Published by Swiss James on 23 Aug 2007 at 05:03 pm
Hallyujah
When I lived in Seoul, I was always reading about how Korean culture was sweeping the world; a tsunami of weepy TV shows and genderless boybands crushing everything in its terrible path. I always found it hard to believe, and read on ex-pat message boards (the modern-day counsel of elders) that it was all hype, so took it with a pinch of salt.
Strangely though, it does seem to be true, at least in Chinaland. In my office there’s one guy who downloads gigabytes worth of Korean TV onto his laptop, and another who has Hangeul written on the back of his jeans. Walking through the airport yesterday I was surprised to see a gaggle (an ogle? A giggle?) of teenage girls waiting for TVXQ to float down from heaven and fill out their customs forms, and you don’t have to go far in the downtown area to see an advert for a concert by Rain which has been forecast for the last 8 months.
Excitement builds for Rain’s concert
Assuming a nightmarish Bird-Flu type scenario where this foolishness spreads to the english speaking world, I can save everyone months of ear pain. There are precisely two good Korean pop songs:
“Falling In Love Again” by Bobby Kim
Korea is fantastic. K-pop, not so much.
I sometimes wonder if you get stooges in to pose for some of these photos. If you do then i admire your balls
“excuse me would you mind laying down on the floor whilst i take a photo to which i will add a witty caption to patronise and poke fun at your nation? thanks”
(I admire your balls anyway, but i try not to let you notice).
If you dont then you’re either a) the luckiest photographer in the world
or
b) our oriental brothers are one cwazee bunch.
I take it you wont be around for my birthday shennanigans? fair do’s as i wasnt around for yours
oh and i sold your jacket and shirt for a handful of beans. i’m just waiting to harvest the golden crops.
i have a Japanese student who is mad for Korean dramas- so much so that she has learnt Korean and been to Korean just to see the locations of her favourites. and a friend that worked in China told me that Korean boys were quite the thing in Chinaland
Bozzle- there’s no need for stooges and if I had a) big swinging brass balls and b) no job then I could get way crazier photos every day. The number of fellas I see every day walking around in just a pair of boxer shorts, rubbing their man boobs, with a cig dangling from their lips alone would fill up a memory card.
missbels- I think it’s because Korean boys don’t wander around rubbing in a pair of boxer shorts rubbing their man boobs, with a cig dangling from their lips. If those lads from “Queer Eye For The Straight Guy” came over here, they’d have a fit.
Respect to your student for learning Korean though, which program is she into- Winter Sonata? One of those ones where people go blind?
[Disclaimer: obviously you get your well-dressed Chinese guys too, and to be honest I've got a lot of time for those guys who don't care what they look like. Them lads are working on building sites for 12 hours a day, which doesn't leave much time for mani-pedis and hot oil hair treatments.]
That winged man on the billboard is your intellectual property, mate…sue ‘em!
how do you know how long a hot oil hair treatment takes? Surely it is different for people who have hair.
It is 5.10 AM in the MORNING here in merry old London and I have just crawled in off a night bus- bed time now , methinks
H
x
im glad u think Korea is fantastic -cos im korean. yusssssssss
Gardnermark- that really would make a great spot the difference contest. Anyway my lawyers are on the case
missbels- drunken comment posting is the best! I don’t know how long a hot oil treatment takes, but I know they ’shower’ under a cold tap in their y-fronts, so am guessing that would hold them up a bit.
Claire- dae han min guk sarang ae yo!
i’m korean and i couldn’t agree w/ u more! k-pop is wayyy too fruity for my liking. but there are some great classic songs that i grew up with which i classify them as k-rock. (ie. shin hye chul, seotaji, shinsungwoo, etc)
Hmm I don’t think I’ve heard any of them- oh except Seo TaJi. There was a group called Crying Nut that I saw once and were mint, but when you don’t understand the words, it’s a bit hard to get into rock music.