is to provide the koreans a place to take their potential bed mate and have a good old time. this is pretty obvious by the size of the plasma televisions and the porn machines that are attached to them, whilst providing an assortment of potions and ointments to 'aid' in your nights stay. that was all pretty stock standard and i was prepared for that, but what struck me as odd was when i entered the parking lot.

each car had a little custom sign made to cover the number plate of each of the cars that are parked in the lot. ha ha, scandal! it is obvious that these affairs are not the type that most people want others to know about, and this is pretty obvious when you enter the building how you are ushered away to your room, and are not to be seen from until 'after' your stay.

so here we are in the middle of a living coniption. surrounding us, we have the perfect life. young families that have 2 children, their own car, a reasonably new apartment, and the 'perfect' life. but then here we are down in the nitty gritty of it where both wives and husbands are off having a little more 'relations' with their little someone special on the side! perfect life? i ask you.

it doesn't only stop there, these motels have spawned an industry unto themselves. surrounding them are an array of restaurants to take that someone special before you get down and dirty with them. need some ciggies or some alcohol? perhaps some snacks for the quality time after. no worries, there are multitudes of convenience stores to provide you with your everything. maybe you need somewhere to send the kids while daddy goes and helps mummy's friend with some grown up things, just drop them at the amusement park (complete with 30 meter high ferris wheel) for a couple of hours. everything has been thought of, and is provided for the would be couples.

so don't worry if your 'normal' life has become boring, there are always ways around it!
inside love motels
check out the side of that plasma! complete with porn machine attached. 1000 won ($1.50aud) gets you half an hour. and it comes complete with 5.1 surround sound and free internet access!

inside love motels 2
how's the romantic velvet with matching wall paper?
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is blogging making us smarter?

April 27th 2007 04:23
pie chart on blogging knowledge
image courtesy university of washington communication department
i have been involved with the orble community for around 6 months now and have been very impressed with the quality of content that is covered and discussed. it is one of my most visited sites now and is up there as a source of information for all sorts of topics. i can find out communication trends, sports results, movie reviews, culture tendencies, spiritual antics and all things in between. not only can i find out information, but it is then open for discussion amongst those that stop by for their daily fix.

one thing that i must comment on is the high quality of writing skills and the intelligence of some of the contributors. this then leads me to ask the question of 'is blogging making us smarter?' is it only this blogging community or is it something that is familiar with blogging communities in general? i compare this to a regular conversation, say in a friends lounge room at night, where we have a few drinks, just finished dinner and are shooting the shit. catergories that you might discuss are similar to those that are covered in this community. 'did you see the demons beat the tigers?' or ' what do you think of that new movie by the korean director dude?'

i would like to say that my friends are all of high intelligence and can easily discuss most issues very well, but i am not sure if we would cross areas that are discovered between fellow bloggers. is this because we have the information super highway at our fingertips as we chat, or is the interest group more similar, or are bloggers smarter? (that is in no way a dis to any of my friends by the way!) is this community vehicle providing a means to equally educate those that freely participate within it?

not only in information does appear to excell, but also in conduct of how people communicate on it. thus far i have only read one negatively controversial blogging incident on mind orgasms, and even then it was more like days of our lives than a slander competition! i have witnessed a kind of self managed style of open forum discussions between orblers and others that are dropping by. it is almost like people don't even consider negative comments, but would take the high road of clever wit to make their point clear.

quality information?
image by bjorn de leeuw
this then leads me to ask if blogs are a credible information source? i would refer this argument to be of a similar nature to that of wikipedia. i feel if a blog is giving misleading information, it is then up to the community to sort that blogger out and discuss where they have gone wrong and assist in steering them in the correct direction. but once again, consumption of any media must always be open to interpretation and should be viewed with this in mind.

so i would then conclude that i do believe that this neo-liberal form of communication is providing its pro-sumers with an avenue to a free education. there are few boundaries except those that we place on them ourselves, and is adhering to a concept of authorless information with a rhizomic approach. is it then safe to say that blogging is making us smarter? what do others think, particularly if you are not an active blogger?
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this weekend - insadong

April 23rd 2007 04:11
sunday provided us with the chance to check out insadong province in seoul. this is an area that is aimed at western tourists, so i had mixes emotions about the entire day. even at home a i generally stay away from areas that are aimed at these kind of markets, but when in rome... although it is quite a beautiful area that reeks with korean tradition, it is also quite plastic in that it is catering for the mass audience from the western world - and that is indeed who was there.

