Scribblings of the Metropolitician

Anyone Want to Take Some Korean Studies and Language Classes?

Yep, that's all in one package.

I'm teaching at the summer Korean Studies program at the Hanguk Institute of Foreign Studies, where they've got Korean history, culture, and all kinds of other classes, in addition to Korean language classes in the afternoon.

I will be teaching "Korean Social Issues," as I have for the last 5 years there, another class you might take if you enroll. I mentioned that I had a blog with perhaps some interested non-Koreans who might have some time and interest on their hands for a few weeks during the summer, so I told them to give me a blurb. They hadn't really thought much about the non-student market, but when I mentioned that there might be a few non-students who might want to take some of the classes (they're very good, taught by professors and professionals from around the world), they sent me over the following announcement:

We are pleased to be able to bring to your attention the International Summer Session (ISS) offered by Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. ISS specializes in offering courses related to Korean Studies taught in English for students and independent scholars from any country who wish to broaden their understanding of contemporary Korean society and the role of Korea in an Asian and world context. The dates for this year’s five-week session of the International Summer Session are July 7 - August 8, 2008.

A special reduced fee of 500,000 Won is available to interested persons already holding a university degree (B.A. or above) and who do not wish to obtain university credit. The reduced fee allows them to take two courses in the morning program and enroll in Korean Language courses four afternoons a week.

Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS), located in Dongdaemun-gu in Seoul, is a private university offering instruction in 42 foreign languages (the largest number in Korea) and area studies at both the undergraduate and graduate level of the relevant regions, in addition to high quality research and education in the humanities, the social sciences, the natural sciences and engineering.

The International Summer Session provides a carefully-planned curriculum and small classes taught by some of the most prominent scholars in the field of Korean studies, drawing both on HUFS' own faculty as well on the expertise of many scholars from prestigious foreign universities invited to teach for the summer session. Courses are grouped into the following categories: history and politics, culture and society, arts and literature, economy and business, humanities, and Korean language instruction. A full list of courses on offer can be found at http://summer.ac.kr

One unique aspect of the HUFS International Summer Session highly acclaimed by students in previous years is that approximately 50% of the enrollees are our own local Korean students with excellent English language skills. The mixture of international and domestic students in the classroom lends a breadth of perspective to all class projects and discussions and provides international participants with opportunities to interact with Korean peers throughout their summer stay.

Other components of the program, designed to enhance participants' overall experience, include noontime activities organized and hosted by HUFS students attending the international summer session, screening of Korean films, and a series of special lectures and field trips correlated to the content of the courses.

Non-credit-earning participants who pay the special reduced price of 500,000 Won are welcome to join any of these off-campus field trips by paying the at-cost expenses incurred.

If interested, please write to [email protected] or enroll by coming directly to the ISS summer office, International Building, Room 112 at the Imun-dong campus of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (Subway stop: Line 1, HUFS).

I thought it worth posting, since this is a pretty good deal and I'd say that along with the language course during the afternoon, it's a helluva deal. What better way to brush up on stuff you know, and be introduced to stuff you don't? And meet lotsa cool people?

Anyway, I like the program, like teaching there, and like the fact that it's primarily run by a non-Korean from the very start, so it most certainly isn't the standard, "Hi, foreigner! Do you like kimchi?" approach to Korea -- it's in-depth, academic, and worth vouching for.

Thought it might be something different worth trying for a few people. And an interesting offline activity if you take my class, in particular. You better study, though! We give out grades!

Happy 4th!

Actually, got this from Digg, with the title "The Only Known Public Photograph Of A P-G Cloud On A Rocket" -- that's a Prandlt-Glauert Singularity, fool. Not like I knew. Anyway, it's a cloud that appears around when something breaks the sound barrier, but it doesn't occur BECAUSE it breaks the sound barrier, contrary to popular misconception.

Click and expand for a big-ass version.

You can get the "non-technical" explanation here. Personally, though, I'd say if that's the non-technical explanation -- geez. Anyway, thought it was a great picture for the 4th, as the only known picture of a rocket piercing a P-G cloud as it breaks the sound barrier and then goes on to take a "small step for Mankind" on the moon. Good shot, which I just color corrected. Funny that no one did that after all these years. Pic had a blueish sheen to it.

Come to Korea and Make a Million Bucks

She's got a good start in Korean and an actual voice -- and she's cute. That's more than can be said for a lot of foreign "talent" I've seen gracing the airwaves here.

Awesome!

OK -- Are We Gonna Rock This Batman Shit or WHAT?

