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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 - May 2007

real estate agent language

May 31st 2007 11:50
the devil is an auctioneer
our time in korea is drawing to an end and it is time to start looking for accommodation back in the land of oz. since we live in the future now, the days of scouring through newspapers or driving from real estate agent to real estate agent to pick up their 'rentals' list have come to an end. now we are blessed to be able to search on the internet for our prospective house/dwelling, or even get these notifications emailed to us. but it is good to know that real estate jargon hasn't progressed along with the technology.


i have been recently looking for our next potential place and was quickly reminded of the 'secret' way of reading the rental lists. it is almost as they are written in a cryptic way so as everyone can have a laugh at either how bad the place is or how exorbitant the price the owner is attempting to charge for it. here is a list of a few of my favourite adjectives/phrases:

cute - tiny as. usually wedged between two apartment blocks that house up to 500 people in each.
warm - similar to cute but probably with a little more mould in the bathroom.
cosy - just like a prison cell but sometimes minus the bars.
close to transport - a railway line runs past your bedroom window which happens to be the main route for cargo trains at two o'clock in the morning.
leafy back yard - no one has bothered to clean up the weeds or mow the lawn for at least several years. good luck finding the clothes lines.

location! location! location! - on top of the local kebab shop that services every bar and club leaver at five o'clock in the morning. also has a wonderful aroma when the smoke isn't in the way.
what a charmer! - hasn't been renovated or touched for about six changes of the title. each previous owner bought it with the intention of doing it up, but when they started, they realised that it would be cheaper to knock it down and start again, rather than waste money renovating it.
look at the rent! - that way you don't notice what a shit hole it really is.
city views - with a telescope, you can see the tops of the eureka building on a really, really clear day.
student's delight - we all know what student's will put up with.

i think i would be more likely to rent from an agent that said 'yeah look. it's pretty shitty, there is a crack in the toilet bowl and a big ass red wine stain on the carpet in the living room, you can't see the city and it stinks on every thursday morning, but it is only 250 a week and about 10 minutes from the city.' in fact i would probably buy a place from an estate agent that was that real.
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will those spammers ever stop?

May 29th 2007 08:28
spammers in hell
i opened up my email account today and was welcomed with a new style of spam letter. ususaly i would just immediately delete them but something caught my eye with it and i had to see what all the fuss was about. perhaps it was the title, or perhaps i was looking for something to blog about, not entirely sure. i certainly don't saeed ahmed but he has a story to tell and this is it:

Dear Friend,

My name is Saeed Ahmed a merchant in Dubai, in the U.A.E. I have been diagnosed with Esophageal cancer.It has defiled all forms of medical treatment, and right now I have only
about a few months to live,according to medical experts.

I have not particularly lived my life so well, as I never really cared for anyone(not even myself)but my business. Though I am very rich, I was never generous,I was always hostile to people and only focused on my business as that was the only thing I cared for. But now I regret all this as I now know that there is more to life than just wanting to have or make all the money in the world.

I want God to be merciful to me and accept my soul so, I have decided to give also to charity organizations, as I want this to be one of the last good deeds I do on earth. So far, I have distributed money to some charity organizations in the U.A.E, Algeria and Malaysia. Now that my health has deteriorated so badly, I cannot do this myself anymore.

I once asked members of my family to close one of my accounts and distribute the money which I have there to charity organization in Bulgaria and Pakistan,they refused and kept the money to themselves. Hence, I do not trust them anymore, as they seem not to be contended with what I
have left for them.

The last of my money which no one knows of is the huge cash deposit of Eighteen Million Dollars $18,000,000,00 in side two boxes that I have with a Finance/Security Company Abroad. I will want you to Act as my Beneficiary who will help me contact the security finance company on my behalf to discuss the terms and condition of getting this deposit out from thier custody and also helping me to dispatch it to the charity organisations.

Reply to this email with your full names,contact address,tel number and fax to enable me ask my doctors lawyer to arrange for you a power of attorney that will give you full legal backing as my beneficiary.

I have set aside 30% for you and for your time.

Please kindly reply to my most confidential email if you are really interested in helping me please:

saeedahmed321@yahoo.co.uk

God be with you.

