Kakashi and Giraffe Sex Still Skryfblok's Top Posts

A statue by Belle Brooks, inspired by the search
for "giraffe sex" on Google that has gone
viral. (Image Source)

A year ago (to the day) I wrote a post on giraffe sex. It was basically an experiment to see if it would increase page views to my blog. It actually worked. The search term “giraffe sex” is the second most popular search term that bring viewers to my blog, that is according to Blogger's statistics. Google Analytics describes it slightly differently, saying that the actual keywords “giraffe sex” is the tenth in traffic ranking and “giraffe” fifth. Be that as it may, it is obvious that people with interest in giraffes (and giraffe procreation) quite frequently land on my blog. According to Google Analytics the keyword “Kakashi” is still by far the most frequent entrance to my blog and Blogger's statistics concur that “Kakashi Hatake” is the top search term for people to land at Skryfblok.

To all the Kakashi Hatake fans, here's a naked picture of Kakashi in the shower! (Lol, this is bound to shoot up visits! Nothing like sex to boost traffic, as the giraffe post experiment proved.)

Image Source

Other favourites are “Andy Lau”, “do mermaids exist”, and “body painting.” Other posts that is a gateway to my blog are the one I did on the physical differences between Koreans and Caucasians and the post in which I announced my new (Afrikaans) blog Ingelegde Lywe that focusses on poetry, particularly “liefdesgedigte” (love poems) and “erotiese verse” (erotic verses).

Japan earthquake and tsunamie, March 2011
Image Source

There were two distinct spikes on my blog, one in March 2011 and the other in May 2011. The first spike was because of the earth quake and resultant tsunami in Japan in March. The pageviews jumped with nearly 2000 from January and February. I wrote two posts on the earthquake. The first an Afrikaans post in which I announced the earthquake's occurrence on the day (11 March 2011). The second a few days later in which I explained why Korea was spared from the tsunami that followed the earthquake.

Image Source

Traffic went down with about a 1000 views in April but went up again with another thousand in May. I'm not too certain about the reason for the May spike. I wrote a couple of controversial posts that month. For instance I wrote about how Google tailors our search results; I wrote (favourably and sympathetically) about Lady Gaga's song “Judas” and her struggle with sin; I wrote with disgust about the pleasure people derived from Osama bin Laden's death; I announced that Armageddon would not happen on Saturday, May 21st; I laughed at the release of Obama's Birth Certificate; and I gave a link and feedback about the talk I gave about Christianity and Romantic Poetry. Any, or maybe a combination of these posts could have caused the increase in page views.

While Blogger's statistics show a slow but steady decline in traffic since May, Google Analytics tells a different story. According to Analytics visits have nearly double from May to August. There has been a slight recession of late, but of course the month is not yet at an end so the statistics are a little fuzzy for October. In July and August I went on holiday so I posted some photos of my trip in Laos, Thailand and China. I can't think why such photos should increase views to my blog, however. There are hardly anything else I think noteworthy, apart from, maybe, my “Kukkiwon Gangster” photo, which is slightly controversial, but only to those privy to the dark secrets of Taekwon-Do history.

Image Source

The bounce rate for my blog is pretty high, around 80%. People land here hoping for a website on Kakashi or giraffe sex or mermaids, and instead find a blog with over a thousand posts on very random topics. Disappointed they leave soon afterwards. Most of these people don't stay longer than 30 seconds. For a blog with no specific purpose other than logging my life and thoughts, this is not an issue. Were I trying to sell something (a product, or myself), a high bounce rate would have been a bad thing.

Image Source

Most visitors to Skryfblok are American. The second highest geography that visit my blog is South Africa. This is heartening as one reason I started this blog was to keep my friends and family who mostly live in South Africa up to date with my life here in Korea. It seems to be working. Of all the visitors from around the world most do not return; however just under 10% return to the blog; i.e. they are likely followers of the blog. Interestingly, most of these returning visitors are from South Korea and the second highest grouping of returning visitors are from South Africa. Does that mean that my social network in South Korea has surpassed my social network in South Africa? It would be a surprising finding if it's true, for I am still under the impression that I have far more friends in my country of birth than here in my host country.

Are you a fan?
Image Source

If you have read this whole post, give yourself a pat on the back, for you must definitely be either a real friend or a true Skryfblok follower to have read through all this boring and somewhat useless statistics about a rather purposeless blog. Lots of love to you!

"Sagi Musume"

Kabuki, Japanese traditional "art of singing and dancing" started in the 1600s. Back then the performers were women who played both male and female roles. Unfortunately, with time, the all female ensamble started to supplement their income with prostitution. This resulted in the shogunate banning actresses from performing in these performances. The roles of men were taken over by adult men and female roles were replaced by young male actors. Unfortunately, again, the boys also became involved in prostitution, so finally all roles were replaced by adult males. This seemed to have reduced the instances of prostitution associated with Kabuki performances, although it did not completely eradicated it. However, the lack of feminine characters suddenly required the adult males to acquire tremendous subtlety and grace in order to depict female characters. This resulted in properly the most beautiful, tasteful, and graceful "drag performance".