Because it WILL rock US. The best movie of the summer (and perhaps the year?) is coming, and the most recent trailer just made my hair fallout. I'm cleaning it up off the couch right now, trying to find a hat to wear to cover it and shit. Seriously.

OR the very, very high-rez trailer below, which...which...DAG! This movie's gonna rock! Here's trailer 3.

And trailer 2, subtitled in Korean.

I don't have details on times or anything, but it's scheduled to premiere in the US on July 18th, while the Korean release gets delayed (WHY!?) until August 7th.

The goal this time: 50 seats filled with our cheering asses. Well, I hope our asses won't be cheering, but you know what I mean. Indicate interest in the comments section. We're gonna rock this shit.

Seoul's Changing Party Culture, Or How I Am Getting My Photographic Groove Back

Seoul's party culture, I'm told, is evolving in leaps and bounds, especially considering the two parties that just blew through here at the beginning of the summer, and the scale of what they showed could be done here. And man, the young kids are sure getting hipper faster. Jumpin' Jehosaphat, I feel old these days. But being able to participate in the action as a photographer and being out there sure does keep the youthful energy flowing. And hey -- I'm not THAT much of a geezer, since I have a PS3 and still can barely balance a checkbook. In some senses, I'm 22 years old. Umm, then again, maybe that's not so good.

I'm not much of a partier anymore -- wait -- I never really was to begin with. But lately, as I've been shooting more as press for FeetManSeoul.com at certain events, my photography has been getting pushed, as I've been getting forced into more difficult photographic situations, even as I try not to get backed into cliche.

Being able to shoot both outdoors at the 2nd International DJ Festival, as well as in the high-class venue of the Walker Hill's Kayageum Room for Steve Aoki was really a blast, and my photography's finally getting some edge back again. It helps to be in situations where everyone with a camera has potentially the same angles, the same shots, or the same KIND of shots. So you have to ask yourself the question -- how are my shots going to be different?

I asked myself this at the Steve Aoki show, and even with stage access, it was hard to get shots with oomph! in them -- at least shots with oomph! that the other photographers weren't getting. I mean, Steve Aoki's famed party photographer friend The Cobra Snake was there, for gosh sake; even the scantily-clad lady with the camera, who looked more like a clubber from the crowd than a shooter, was shooting for Nike. There was also a woman from Nylon Magazine -- yeesh. A high bar.

How do you effectively shoot party pics? Action? Mixed lighting? Flash-only? What if you literally cannot see the subject in the frame because they're so dark? How do you explain who you are and wanting to explain why you want to take a shot when you can barely hear your own voice while shouting at the top of your lungs?

Man, all these questions and more have been popping up as my street photography lies dead, as I've lost my edge because of fear of being sued in a Korean legal culture that views candid photography as being akin to outright perversion -- I didn't realize it, but after the 2nd book deal fell apart, I had lost both my motivation, and hence, my nerve. You don't keep the latter strong without the former.

But all this photo action these days has me being challenged, adjusting, plateauing, and pushing myself again, a process that has kept me progressing. I'm also teaching a photo class again, and will even open up another section of it (email me to find out more) to those of you who are interested. In any case, I'm glad I'm getting some edge back, and plan to keep rolling with it.

A whole heapin' mess of pictures is available at FeetManSeoul.com -- definitely worth seeing!

I Just Wet My Pants

It's not even worth trying to describe. Just watch this, then you either will or will not spooge in your pants. [Thanks, Sungwon!] This totally beats serving coffee on the Jabba the Hutt's sand barge. A real Artoo for the home? Daaaang. Don't even ask me how much it costs, since I don't even want to know. I just like knowing this exists.

MY Man!

I met Michael Dyson when he was a new professor and I was a fresh undergrad, and he's since moved to Harvard and Georgetown. He blew my hair back with his cutting-edge scholarship, incredible ability to adjust his speaking style to the crowd, and even -- yes -- ability to rap.

I once saw him in an academic conversation in 1990 when he started with a staid, academic answer that somehow flowed into a rendition of Snoop Dogg's song "Gin and Juice", then back to academic speech without breaking cadence. I still haven't wrapped my mind around that, and it's 2008. I wish they had YouTube back then.

The Empire Strikes Barack, Or If You Feelin' Like a Pimp, Then Go and Brush Ya Shoulders Off

Who says we aren't getting a real black POTUS (something that some people are apparently still afraid of, but then again, we're talking Indiana, and I KNOW THIS about Indiana)? Obama is a very savvy man. He plays down race to the point that he never, ever accesses it in terms of the politics of victimology, even when it's obvious that racist barbs have been used. He knows he can't appear "too black," in terms of the fact that yes, even in this day and age, the POTUS simply can't be too "ethnic."