Saeed Ahmed

apparently i am his lucky friend and with god on my side, i will be inheriting some of 18 000 000 million dollars soon. this would have to be one of the classiest spam letters i have ever seen. gone are the days of people telling me that me penis is too small and that it would stand up better if i used their product, now they are enticing us with claims of millions of dollars!

in fear of crashing every server in the northern hemispere, i dare not open it. needless to say i am so curious to find out what would happen if i reply to that email address. is saeed going to come over to my house for a cup of tea? maybe his kids and my kids could play in our jointly owned money pit somewhere in a dessert oasis? or maybe we could just buy our way into heaven? thanks saeed, but i just couldn't handle that much cash.
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i don't need to say much about it, other than i would like to spread awareness about it. you can read all about it at the melbourne indy media site.

and here is a tour of it:


that's a bit scary, so we should all try and raise awareness about it however we can.
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ci kim - the (solo) artist

May 16th 2007 01:45
ci kim piece
i went and saw ci kim's exhibition, 'sad tiger's self navigation' at the arario gallery last week. some of his pieces were really quite nice with the overall flow of the exhibition telling a very detailed story as i walked around the space. one of his pieces struck me as my favorite which i earmarked to read about after the gallery, and as i was sitting having a cigarette and a latte after the show, i read that a friend nearly ruined this piece after a night of drinking and art 'creation'. funny, my favorite piece wasn't even done (partially) by the artist i went to see.

this started me thinking about art in general. is it ever created for anyone other than the artist? this exhibition was written up as the artists 'self journey' to discover his own art style while telling a story about the children's alphabet book 'trauriger tiger toastet tomaten' by nadia budde. and i think back to standing in the gallery, interpreting the pieces as i was, giving it credit, appreciating the works for what they were, when i realised i had been suckered into one mans self indulgent art realm. he was showing me where he had started, his journey through, and finally where he had ended up during this self development stage. but is that the idea of art generally i wondered


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i have a new head!

May 15th 2007 07:45
i got sick of my old one, so i changed it with this slick little animated dude! look at him run! run little man, run! he just isn't going to stop! until i get bored with him.

if anyone is interested, it is called an animated gif and can be found on this site. and yes, i do have the day off today.
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should blogging be a mere rehash?

May 15th 2007 04:01
duplicates
thnks to universitylibraries.com for the image
bloggers come in all shapes and sizes - reviewers, informers, shit stirrers - but all have something to say. but as i cruise around the internet, i sometimes come across the same information that has been cut and paste into numerous amounts of entries. do we need an editor to control this type of internecine information?

sometimes information is simply that, information and it cannot be given to a viewer other than in the correct answer form. it might be para-phrased, but in essence it is virtually the same information. conversely something could be critically written, in which case the reader has to approach the information with how the information is being presented as opposed to what the information actually is. in both cases the information is there to inform, potentially giving the outcome where the reader should walk away engaged with their new knowledge


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record review - fuck me u.s.a.

May 14th 2007 12:29
fuck me usa
this is a strange, yet well constructed, little ensemble built entirely upon a concept. with a slogan of “more guns than goodfellas, more cocaine than scarface”, one tends to think fuck me u.s.a. are having a bit of a laugh at what they are doing. whilst having a laugh they are certainly producing some fairly descent tracks.

emerging from the central part of england, they were concepted in february 2006 and have just realeased their first self titled 12" on the 4th of may 2007. with a self quote of sounding like "Alan Vega, Sigue Sigue Sputnik's 'Flaunt It', and Underworld layered with Velvet Underground guitars", their sound is one that is progressing that which was pioneered by the likes of 'underworld' and the 'chemical brothers' during the mid 90s. the title is something that contradicts the overall sound of the album


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top 20 film clips - the final 6

May 13th 2007 09:57
it has taken me over two weeks to try and narrow this selection down, and i just can't do it! there is no way that you can narrow all of the film clips in the world into a top 20, so i had to cheat a bit. instead of doing the top six as the best ever, i thought i would do a personal selection of clips that changed my life as i was growing up, after all that is where my passion for music really started. and what better way to only choose aussie classics that have so many memories for me. so here we go!