I hope to have the opportunity to see a live kabuki performance one day. I'm particularly interested in the depiction of "animals" in these performance. As an example, look at the beautiful "Heron Maiden" dance in the video's below, in which the actor depicts the spirit of a young woman who was reborn as a heron because of bad karma. Instead of merely acting like an animal, these animal performances requires the most subtle gestures to enact the animal's character--the slightest twitch of a foot, or cocking of the head evokes the essence of a heron.

Miyavi in the Low Countries

My favorite guitarist, the Japanese sensation, Miyavi is busy with his world tour. He performed on a radio program yesterday -- here's a little outtake below:

While on tour, Miyavi is promoting a "Pray for Japan" campaign that's gathering donations  through the Japanese Red Cross Society for victims of the recent natural disasters that struck Japan.

After his show in Brussels he'll be heading towards Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, Finland and in May he'll be back in Tokyo. Unfortunately, again, there is no Korea stop. )-;



His English has improved quite a bit since the last interview I saw him in. I'm also following his tweets on Twitter, and although he uses lots of slang and abbreviations, I'm also noting an improvement in his English. I'm guessing that he must have a personal English tutor traveling with him. Now that's I job I would have liked -- getting to travel the world with one of the greatest guitarists alive!

"Comfort Women"

Yesterday I went to a screening of the documentary 63 Years On: The Story of the Comfort Women, by Kim Dong-won who received an award for the film in 2008. The documentary tells the horrific experiences of five women who were abducted by the Japanese military during World War II, to function as "comfort women" -- sex slaves, who were numerous times per day by Japanese soldiers over a number or years. According to some estimates there were about 200 000 such victims, of which a large percentage were Korean women.

The screening was shown by The House of Sharing, which is an organization that includes both a museum that tells the story of this tragedy and a home where some of the Korean victims reside. The House of Sharing organizes numerous events to inform people of the events that occurred, to which the Japanese Government has still not admitted responsibility or given a formal apology, and raise funds for the upkeep of the museum and provisions for the halmoni (grandmothers) that live at the centre.

One event planned by the House of Sharing for May is an art exhibit. I'm considering participating in the exhibit. Below is a pre-sketch I did this morning. I'm thinking of using the 'samurai' figure as a symbol for the ultimate Japanese warrior that completely overbears the canvas and so show the intimidation and power over the small girl, which I'll depict in the foreground.

I'm also thinking of doing some sexually explicit drawings almost in a Shunga style. I don't want to show any penetration and may actually leave the female figure out all together. I'm thinking of depicting the phallus of the man -- maybe also in Samurai outfit -- as a type of spear-like weapon. What I don't want to do is "eroticise" the drawings and so "exploit" the sexual tragedy in any way. Even the picture above, with the girl depicted nude, may need to be adapted so that the picture does not become erotic. On the other hand, the topic is "sexual crimes" after all, so while I want to stay away from romanticising the erotic, I don't necessarily want to avoid a sexual tone altogether. It will require careful planning and probably many drafts. I hope I can organise my time so that I can actually participate in the art exhibit. Paintings would be great, but they take a lot of time. I might settle for sketches in charcoal, ink, or pastel instead.

Are You Prepared for Radiation?

So the nuclear plants in Japan are (partially) melting down. If you don't know how nuclear plants work or what exactly the disaster is about, this video by Hank of the Vlog Brothers (Nerd Fighters) will give you the basics.

Unlike Hank who is not too concerned, I am less optimistic. There is definitely serious radiation going on. According to Bloomberg, passengers from planes from Japan set off radiation detector alarms at American airports. The explosion at one of the nuclear plants also sent plumes of radioactive material in the air -- hundreds or radioactive spent fuel rods where shot sky high. While the Japanese (and even American) governments are playing it all down -- as one would expect of them to try and keep panic induced chaos -- independent organizations are mentioning alarming levels of radiation.

An artist's illustration of a hypothetical possibility.

If you live on the west coast of America, you may want to consider moving in land for a week or so. It's been about six days now since the explosion occurred and the jet stream that flowed over Japan at the time of the explosion should be reaching America any time now. Many people think it unlikely that radiation could reach that far, but let me remind you of the annual Yellow Dust problem we experience here in East Asia. Annually dust from the deserts in China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan are swept up by winds that gusts east, carrying dust particles over all of the Far East, covering both the Korean peninsula and Japan in a fine layer of yellow dust. What most people don't know is that it is well confirmed that the yellow dust are sometimes blown all the way across the pacific to the west coast of the United States of America. A scientific study published in 2003 reported on a dust storm in 2001 where dust particles from the Gobi Desert (the China/Mongolia desert) were carried all the way to America and even over America, coast-to-coast! Now if dust from as far as way as China can reach America, there is no reason why radio active particles Japan, which is closer, could not reach America. An article on the New Scientist website confirms that pollution from Asia can reach America.