Yet, in less large-scale company, he knows when to drop dollops of black America's greatest cultural asset, drawn from the endless capital of cool that defines most of American popular culture, American slang, and has provided the soundtrack and set the rhythm of American life for generations.

(Check out the move at around 2:27 -- genius!)

I saw this a while ago (still, HT to Matthew Yglesias), but watching it be remixed lately has caused me no end of amusement and given me additional respect for the only POTUS I know about who could actually look COOL to young, "urban" voters (read: the new black voters who will be absolutely crucial to helping Obama win the general election).

Gawd, you KNOW he KNOWS this is going to be remixed like mad by the YouTube-and-iMovie-enabled youth. The shoulder brush, the basketball layups, the "That's ai'ght" being peppered throughout his more formal speech -- it's good stuff. Yet, when he has to deliver in a debate, he's proven that he can talk specifics and dance with that devil on several occasions, and then turn around and deliver one of the greatest rhetorical disquisitions in American political history.

And who just doesn't "get it" and is ever-the-more talking like a crazy person?

(At the 3:30 and 4:14 marks -- what the hell is she talking about?)

Ferraro -- you're soooo out of touch. You and your husband were offended by the shoulder gesture because you are OUT OF TOUCH. It's not sexist. It's a cultural reference, referring to handling personal attacks against one's reputation.

Ferraro, give it up. Your arguments that Obama is "sexist" is flimsy at best (why not at least reference the "sweetie" comment, which was arguably sexist, but at least it wasn't part of his CAMPAIGN STRATEGY), even as the Clintons have totally played the race card, and Hillary even recently apologized for it, you don't see Obama whining about it. In fact, Obama downplays the race issue, since he knows that in the end, he's going to be stuck with the bill, as usually happens in the public sphere when a minority points out obvious facts of still-extant racism. In American racial politics, "the one who smelt it dealt it" and pointing out racism often leads to that person of being racist him or herself, since we shouldn't be thinking about that anymore, right?

What Hillary doesn't realize is that she should just give it up and stop grasping at straws. The American voter (the ones who'd vote for either Hillary or Obama, anyway, and not the misanthropes who see a black man in a suit-and-tie and still clutch their loved ones closer to their breasts) is savvy enough to see sour grapes for what they are. She was racist as a mofo when she was campaigning in the very non-black-friendly states of the recent races, where doors are slammed in Obama campaigners' faces, a campaign center was defaced with racial epithets, and cold callers are hung up on while the receiver hisses the "N-word" across the line.

Yet, Obama is smart enough to literally just brush his shoulders off, not be left with the check-as-wages-of-guilt or loathing, while allowing his rich, white, politically connected, increasingly shrill, and hypocritical opponent to dig herself even deeper into the hole.

Sure, there's some sexism in the mix. There has been ever since the Republicans stonewalled her when she tried health care reforms back in the day. But it's not the deciding factor, Hillary, and you know it -- even as you throw the same kind of under-the-belt stones.

Hillary -- stop playin' yourself and give it up. Or at least fight to the end gracefully, and not go out like a punk. Think about what you HAVE accomplished and should be proud of, and try to save it for 2012 if you think you badass enough to come with it again. As they used to say in the old days when people used to worry about and wear such things, "your slip is showing."

And Obama, "go ahead and brush your shoulders off."

"Major Dildo Pounder"

Hehe.

"Dick Hertz." Haha. And one more...

Omigod. Brings back memories from my own lifeguard training. Yes, really. For reals. A loooong time ago. And one thing that is a big change, as highlighted in the skit, is that mouth-to-mouth is no longer the official CPR guideline. Just push firmly and as fast as you can (actually 100-per-minute is the suggested rate) in the center of the chest and forego the CPR.

OK -- this was a pretty random post. Anyway, good Monday morning.

Completely OWNED

What a tool.

I can't stand when so-called "conservatives" try to get all historical, yet know less history than the average grade schooler. Especially when it's the crux of one's point. Look it up on Wikipedia at least, fer chrissakes., before going on national television and making an idiot of oneself. Or, alternatively, shut the f**k up.

This tool got owned on national television. I'm sure he'll go back to his radio show and whine about how he got railroaded or something -- but in the end, he's just stoopid dumm.