Scribblings of the Metropolitician

The Metropolitician in Variety

As an eternal grad student following a pipe dream or two in Korea, it's not too often I get something to write home to Mom about. But when you get a chance to publish in Variety, you gotta kind of do a funny touchdown dance and wanna high-five people over beers.

Oh, yeah, baby! Here it is!

Thanks for indulging that, as well as reading the story. It was a great opportunity that Darcy passed my way, and I was happy to say that I worked the the photography of the facility into the story myself when I returned the editor pictures along with my draft. They were unsolicited, but the editor decided to buy two of them, one of which was used in the online version story linked above there. I think it was a good one, but here's a little photo essay I put together from the unused shots:

Akom Productions did the original Transformers movie.

Less than 10 seconds of notes and frames from a Simpsons episode!

Hard at work.



Archives room.

Editing away.

Scritch, scritch, scritch on Homer.

They did that first Spiderman cartoon, too.

Starting to Reign in the Runaway Executive

Good, as The New York Times reported today.

Perhaps the United States adhering to the Geneva Convention even for captured "enemies," as well as guaranteeing the basic civil liberties of actual citizens will start becoming something that won't get you accused of sympathizing for Bin Laden sometime soon.

It's sad how this is even considered worthy of debate in the "land of the free." But the Bush administration could give two craps about the Constitution; well, to be fair, Bush might, after actually taking two craps, use that elder document to wipe his ass with. So I might be wrong on that point.

I can't believe there are still Bush supporters, when what he's trying to do to the fabric of our nation's freedoms is so much obviously bigger than the politics of the present.

I've Been Transformed

I just saw Transformers in Yongsan this morning. It was the first public screening in the world, and I saw it! It was...umm...like...

...something I can't talk about.

Click to enlarge.

The catch was that we were all told to not discuss the movie afterwards. But I can talk about the experience of having seen it, even if I can't discuss the movie itself.

I was a guest of Darcy over at KoreanFilm.org, and he tells me this was the first international press junket to be held in Korea, and the staff announced that there would be a major event tonight, with Michael Bay and major cast in attendance. It really is a major opening of a blockbuster Hollywood film, and Korea got it first.

Like really, REALLY first. The press screening in the States won't even be until late June, we hear. I think they're waiting to give the major US reviewers a shot at it first.

Anyway, because I do have to pay the bills, I can't even go see the big press event scheduled for tonight, even though I hear they're going to have a full-scale model of Bumblebee up. And Michael Bay. Wowsers.

I'm outside now and haven't been able to suck out pictures from my camera of them checking our bags; no cameras or phones allowed and there was a metal detector to make sure – I thought they were going to check my soft drink to make sure it wasn't flammable. So pictures coming tonight.

All I have to say is that the big group screening event I'm planning will still be on for the big premiere on the general release date. I can't say more than that, since I've been bound by honor and verbally gagged. Well, it's a small price to pay to see this first.

"Autobots, roll out!"

Yeah!

Colbert vs. Korea, Round II

Colbert responds to accusations that his well-meaning spoof of Rain is somehow meant to as a real (and even "racist") attack. (HT to Lost Nomad)

Here's a nice overview of the whole thing, from a blog called Javabeans. All I have to say is, once again: "이봐! 자기야!"

There's a serious lack of ability to understand irony across the cultural divide – that's clear. What the Korean media should learn to do is better understand this fact before misleadingly reporting that a party meant harm when, no matter what you may personally think of the piece, that is certainly the opposite of what it was meant to do.

It doesn't take much to see that this was pretty clearly an acknowledgement of the slightly unusual fact that a Korean pop star – whom many people in the US likely have still never heard of – grabbed the #1 spot on a list that one would think include mostly names that were household words already.

So Colbert poked a little fun, he bragged while being self-deprecating, and he actually sang in Korean, as opposed to making ridiculous sounds or resorting to real racist stereotyping.

And as for me, the fact that bibimpap has become enough of a household word (really?!) to be the punchline to his first video is simply frickin' awesome, and something I never would have expected to see on a national television talk show.

I was still tripping out over a character in the Pentagon saying "We're in deep kimchi" in the film Executive Decision, which I believe I saw in Korea in 1996, and totally had me wigging for years. I'd say, to the folks concerned about Korea's imagined "image," the country's prominence has come a long way, baby.

"Impressive. Most Impressive."

"But you are not a girl yet."

Or something like that.

So have you heard about the new transgender sensation, Lee Chae-weon [Yahoo, in Korean]? Since my Windoze XP has been running in "coherence" mode on my Mac (meaning the Windoze windows just seamlessly appear in the Mac environment without the Windoze environment), I have been keeping up with the latest fads going around the Internet – er, rather – they have been keeping up with me, since I can now have Explorer mercilessly attack me with popups and ads for the latest, greatest "UCC."

And this one, of a guy who was the "fake" transsexual on the popular "Truth or Lie Game" three years ago turned up now as a real, post-op girl; the point of all this is DAMN – Korean plastic surgery has got skills to pay the bills. I am critical of this industry and social influence, but one has to admit these surgeons are pretty talented.