A 2007 study showed that pollution from Japan
could reach America in about 7 days.

The good news, for me living in Korea, is that, at least for now during this time of the year, the winds generally blow east and hopefully carrying the radiation away from Korea, but that is not to say that it couldn't bite us in the proverbial behind! A British paper, the Daily Mail reported in 2009 on a Japanese study that showed the dust "completed more than one full circle around the planet in just 13 days." Of course the radiation would be much less by the time it completed such a long journey. Unfortunately radiation is a long-term problem.

An illustration indicating how the Chernobyl disaster
affected many parts of Europe thousands of kilometres
away from where the nuclear reactor meltdown took place.

As we learned from the Chernobyl disaster which likely smaller in scale to the Japan incident, the radiation could seriously affected many parts of the world for years to come. You can read more about the Chernobyl disaster and long-term after effects here. Back to Japan. They have been using (sea) water to cool down the reactors and some of this water have been leaking out -- back into the sea? Also, some of the plants continue to smoke -- definitely radio active. Even if this smoke do not go into the higher atmosphere, it will still affect the local areas. How will this radiation affect the surrounding seas? How will it affect the food supplies, not only of Japan, but of Korea? With the Chernobyl incident, certain European countries had their citizens only eat tinned food for six months, for fear that the fresh produce (and soil) might be contaminated.

A good acquaintance of mine suggested that I get an emergency backpack ready, with at least some basics, like my passport and the like, in it just in case. In the meantime I'm going to start eating seaweed like crazy. (Seaweed contains potassium iodine which fills up your thyroid with healthy iodine, making contaminated radio-active iodine less likely to be absorbed by the body.)

Why Korea Was Spared from the Tsunami on March 11

A Map of South Korea and North Korea (yellow
and green) and Japan (orange) on the right / east.

It's best to watch the video clip full screen.

The video clip shows how the tsunami originated just on the east of Japan from where it swept in concentric circles throughout the North Pacific Ocean. The Japanese islands acted as an ideal buffer, shielding Korea from the tsunami. Notice in the video that the East Sea, aka the Sea of Japan (the sea between Japan and Korea), stays a bright clear blue, instead of the dark rippling blue that indicates the tsunami's turbulence. The Japanese islands that slope south-east of Korea effectively deflected the waves away from Korea. One can see the ripplings just touching the southern tip of the Korean peninsula, but with hardly any effect.

In a post I wrote last year November I explained why South Korea is actually quite safe as far as natural disasters are concerned and why Japan is so prone to get major earthquakes. You can read that post here.

The New York Times has a nice visual explanation of the earthquake and tsunami that you can see here.

M8.9 Aardbewing tref Japan en veroorsaak tsunami vroeër vandag

Lees meer by Aljazeera en Russia Today.

Miyavism

I wish I can see Miyavi perform live. There is something about the way he mixes emotion with improvisation that really resonate with me. His voice is not exceptionally melodious, but that is part of its charm, isn’t it? There's something raw about him: something, at once tender, and rough. He has an androgynous quality that reverberates with my own constitution. He is weird like Marilyn Manson, but somehow he escapes Manson’s freakishness. Unlike Manson he does not try to shock. Miyavi’s “weirdness” comes across as an honest reflection of his peculiar talent. In that sense, Miyavi is much more like Björk. His honesty as reflected in his blog updates is also something that appeals to me. Although he is an international superstar, he's also just a normal person and verbalizes it . . . he's not trying to keep up appearances. He says that the hair extensions that's part of the current tour is irritating; he tells of the bruises he got when he fell off the stage; he mentions when he's tired; he leaves a nice message for his mom on Mother's Day.

Although Miyavi is kicking off his world tour again, it doesn’t seem like he's going to perform in Korea any time soon. Maybe there isn’t a fan base in Korea. None of the Koreans I’ve asked about him knows who he is. After some gigs in Japan he’ll start a tour in America, performing in many of the big cities in the US and Canada: San Diego, Los Angelas, San Francisco, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Chicago, Toronoto, Boston, Washington, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston . . .

I truly hope that I get to see him at least once before my stint in the Far East is over.

Seks vir plesier

Van alle onwaarskynlike plekke het ek het op hierdie Afrikaanse elektro-pop liedjie afgekom op 'n blog wat fokus op Koreaanse musiek! Die komponis is Will Mono en die vokalis is Jan Joknie. Die musiekvideo vir "Seks vir plesier" neig aan grillerig, maar die song is nie te sleg nie.



