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mtv get off the air!

June 15th 2007 04:22

thanks to wiki for the image

jello had it right when he spoke of this all those years ago.but last night, never was it driven home so much.

after a hard day of assessment, followed by some farewell drinks, i decided to call it a day and watch some television before i went to bed. unfortunately, i choose mtv to watch. now i know we live in a post modern world, but mtv talking about bad film clip conventions? c'mon they started most of them.

the show was titled something about the 100 worst film clip trickeries. i am down with taking the piss out of big hair, 80s snare drum sounds, and 'the girl that ran away from the country and and ended up in l.a. to become a big star but really ended up doing porn to support her heroin habit' type scenarios. but when mtv start talking the ugly girl makeover or incorporating homeless people into the film clip to increase 'popularity' i have start pointing the finger.

i remember years ago when mtv had a stronghold on the music film clip industry and had this massive power of the way records were sold. with this power they also had certain conventions that they themselves created for film clips. it was not unlike the way hollywood has a recipe to churn out movies. but now in 2007, we see an episode of mtv being all high and mighty and still trying to get the popularity vote by saying 'oh all those things we force feed you in the 80s, how like, stupid are they?' aaahhhhh makes me mad!!!!!!

i think the saddest part of the entire program however, was that weird al was one of the commentators. i can handle these 'almighty' comments from the middle class white boys that mtv seems to have 1000s of, but to hear weird al get in on the action made me nearly choke. his film clips are always pure gold! and it was an indicator that you were someone if weird al took you off. but there he was talking about all of these conventions and going for the cheap laugh. shame weird al, shame.

anyway let's see al yankovich in his better days:

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Posted By: Jonathon - Category: Fashion, Art, Attitudes, Music

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korean b-boys are the worlds best.

May 2nd 2007 04:42

to complete the weekend off, saturday night saw us take in some spring time festivities in seoul city. at the moment seoul is putting on its 'hi seoul festival 2007', which is basically a spring celebration at many locations around the city for both koreans and also foreign travelers. there were many activities happening on the opening weekend, but i let me nose and belly do the searching. this saw us end up at the yeouido district, under the shadow of building 63, for the food fair and celebrations on the nearby stage.

after a day of travel from incheon, a brief stop for some work, check in at a motel, then trying to make our way to the yeouido district, leisa and i were both hungry as. luckily we walked into a winter wonderland of national delicacies complete with dining area. after doing a couple of laps to see what was on offer, we decided on korean pancakes, bbq pig from the spit, and 2 bottles of soju. let the festivities begin!

this was my first concert of sorts in south lorea, and i must say i am missing my live entertainment like no bodies business. so when i saw the stage light up and the sound system kick in, i was delighted to say the least. what was to come after this was something that i would never have expected.

the show that were there to see was called 'b-boy meets traditional korean music', a fairly descriptive title. it turned out that it was hosted by korea's daryl somers, and the format was something similar to that of 'hey hey it's saturday'. there were times where i felt like i was sitting in the sidney myer music bowl, just about to sing carols - and the amount of children around me enforced this. the first part of the performance was made up of traditional music with flutes, samulnori, gaeyikeum, and gongs. absolutely trans-fixing in how the rhythms and harmonics are completely wrong, but completely right. after about an hour of performance, the fusion began.

on came dj noah and the various troupes of b-boys. the first part of the performance was done completely to beats, however the second half saw the original performers enter back on the stage and do like a metallica/symphony orchestra thing. it really worked and the moves were something else.

most of the dance was based around body rocking, but there were also some poppin' and lockin' (my favorite). one performance also incorporated some contemporary dance with the hip hop, and this got me thinking. i feel that korean hip hop dance is the best that i have seen in the world. the germans are too stiff, the americans think they are all that, and the french are still a few years behind. but the koreans are fusing it to some new place entirely. it may be because most of the kids here do taekwondo, or it maybe because they only have 2 (ish) of the 4 hip hop elements present that they have really concentrated on the dance part. the contemporary fusion is something that you just need to see.

so after being totally entertained (for free), and feed and drunk all for not much, we decided to stumble home on the subway. but not without stopping into maurokol restaurant for some late night sangmyepsol. we made friends with the owners and they couldn't do enough for us. definitely a recommendation for a meal if you are in the mapogu district at any time. thanks seoul for another great cultural weekend!

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Posted By: Jonathon - Category: Fashion, Art, Music

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