we did stumble across some nice galleries and i could have spent millions of won on many of the contemporary pop art pieces that were on offer, and there were of course many places to eat and nibble and refresh. one thing that i had to ponder over was why are we traveling to these places to see different cultures, yet these different cultures are trying so eagerly to accommodate and assimilate to our culture? but then who are we to tell them not to? i also had to wonder where it will all end up in a few decades from now.

the morning was excellent and this was completed by a lovely lunch of bip bim bap and bulgogi, all of which was washed down with a bottle of plum wine. however my tolerence ended there as i could not put up with the arrogance of to other tourists that were eating behind us. after hearing their stupid conversation of who farted and how cool they were, the straw that broke the camel's back was when they clicked their fingers and yelled out 'check!' now the style of this restaurant or sikdong was one that was quite tranquil and calming but i think even the owner saw red and had steam coming out his ears!

i had to also ponder over the fact of why come to another country and expect to find your own? isn't the reason you travel to learn and discover new cultures and traditions and not force your ways on others? i just couldn't understand it.....

but anyway here are some snaps from the day:
cool shop front
one of the coolest shop fronts i have seen

plastic bim bam bap
the world's largest plastic food...ever!

traditional korean music
one of the local traditional musicians

korean hanji shops
they have some of the most amazing paper and hanji shops. image courtesy of leisa hutchinson.

fish
some of the local delicasies

glass encassed pagoda
the day was finished off with some 13th century glass encased pagoda action.

marble sculpture
......and a gift from an emporer.
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top 20 film clips part 2

April 22nd 2007 13:44
so i had another day to assess the situation and these are my thoughts on the next 7 clips in the worlds greatest film clips....ever....

primus - mr krinkle
[ Click here to read more ]
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top 20 clips - what are yours?

April 21st 2007 13:16
a couple of days ago, a friend of mine told me that rage is having a competition. all you have to do is submit your top 20 film clips ever and you could guest program rage for one saturday night (this has been my childhood dream!). after years of us both being 'serious' music video watchers, we then agreed that it is just impossible to try and narrow all of them into a top 20.

over the last few days i have been thinking about this and am no where near a top twenty, but have a few contenders in mind. i thought this also might tie into the orble trend of late of best/worst films by a few of the other orblers that contribute content


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choice eh wibro!

April 19th 2007 01:12
wibro connection
to further on yesterdays discussion of internet technologies, where the japanese are ignoring the benefits of the old pc and turning towards mobile technologies, here is some more information relating to convergence, mobile technology, and internet stuff.

i don't feel as if i could let go of my mac. i use it for far too much other than just emails, downloading, and internet stuff. what about editing, word processing, web designing blah blah blah. so it is not an option for me to change my mac for a little button mobile phone. i need my big machine, but i also need high speed internet access while mobile. enter the koreans


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the end is nigh?

April 18th 2007 02:48
convergence
all in one mobile technologies
this article was passed to me from a friend of mine, and i think it raises issues that we should consider. basically it is discussing internet trends amongst the next generation of internet users and how they are ignoring the old pc and turning towards mobile technology for their needs.

as a uni student, a few years ago the emphasis that was pushed at us was one that encompassed mobile technology and introduced the idea of convergence. at the time i was a little hesitant of this and couldn't understand what the idea was. however as time passed i could see what they were trying to educate us with, and now there are university studies backing this along with generations of users feeling the brunt of not being able to use computers


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bleh, life sucks...

April 17th 2007 04:27
smashing pumpkins
thanks to their myspace for the image
well it doesn't really, but google search engines certainly think it does! what am i talking about you might ask? well....

last week i wrote an article about south koreans not saying sorry. it received much trafiic (thank you) and still does. one comment in particular from ahmed told me about about a story that happened to him and was relative to mine. within that text he used the words 'bleh, life sucks'. now i'm not sure if ahmed is a super geek and knew exactly what he was doing or it was pure coincidence, but some strange traffic events happened after


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love of diagrams - mosaic

April 14th 2007 13:57
love of diagrams
i don't know if it is me, but i seemed to be drawn to this certian sound of late. one that is comprised of massive bass lines rolling in the background with minmal instruments on top and a slightly off key or an off beat sound to it. without singling out one attribute of this gestalt, i certainly love its whole!

that love for this sound is exactly what i get when i listen to the new album from love of diagrams, 'mosaic', out now through matador records. the album blasts out with this 'rock as' drum beat, muted guitar riff, then this pounding bass engulfs the entire sound and takes it to a new place. the initial vocal is done by luke horton, and i would be lying if i said that there isn't a hint of thurston moore present from his harmonic tone. luke's sound is then complimented by the introduction of antonia sellbach's vocals. the overall sound is one that is reflective of the 'no wave' scene that emerged from new york in the late 70s and early 80, hence the sonic youth aural reference. however this is like sonic youth met peter hook of joy division fame, mixed it with some swervedriver, and re invented the way out sound for now


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tmnt - cool as ice!