Ek het tot 'n skokkende insig gekom; alhoewel ek nie van tipiese pop-musiek hou nie, geniet ek wel goeie elektro-pop, byvoorbeeld die Japanese groep Sakanaction waaroor ek al voorheen 'n inskrywing gemaak het. Sedert ek verlede Oktober Sakanaction se album "Shinshiro" gekoop het, luister ek nog redelik gereeld daarna. En dis seker ook onnodig (en jammer) om te sê dat Sakanaction se musiek aansienlik beter is as Will Mono en Jan Joknie se "Seks vir plesier". Die song is nie heeltemal sleg nie, maar ek stem glad nie saam met Musical Alliance Pact wat dit beskryf as "catchy electro genius" nie. "Seks vir plesier" is okay, maar dis nog nie geniaal nie.

Amazing Japanese Handwashing Secrets Captured on Camera

Miyavi

In my post on Most Kissable People I listed Miyavi. The real reason I like Miyavi has little to do with his looks. Rather, I am intrigued by his music. Miyavi is Japanese rock artist. He is one of those international stars that has a cult following around the world, but whom few people that typically listen to American pop music know about.



The first Miyavi song I stumbled upon is “JPN Pride” (in the YouTube-video above) from his latest album “This Iz the Japanese Kabuki Rock.” I was so taken by the song that I decided to get me a Miyavi album. I got a best-of compilation with the similar title: “AZN Pride: This Iz the Japanese Kabuki Rock.” While some of the hard rock records can become too heavy for my sensibilities, there are quite a number of songs that I really enjoy.

Miyavi is considered the best guitarist in Japan at the moment. When Miyavi uses the guitar, the whole instrument is used, not merely the strings. Under his dexterous hands the guitar becomes both a string instruments and a percussion instrument. Watch this video of him performing “Selfish Love,” to see what I mean.



But it is his song “Itoshii Hito” (it means “my beloved” or “my lover”) that really made me become a fan. This exquisite love song becomes better with every hearing. Even if you don’t understand the words, you can still understand the emotional honesty from the vocals. It is such a beautiful composition—carrying the emotions from the beginning of the song, right through to the end. Nothing is wasted. Then, once you’ve read the words, the song becomes doubly beautiful, and as I said, it continuous to grow on you.

To be honest, I cannot decide which version I like the best. The recorded one, with the beautiful orchestration of piano, violin, and guitar…


…or the live version with Miyavi’s guitar playing carrying the song over some sampled background noise.



The emotional strength of the song is equally strong in both versions.

So, you may be wondering, why is he dressed up as a woman? To understand it, you need to know what Visual Kei is. Remember in the 80s when male Hard Rock and Heavy Metal artists dressed up and put on make-up? Did you think them gay for their Halloween-antics? Of course not. Well, dressing up and putting on make up never ceased in Japanese rock. In Japan, the visual impression given by the artist can be just as important as the sound of the music. While Western Heavy Metal celebrates masculinity and machismo, in the Far East an androgynous presentation (think “yin-yang”) is emphasized. This dressing up as part of the musical act is known as Visual Kei in Japan. In South Africa we had our own type of Visual Kei act in the, now disbanded, band Boo!, which had Chris Chameleon as the lead vocalist.

While Miyavi may at times look rather feminine (the correct description is “androgynous”), this says nothing about his sexual orientation. Miyavi is a happily married young man, and him and his wife has a baby girl.

Below is another beautiful song. The title is “Thanx Givin’ Day,” and is a child-like “thank you”-song for his parents.



It is songs like “Thanx Givin’ Day” and “Itoshii Hito” intersperse between the heavy metal records that makes Miyavi’s music palatable to me. However, it is also his splendid blend of different styles that makes his music so interesting. Listen, for instance, to Kabuki Danshi (below), in which Hip Hop is blend with Jazz, Punk Rock and touches of Blues Rock.



It is always his live unplugged performances that impress me the most. Listen to the example below. All the sounds are produced by Miyavi – even the cymbals you hear is actually a tambourine attached to his foot!



I really hope to see this talented young man live one day.

Following are some Miyavi related links:

• Official Website
• Myspace Blog
• Fansites
• Photos
  

Sakanaction -- Shinshiro

On Friday after a session with my chiropractor I went to a music shop at Express Bus Terminal to see if I can find Sakanaction’s latest album “Shinshiro.” I went to the J-Pop/Rock (Japanese Pop/Rock), but couldn’t find it. Then I asked one of the staff: “Sakanaction issoyo?” He had me repeat the name again, then walked over to the section where I was and immediately picked it up, asking if this was what I was looking for. I felt a bit silly for not seeing it, as the moment he gave the album to me I could clearly read the Korean: 사카낙션 신시로 – “Sakanaction Shishiro” and recognized their fish-logo. The band's name is a combination of two words: “Sakana” (which means “fish” in Japanese) and “action,” hence “Sakanaction.” Apparently it depicts their wish for their sound to move quickly and lightly, like the motions of a fish.