Combined with other Korean arts and technologies – namely, "selca" camera styles and wide-angle lenses – the results are astounding.

But make no mistake – gender lines aren't blurring; in fact, they are as solid as they have ever been. It's just that people are much more able, enabled by technology, to cross them convincingly.

What I'm looking for is a liberalization and shift in gender roles to really equalize things up a good deal more between men and women. Some say that such figures are signs that gender lines are shifting in Korea, or that people are becoming more open-minded; perhaps the latter is indeed true.

But in a society in which sexualized femininity is so highly commodified – to the point that one might be able to argue that even heterosexual maleness has been subject to a "commodified feminization", which explains the extremely girly turn that male stars seem to have taken, even while they swear up and down that they are not "gay," as they might be coded in the West – it's no surprise to see it being advantageous to become a beautiful woman, especially in terms of being a rising star in the entertainment business.

Hmm. So maybe gender codes are shifting, even if the lines are not? Or is that the same thing?

Discuss, but be civil. Or I delete you.

Makes Me Even Forget My Mac Lust!

Don't you hate it when you go to see a movie, then the preview for the summer flick you REALLY want to see is so good that you don't even care about the one you're watching?

Well, here you go, this time as applied to computers.

As a photographer and a person who works with video and images and often has to sit across from people to display and discuss them, I drool. As someone who has 4-5 digital devices from which to construct a single piece of content (e.g. digital video camera for footage, digital camera for still shots, flash disk audio recorder for audio interviews, laptop for notes and storage, etc), being able to put the devices on that digital worktable and drag content to/between them – holy wow.

Droooool.

Susan Eats MORE Jokbal!

Finally! The saga is complete. And the ending is brutal.

Susan finally finishes the jokbal she started in the previous episode. And no, she has not been continuously eating for weeks. And judging from the reactions to the first part of this feeding frenzy, I feel it my duty to warn you: don't watch this unless you have reasonable access to a dead pig of some type.

I'm going to go find some jokbal for lunch. Editing this stuff, as you can imagine, has been killing me.

"Preserving the 'white, Christian, male power structure'"

At least O'Reilly has the balls to say it aloud, articulating the sentiments that most people who think this wouldn't dare say. Oh, and it's great to see the paltry politician that McCain has become, partially disagreeing (with qualifications), then cowed into simply saying, "I agree with you."

Nice, O'Reilly. You're an arrogant ass, but McCain loses even more points here, I think. O'Reilly's just being...himself. Not that I'm losing any sleep over McCain's woes, though.

See this lovely video here.

Mixed Korean Happy Hour

Last weekend, I had a great treat, one that is helping break me out of my recent no-desire-to-post funk. On my way to see Pirates of the Carribean 3: Sequelitus Ad Infinitum, me and a friend decided to hit up the Mickey D's and sneak some "real" food into the movies. I'm always one for sneaking stuff into movies. Or just sneaking into movies, period. Hehe.

In the line, one very nice guy suddenly broke into English and introduced himself, identified himself as a silent fan of the site (and someone whose email I need to return – sorry, everyone!), and did the unthinkable – bought this Metropolitician some breakfast! Man – me and my friend were impressed, and more grateful than I could awkwardly express.

Dude, that was eminently cool.

As we were talking, my new friend was mentioning being part-Korean, identity, and having gotten something out of the site. I myself have a slightly different take on being "half-Korean", but I don't slight everyone their own definitions of self. Mine just happens to tend not to fall in line with a lot of other Koreans of mixed descent. So it goes, to each, his or her own.

But I've been getting multiple emails for a couple "half-Korean" events, and I feel like it's kinda serendipity, baby. So, to all you folks who want to connect with and chew the fat with other people sharing similar backgrounds and experiences here in Korea, don't miss this opportunity to hook up with this little community here in Korea.

So, to the very nice man who bought me breakfast, and for other "halfsies" like me, but new to the Seoul scene, who'd like to connect with others like yourself, two events, one being TONIGHT (social), and the other June 16th (fundraiser – bring a little $$$ that folds, not jingles):
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Mixed Koreans "Happy Hour"

Date: June 1, 2007
날짜: 2007년 6월 1일

Time: 8pm
시간: 오후 8시

Location: Liquid Lounge
장소: 리퀴드 라운지

Directions: From the front gate of Hongdae University, head south towards Sangsu Station. When you see the bar US 66 across the street on your right, take the alley that branches out slightly to the left. Liquid is about 20 meters up this street on the right hand side. Look up to see the sign on the third floor. Also, please see attached map.

오시는 길: 홍대 정문에서 상수역 쪽으로 가세요. US 66 보시면 왼쪽의 골목으로 가세요. 20미터쯤 걸어가세요. 리퀴드 라운지가 오른 쪽 건물 3층에 있어요. 첨부된 약도를 참고하시길 바랍니다.

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Since the 2nd event is long, and this post tends to speak to a smaller section of my overall audience, you can read more after the jump.