April 13th 2007 06:57
with the release of the new teenage mutant ninja turtles movie, there is going to be a hype around it like everytime with these types of movies. but i was around the first time it happened, and i bet most people have forgotten about this:


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angry grannies
thugs for life
i was talking to my english class the other day, and i told them of this story that happened to me whilst travelling on the subway in seoul. this old lady basically shoved her shopping bag up my ass as i was standing (allowing her to have the seat), as she was trying to exit the train. she could have excused herself or nudged as though she wanted to get through. i was most surprised and thought it deserved a 'sorry'.

when prompting the students as to why she didn't say sorry, they simply said they don't say sorry. this started me thinking. why do we say sorry all the time


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hey it's rachael ray!

April 11th 2007 02:16
one of the past times that you can do in south korea is watch tv. they loooove their tv here, that's for sure! we have a television in our apartment and it allows us to watch any of the 77 channels that are provided through the cable connection (this is the first time i have ever had this many channels). however, as with any television, there is rarely anything of quality on, and we are limited even further as we can't understand korean completely yet, so we have to watch the 6 english channels.

needless to say in the past few months i have watched some fairly average programs -mainly of american descent. i caught myself the other day watching csi miami and actually concerned with the plot! i think i was really just waiting for that red headed guy to put his glasses on and say some tough guy comment that is also exceptionally witty and intelligent. sorry i regress


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no more gaps!

April 10th 2007 08:00
speaking language
as i have been teaching my native language for the first time in recent times, i have concurrently been learning another language - that being korean, or hanguel. this process has allowed me to step back and assess both languages for what they are - a communication tool that we carry in our tool box and bring out to tighten some bolts or hammer a nail with. it is only part of the communication process as we really do rely upon so many other parts to communicate with, but for todays lesson kids, we are going to focus on our language....

although the korean language sounds as though they are saying ten thousand statements in ten seconds, they are really only talking with the bare bones of communication. however they do have quite a few filler sounds that basically fill the sentence between the words to make a series of statements make sense. an example of their sentence structure - without getting all verb/noun/blah blah blah - would be ' i rice eat', as opposed to the english arrangement of 'i eat rice'. as i study this i always seem to reflect back to my own language and think of how much shit we fill our conversations with


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dog day sunrise

April 9th 2007 14:00
samsung logo
we care.....
i work at samsung. it is a good job. i am in charge of the legal team. i am paid well. my hours are long. i like my job.

i spent this weekend with my family. we went to samsung plaza. we bought some things for the house - a new lounge, some new sheets, and a water bowl for the dog


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banksy - you're a god!

April 3rd 2007 14:04
banksy wicked art
in case you can't read the picture in the forefront, it says ' i can't believe you morons actually but this shit'.

banksy is a god! his ability to pick the art world and always seem to stay ahead in it is pretty special. and his art is good too! the above picture has reviews like 'the death of modernism' and 'reflects a paradime shift in perception'. is that art speak for 'take the piss


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the never ending debate is always raging as to the quality of the information that is available on wikipedia. the onlline information encyclopedia that is for wikipedians, written by wikipedians. it is hard for me to take an un-biased opinion of this as i am a firm believer that wiki is all good, however i will attempt to be diplomatic in this discussion of the world's coolest information resource.

wiki is good because


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yellow dust - masks a must!

April 1st 2007 17:43
to continue on this series of doom and gloom entries of late, i thought i would enlighten the anthroblogogy readers to my environmental situation at the moment.

yellow dust storms in south korea
down town seoul. image from terradaily.com
i awoke this morning to read this newspaper article from the korea herald. this is also all over the television due to the yellow dust storms are the worst they have ever been. and if you walk outside, it is easy to see why


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they say fashion runs in cycles. from what i have experienced that seems to be around every 20 years we see a revival of a particular piece, only when it comes around again it has a slightly new tint on it. this can be safely said with popular culture as an example. there is nothing as cool as a pair of chuck taylors with a sturdy pair of denims to sport not only a fashion but an attitude. add a leather jacket to it, and you might be calledjoey, or johnny, dee dee, or tommy. add a sports coat and you are set for your day in the office.

it is quite the opposite for the contemporary art scene. progression, progression, progression - or you would hope. i can't really see the fashions of leigh bowery coming around again. unless we slip into a post new romanticism era in which we will see the revival of culture club with a hint of simple minds. but what a fashion guru he was


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