My initial emotion of feeling a little silly at not being able to find the album, although it was right in front of me, subsided very quickly and was replaced with excitement at having found the exact album I was looking for.

I only listened to it for the first time Saturday evening, and now again on Sunday, and must say that I am very happy with my purchase. The impression their live performance (at the Ssamzie Sound Festival) left with me was not lessened by listening to their recorded sound. Their music is a mixture of house / dance, electronic music and alternative rock. The electronic sounds causes the music density not to feel overbearing; indeed light and quick. At the same time, while the melodies are easy to follow and the orchestration is never overly complicated, their sound is simultaneously unique and intriguing enough to keep one listening. In fact the tonal density (heavyness of the music) goes through phases of very low density (for instance only the lead vocalist and an easy keyboard accompaniment) to high density with all the instruments pushing hard. This oscillation between high and low density helps me not to get irritated. What I also like about their sound is how they play around with interesting sound-sampling as background noises, for instance the sound of a busy office, people talking, a telephone ringing. The electronic sounds create a futuristic atmosphere, without sounding like those 90s remix albums.

The only bad thing about the album is that the more I listen to it the more I wish I could understand Japanese -- or at least, know what the lyrics are about.

Walking on the Right

A subway station on the newly opened Line 9, in Seoul.

Recently, the South Korean government started a campaign to encourage its citizens to walk on the right side, rather than the left. In many public spaces, such as subway stations, one sees arrows indicating which side of the hallways or staircases to walk. Sometimes there are even pedestrian traffic officials directing people to the correct side.

Even though cars are driven on the right in Korea, people tend to walk on the left. This is atypical; in most countries people walk and drive on the same side. This discrepancy of walking on the left and driving on the right in Korea is explained by the two major cultural influences on South Korea during the last century – Japan and America.

During the Japanese occupation people were ordered to walk on the left which is still the Japanese custom. Upon enquiring why Japanese walk on the left, it has been explained to me that the reason involves swords. Yes, swords. In feudal Japan many Japanese people carried swords. The swords would be tightened to the left hip, so that the right arm could easily pull the weapon from its scabbard. If people walked on the right side the scabbards would clash; however, walking on the left side, people would pass each other’s right sides (non sword carrying side), which cause for smoother pedestrian traffic. Well, this same sensibility was enforced during Japan’s occupation of Korean from 1910 to 1945, and since it was a good custom there never was a reason to change this habit. Unlike Japan who also drives on the left, Korean cars drive on the right.

Korea imported it’s automobile traffic system from America. In the sixties when South Korea started to develop its traffic infrastructure they copied it from America, hence the many lanes for its main roads (very unlike Japan). Of course, they not only incorporated the form, but also the method (i.e. driving on the right); hence the discrepancy between walking on the left and driving on the right.
So why this change now from walking on the left to walking on the right? It seemed to have been working fine; but an official explained that “…when Koreans go abroad, they hit foreigners. And vice versa, foreigners come to Korea and bump into Koreans." From this context I have to assume that “abroad” does not take into account Japan, the United Kingdom, most of the British Common Wealth, and many other countries that both drive and walk on the left. But then again, having spent a lot of time with Koreans, for a majority of them “abroad” means the United States, not the rest of the world.

It is claimed that the switch over “could reduce collisions between cars and pedestrians by up to 24 percent because crosswalks are currently set up for “walk right.” In addition, the institute claims pedestrians will walk up to 70 percent faster and pedestrian density will decrease as much as 58 percent once walking becomes more structured”. In Korea there is a bbali!-bbali!-culture. “Bbali” means fast or quickly. Koreans often seem in a hurry and finding yourself on the subway at peak hours can be a nerve wrecking experience. So I’m not sure if going faster will be a good thing or a bad thing.

Ssamzie Sound Festival

Last night I went to the Ssamzie Sound Festival at Imjingak close to the North-South border, near Paju. The reason for my three hour trek was to see David Choi perform. His Friday night performance (although it was much closer) was out of the question, so I hoped to see his Saturday night gig at the festival. Getting there I was very disappointed to see that his time slot was moved an hour earlier, so I missed him.

It wasn’t a total waste, though. Generally I’m too busy to spend much time perusing Korean pop-culture and since I do not have a TV (I get all my visual stimuli via the Internet) I’m not up to scratch with the latest Korean hits. Furthermore, although I love music I am not a fan of pop-music and as far as contemporary music is concerned, prefer to listen to alternative music. It turns out that the Ssamzie Sound Festival was just the place for me to go to get a taste of Korea’s alternative music scene.