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female bloggers - bloghers

May 12th 2007 04:33
as i gaze into the winter of my dismay.... courtesy of the age.
i found this article the other day in the age on tuesday the 8th of may 2007.

it basically goes on about how there are not many women blogging out there and then goes on to say that they do it differently! in my blogging experience, i would have to say that i have come across maybe even more female bloggers than male ones. and of course the style of communication is different - it is written by a woman! isn't any form communication different between a male and a female


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koreans and their festivals

May 11th 2007 03:43
sangmyung university festival
what was once a soccer field is now a massive stage!
this is certainly the festival season for the south koreans, and to back up the last two that we have experienced in the last two weekends, my university is in the middle of a three day university festival. when i ask the students why it is on, they simply reply with 'just because'. fair enough then, that's a good enough reason as any.

this event sees all of the faculties closing down and basically turning into pubs for three consecutive days. much fun and madness is being had by all, with entertainment being scheduled at the end of each night on the enormous main stage that has been erected where soccer is normally played. last night saw the opening night of festivities


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last night a dj saved my life

May 10th 2007 03:40
break beat stage at seoul world dj fest
spring has sprung in south korea and this has seen an increase of outdoor activities on offer around the country side. one of high mention (and yes i did mention it last week) is the hi seoul festival. this is the 5th year that this has been running and they have got it down to a fine art. the entire city is a gasp with activity to celebrate both spring and the han river and there are a variety of events on offer for all sorts of age groups.

this weekend we decided to go to the first seoul dj fest, a festival that was going over 2 nights and was free. they provided camping for 3500 won (about 5 aussie dollars) for the two nights but unfortunately we missed out on that, and we only managed to catch to the second night


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truck pull
after this we all start cruising around in buggies and acting with tina turner
i knew there were crazy sports out there, look at high jump for example. the last time i had to jump a fence i didn't run at it from the side, and i most certainly didn't roll like a worm that has been half squashed when i went over it. and there wasn't a nice big fluffy mattress on the other side waiting for me to 'flop' my body on to it, more like a spikey cactus or a half starved german shepherd.

i suppose it is safe to say that most sports start as something that is done in everyday life, and then followed by human nature in that we must beat those that try to come up against us. look at football (or soccer as it might be known as


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pepsi latest advertising scheme

what more needs to be said? this is pepsi's latest advertising campaign on the subway system in seoul.
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great places to stay in seoul

May 3rd 2007 06:20
worldcup korea guest house
we found the best guest house to stay in seoul on the weekend, and thought it was only fair to share this information to anyone planning a trip to the mapogu district. worldcup korea guest house is a lovely little apartment block nestled into the back streets of the mapogu district on the northern side of the han rider river, very close to where all the action happens. here they provide the traveler with all that they need: quiet clean rooms, spacious living areas, a fully usable kitchen, cable television, internet access, iron, showers, filtered water, and a free breakfast!

after having sampled some of the other guest houses in seoul, it is in my opinion that this is the best. unlike other ones, this one is affordable, close to the subway system, clean and not dusty, and if you call when you arrive at mapogu office station (line 6, exit 5) they will come around and pick you up. you have the choice of single, double, twin, or dormitory style rooms and each is priced accordingly. surrounding the guest house is also a great selection of korean bbq style houses that offer some of the yummiest food available (not to mention cheap as). so get your room, duck out for a bite to eat, a bottle or two of soju, and then off to whatever event seoul has to offer


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my 'memoirs' moment
as we walked, the cherry blossoms flurried like a summer snow fall
after having spent the night at one of the craziest places on earth, i found myself sitting in a pc baang somewhere in incheon wondering what to do next. after doing a bit of a search on what is what in the city, i hadn't really found anything apart from incheon having an underground shopping mall, and a china town. as i wasn't in a spending mood, china town was the obvious choice.

not really knowing where i was, and not being able to find a map that was detailed enough, i thought the only thing for it was to jump on a bus and see where i ended up. i jumped on the 21 and headed toward the main bus terminal at where i had arrived the day before. after a few stops, this little man jumped on and walked towards me with a big smile. i smiled back and followed up with a 'annyonghaseyo', to which the man was very impressed. i then proceeded to have my first korean conversation, proving that my lessons are actually paying off....finally


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