One of my bands in high school opened up for the band that went on to become the band that went on to become the The Walkmen. They make terrific music. They make atrocious videos. Go figure.
As for me, I don’t think my timing in moving to Korea could have been any better. Not that I’d wish the American recession (or should we use the “D”-word yet?) on anybody, but it was hard enough to find satisfying work six months before it hit the fan. I can imagine the malaise, if not downright desperation, hanging over America right now.
For what it’s worth, the Korean economy isn’t in the best shape either (about the only global currency weaker than the US dollar right now is the ROK won). But I still see plenty of advertisements for native English speakers. South Korea has made a long-term commitment to increasing the number of English speakers in their work-force, so teaching English isn’t a bad “industry” to be in these days.
Best wishes to everyone for a fun, healthy, and fulfilling New Year.
Christmas in South Korea is a pretty big deal (the place is a lot more Jesus-y than most Americans would expect, with Christianity being the most popular religion). At the same time, it’s more of a social holiday than stay-at-home with the family ones like Chuseok in the Fall or Lunar New Year in January or February. Beyond that, there’s a sense of spectacle that works well with Korean sensibilities (“bling“).
To wit, here’s a recently recorded medley of K-Pop goodness. The Korean pop-world being a bit smaller than the American one, this would be kind of like Beyonce, Lil Wayne, Britney, and Kanye all showing up to sing “Little Drummer Boy” together. Hawt.
Warren has stated publicly that he thinks all Jews are going to hell, not to mention homosexuals. What kind of “balance” is it to have this guy speak at a national event without repudiating his own hate speech?
That said, Obama will be using the Lincoln Bible, which is a great idea. I guess I’d have to call it a wash.
We’re doing a big Christmas party tomorrow for both the morning kindergartners and the afternoon elementary kids. My boss managed to find a rental Santa in South Korea, and I’m more than a little curious to see what comes through the door.
Beyond that, I told him that I wanted to show my kids “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” and he’d never heard of it, understandably.
I came in this morning and found that our “Party Schedule” now included a hagwon-wide viewing of Dr. Seuss’ classic tale. I guess he had some free time on his hands after I left last night.
I consider this a minor victory for a) East-West cultural relations, b) Youtube having genuinely valuable media beyond making squirrel sandwiches, c) Christmas Spirit, and perhaps most importantly d) good taste.
Are we even trying to pretend that this isn’t an occupation? Let the guy go for Christ’s sake. One of the worst presidencies in American history is finally coming to an end, and we owe nothing to Bush’s precious little ego or his sense of slighted honor any longer. In fact, these are the very things that have managed to put America in such a precarious state.
Giving taxpayers’ money directly to incompetent bankers is necessary for the future of our economy. Providing affordable health-care for Americans like the rest of the developed world? Not so much.
If only a catastrophic economic crisis caused by the venality and stupidity of Wall Street and the housing industry, coupled with ill-conceived, rabid deregulation on the part of a Republican president and Congress could shock people into realizing that the Bush II years were simply a form of government organized wealth redistribution from the bottom to the top.
This caused a bit of a stir here: “South Korean actress avoids jail for adultery.” A popular 40 year-old actress barely avoided doing hard time for having an affair in the confines of a broken, if not emotionally abusive, marriage.
The article makes the point that the 50 year-old adultery laws were actually put in place to protect women from being dumped by rapacious husbands back in an era when women were not effectively allowed to keep jobs in order to support themselves. These days, it’s hard to see how laws like these do anything but punish women.
Posted by Jaim 
Posted by Jaim 
Posted by Jaim 