I got exposed to some really good stuff. One of my favourite performances was by a Japanese band called Sakanaction -- "sakana" means fish; thus "fish" + "action". They have a great electronic alternative rock sound and I was surprised at how well the Korean audience knew Sakanaction’s Japanese lyrics. I’m definitely going to get myself one of their albums. Their most recent album is called Shinshiro.

Ichiro Yamaguchi, the lead singer of Sakanaction in the front, with the drummer Keiichi Ejima and Ami Kusakari, playing the bass. I quite liked Ami Kusakari who quote often took to centre stage to show off her rhythms and her funky boots.




Of the bands I heard, I found the sound of OhOhBoo Project [어어부프로젝트] to be the most unique. I definitely want to look into this indie-rock band a bit more.



A groovy performance was given by 언니네 이발관. I’m not sure how to Romanize the Korean, nor am I sure what the name means. I think it means “Older Sister’s Hair Salon,” but then again, my Korean is really shabby, so don't take my word for it. In any case, they have a nice laidback sound, making for good easy listening. I found it peculiar how the vocalist sings all the songs with his eyes closed!



There was also a Korean Reggae band, called Windy City [윈디시티]. While it is nice to hear Reggae performed in Korean, and while they clearly “get it” (the lead singer even speaks in a Reggae accent), I didn’t find the music to be unique. Searching for a video to paste here, I found their stuff online more interesting, than the live performance I saw yesterday.



Much more impressive was the Kim Chang Won Band (김창완밴드). This ajjushi knows how to rock! And the kids love him!



Undoubtedly the most fun band was The Moonshiners.

The Moonshiners performing live at the 2009 Ssamzie Sound Festival, Korea.

This is a Korean band, obviously inspired by the late 50’s and 60’s Rock ‘n Roll vibe. Their matching red suits, driving rhythms and cheerful charisma is a treat to watch. No way you’re gonna stand still while listening to them. I really hope to see them perform live again.



The festival opened me to the alternative / indie-rock scene in Korea and will definitely help me with the music appreciation / lyrics (“poetry”) analysis class I’m teaching called “Poetry in Music.” I’m sure I’ll impress my students by referring to some local bands.

The Double Stage at the 2009 Ssamzie Sound Festival.

I also liked the set-up. They had two stages alternating. This had two big advantages. There was practically no wait period in between the different bands. Once the one band stopped playing the other stage lit up and the next band started playing. The other advantage is that it had the audience moving from one stage to the other. Since you know the line-up you can go stand in front of the stage where your favourite band is going to play – so that the best standing space is not kept throughout by a few.

Still, I’m sad I didn’t get to see ol’ David do his stuff.

What I Want for Christmas . . . Lightsabre Chopstick

(Source: JapanStarWars.Com)

I don't really celebrate Christmas (as a holy day), but that aside. You can buy these lightsabre chopsticks for me any time you want -- Christmas, New Years, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day, my birthday, your birthday, no holidays required. I'm a Star Wars fan, okay. And I want these lightsabre chopsticks.

(Source: JapanStarWars.Com)

You have to give it to the Japanese; they always come up with the most peculiar things.

While on the topic of Star Wars, here is something a man doesn't see everyday (but wish he did): Girls in bikini's reading the Star Wars script.



The acting is terrible, but who cares?!

Missed Placebo!

I cannot believe it! Placebo performed yesterday in Seoul and I didn’t know about it! Why did nobody tell me? I think I have to expand my circle of friends drastically. Not to mention that I did nothing special last night; plus, the tickets were actually affordable!

I can always quickly fly to Japan for the Summer Sonic Festival in two days. No wait, I can’t. I’m still waiting for my Visa to be renewed (the admin guy is taking his time), which means that I cannot leave the country since I don’t have my passport.

Movie Reviews: Some Asian Movies

Below are some Asian movies I've watched over the last couple of months.

Kuri-Obi (2007)

Kuro-Obi (English Title: “Black Belt”) is a great martial art movie about Karate. In fact, it is one of the greatest martial art movies I’ve seen, period. It potently reflects the martial art dilemma: a martial artist trains for years, with the intention of never using his skill. This is so contrary to any other kind of skill. We practise the piano, so that we can play do a public recital. We practise painting so that our painting can be hung up in a gallery for people to view. But true martial artists train how to kill; however, the highest goal is not to kill. Kuro-Obi and The Legend of Ip-Man has something in common, although the martial arts (Karate and Wing-Chun) depicted are stylistically very different. The commonality is in theme -- when is it to appropriate to use ones martial art skill? Furthermore, both movies have militant Japan during the turn of the previous century as backdrop.

Kuro-Obi also clearly depicts other values of Karate, for instance that only one technique ought to be enough. Although it has a somewhat stereotypical martial art storyline, it is well executed, with beautiful cinematography that does not rely on Hollywood special effects, nor acrobatic choreography so typical of the Chinese / Hong Kong influenced martial art films. The power of this movie lies in its simplicity.

I definitely encourage any martial artist to see Kuro-Obi.



Blood: The Last Vampire (2000)

Blood: The Last Vampire is an anime film done in the realistic style of the great Ghost in the Machine (it is in fact by the same animators). The film tells the tale of a vampire girl that works for a cohort government agency that hunts demons. A good, albeit too short film (just under 50 minutes). A good film to see for anime fans.

Apparently a non-anime, full length movie version came out earlier this year. In fact, it showed in South Korea during June, but since I hadn’t seen the anime by that time yet, I assumed that the posters I saw was for a typical horror movie, which are so common during Korean summers. I’m not into horrors that much, but I am disappointed at not having seen Blood – the movie. I’ll have to find it on DVD now.



Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid (2005)

The last Japanese movie on this list is also anime, but is actually not a movie – rather a TV series. Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid (2005) continues on Full Metal Panic (2000) and the lives of Sousuke Sagara (the boy soldier) assigned to protect Kaname Chidori, a feisty girl with special technological insights that should not fall into evil hands. While I enjoyed the series, it did not really have me hooked, and is not necessarily something I’ll recommend watching.

IMDb suggest that a movie version is coming out in 2011.

Full Metal Panic is not to be confused with Full Metal Alchemist which is a anime series I definitely recommend.



Silmido (2003)

Moving onto Korean films. Silmido (실미도) is loosely based on true events during the 1970s. Apparently it was the first film to attract more than 10 million views at the Korean box office. The name "Silmido" is in fact the name of a small island off the North Western coast of South Korea and merely 50 km from the North Korean border. Silmido is a harrowing tale of convicts turned commandos in order to go and assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Il Song. The film reflects on the common practise of dehumanization in the military, and considering human lives as disposable commodities.

A good, enraging, rather violent and bloody, and typically sad film.



Gangster High (2006)

Ganster High (폭력써클), is a film about school violence, which is actually quite common according to some Koreans I’ve spoken too. It tells the story of a group of high school boys whose soccer club ("The Tigers") is forced to become a fighting gang in order to protect themselves against the highschool delinquents. If you like violent movies, then watch this. If not, give it a skip. Another typically sad Korean movie, but quite good.



The Art of Fighting (2009)

The Art of Fighting (싸움의 기술), also about school violence, is about a bullied boy that pleads with an old street fighter to teach him how to fight. The movie debunks many of the typical martial art stereotypes, and shows street fights for what they really are – dirty and brutal. A good movie, well worth seeing. And, as is customary of a Korean film, sad. (Read a full review here.)



Haeundae (2009)

"Haeundae" (해운대) is the name of a famous beach in Busan, on the South Eastern Coast of Korea. The movie is about a number of people and how their lives are dramatically changed by the sea. There is firstly the major plot of a “mega tsunami” that hits Busan, but also a subplot of a death on a fishing boat that happened years before. What I like about the great Korean disaster/action movies like Haeundae and The Host, is that Korean film defies Hollywood’s action hero. The great action hero so typical of Hollywood is awkwardly absent, leaving one with common people that is much easier to associate with. Although Haeundae’s special effects and computer graphics are at times dodgy, the tsunami is mostly believable.

I found myself cringing on numerous occasions – as I have a peculiar fear of tsunamis. I call it peculiar because I didn’t grow up close to the sea, but have been afraid of tsunamis since I was a child. So this movie forced me to confront my own fear a bit.

Haeundae is currently (July '09) showing in Korea with English subtitles at the CGV cinemas in Myeongdong and Gangnam.

***

HanCinema is a nice website to search for information on Korean movies. I'm also a fan of Koreanfilm.Org, and often search Koreanfilm for good Korean movies, before I decide to watch them or not.

Japan: The Second Day, Part 5 – The Singing Room

After the formal dinner I was invited to go with the Korean and Japanese-Korean instructors to a gentlemen’s noraebang. Directly translated “noraebang” means singing-room, basically it is a Karaoke Bar. Now a gentlemen’s noraebang is a little different from a normal noraebang. At a gentlemen’s noraebang the clientele are men only, and there are hostesses.

Honestly, I expected somewhat sinister occurrences to happen, but this was not the case. The hostesses were middle aged ladies dressed in formal clothes who make it their job to compliment the guests. They would pour them drinks, and prepare them food. I appreciated how the ladies respected my request not to have any alcohol. They merely filled up my glass with water. I found it very strange when one hostess fed me some food with chopsticks, and then wiped my mouth afterwards. They did this with most of the guests. From my observation there was no real sexual innuendo, instead the hostesses seemed to be acting in mothering-roles for the male clients. There was some touching: mostly patting thighs and stroking shoulders. The hostesses also acted as Karaoke assistants. They would work the Karaoke machine, act as backup singers, cheer-on the male singers, coordinate the smooth exchange of microphones and play drums or tambourines. If I was a Korean women and I knew that my husband was visiting one of these gentlemen’s noraebang with his friends, I would not be worried.

Whilst the Korean delegation respected my non-alcoholic preference, I was not going to get away from not singing. Although I’m not really shy of singing, I really do not know popular pop songs. I listen more to alternative music – not the type of music listed in Karaoke books. The saddest moment was when they started to choose songs for me and I had to attempt to do a rendition of “We are the World”. It was just short of a disaster.

I only got to bed well after 1am.

Japan: The Second Day, Part 4 – The Dinner

An ITF Taekwon-Do instructor from Daegu (right) receives a bottle of expensive Japanese liqueur from a member of the Japanese ITF delegation (left); I received the same.

On Monday evening we went to the formal dinner where the Korean and Japanese delegation for ITF Taekwon-Do met. I sat at a table, mostly with the important people from Korea; however, some high ranking Japanese instructors were at my table as well.

One of them included Master Hwang Su Il. He is probably one of the most famous Taekwon-Doin in the world. The videogame character, Hwoarang, from the Tekken-series was based on motion-captures of him doing the various techniques one can see in the games. I was impressed for two reasons.

First, while sitting at the table, he sat way on the opposite end of the table from me; yet, he was quick to notice that I did not have any alcohol in my glass and swiftly deducted that I’m a teetotaller. He indicated to me to pour beer in a glass purely for show for the toasts, so that I do not offend anybody. Then he immediately ordered me something non-alcoholic to drink. I appreciated his perceptiveness and concern.

Second, the next day I worked with him at the Tokyo Championships, about which I’ll post in more detail. He was always humble; sometimes he even let other umpires who are lower than him in rank take prominent umpire positions, like centre refereeing. This ever humble attitude impressed me a lot.

The dinner seemed to be a strange occasion of mutual gift exchanging between the Korean and Japanese delegations. I’ve never seen such extravagance in mutual flattery. They gave speeches in each other’s honours, exchanged plaques and various other gifts and poured drinks for each other. I also received a “Welcome to Japan”-gift: a bottle of liqueur with gold flakes in it. (I am not too sure what I’m going to do with it; as I said, I’m a teetotaller – but I do very much appreciate the gesture.) I’ve heard that in Asia, especially in Japan, gifts are important for business transactions. Since I’m in the education field, not commerce, I’ve never experienced these situations before. It was very interesting. I think that in my ignorance I’ve missed a lot of the non-verbal communication that took place during the formalities.

The dinner was held in a Chinese restaurant, which was fascinating, I thought. Here I was in Japan, with Koreans, eating in a Chinese restaurant. The food was quite good.

We finished around 23:00, but that was not the end. Next I had to go with the many of the delegates to a gentlemen’s “noraebang”. Literally translated, “noraebang” means singing room; i.e. a Karaoke-bar. What an experience that was – but more about that in a later post.

Japan: The Second Day, Part 3 - Harajuku

A hat I tried on in one of the shops in Takeshita Street.

For our afternoon sightseeing we went to Harajuku – more specifically Takeshita Street. The latter is a pedestrian street in the style of a typical Asian market area. Takeshita Street has lots of food kiosks, coffee shops and restaurants, but it is the clothing and accessory stores which are the main attraction. Harajuku is internationally known for its very experimental youth fashions, inspired by eclectic postmodernism and anime.

Harajuku is where the postmodern freaks (meant very affectionately) come to buy their gear, from French-maid outfits adorned with extra ribbons and lace, to studded neckbands, colourful hairpieces and plastic wigs, corsets, petticoats, skull-and-bones rings, purple cat-eye contact lenses, piercing accessories, hats, boots and furs. Fake fur, of course. You won’t catch a postmodern vegetarian wearing real fur. (They might wear real leather, but don't tell anybody...)




And while standing there, looking at these characters that stepped out of Japanese manga into real life, I suddenly felt very at home. It is one of those sad realizations one gets, when unexpectedly you know that these are your kind of people. These weirdos, with their inked faces and collaged fashions, culturally worlds apart from me, are in an enigmatic sense the culture I best understand.

I recognize that part of the reason I did my master’s degree research in Postmodern Identity was because I hungered, not so much to understand other people, but to understand myself. There I stood, hugging myself from the cold, staring at the freaks, and thinking – I could stay here for hours, for days. Who cares if I’m freezing?! These weirdo’s, these Gothic Lolitas, these Visual Kei, these Steam Punk Vampires are an outward manifestation of my zeitgeist. In this surreal space where the fantastic meets the mundane, this is where my mind is most at ease. At this collision point, at this overlapping of worlds, this is where my mind relishes.

I was disappointed to leave, but I had to get back to the motel to don my suit for the Gala Dinner later. It was shortly after my Harajuku visit that the running in the rain episode happened.

If ever I return to Japan, visiting Harajuku again will be a priority.