27 May 2008

"It is like a hot tranny mess up in here..."

God bless you, Christian Siriano. Tonight I went to a fashion show... Who ever said sustainability couldn't be sexy?


John Lee in action!

Posing with John after the show

24 May 2008

Ipselenti

This week has been 'festivals' week at Korea University, which means that the students drink on campus all week long and they have concerts. I went to Ipselenti with Wonguk (which we have given an English name... doesn't he look like a Danny Kim?)

Ipselenti is a cheering celebration, and by cheering I mean a bunch of dudes dressed up like wizards stand on stage and dance around like they were bad guys from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. Meanwhile, the audience has linked arms and are completing dances in unison to songs played by a live band that sound like the intro song to Pokemon. It's hard to imagine but here is a video I found on youtube:


"Cheerleaders"

Here, here, and here are closeups of their costumes. The whole thing was crazy, and LITERALLY people did these same cheers (about 10-15 songs total) over and over again for a sum total of about 4 hours.

In between cheering they inserted live performances by pop stars/comedians, fireworks, and smack-talking of their rival, Yonsei University. So basically it was KU's version of Gator Growl. The final pop group to play was Epik High, which I actually enjoyed. It's hard to tell if having been here has made me crazy, and so I will find their pop songs appealing (even though I can only understand the lyrics "you. can. fly." and "can't stop... love, love, love") or if there is actually something good about these two Korean dudes. Well, I'll let you see and decide for yourself.


Love, Love, Love


Fly

After that, me and Danny went and drank beer, ate fried chick (fried chicken places here only serve fried chicken and beer), and drank soju on the grass in front of the University's Memorial Hall with his classmates until 4am.

18 May 2008

Daily Puppy

I was so inspired by the Daily Puppy widget on Jessica's blog that I just had to add it myself. Reminds me of "Animals, close up, with a wide angle lens."

13 May 2008

Back from Tokyo

So the trip was successful. I will let you peruse the photos on your own, but highlights of Japan include:

-Sleeping in a 'capsule bed'
-Vending machines that sold Coke tall-boys and Asahi beer tall-boys
-The 100 Yen menu at McDonalds (get off my back, Japan is f*ing expensive)
-Heated toilet seats with bidets and/or toilets that allow you to wash your hands with the water that is refilling the toilet tank (how clever!)
-Went to the largest metropolitan area in the world (Tokyo) to see the largest pedestrian crossing in the world and get lost in the busiest metro station in the world (Shinjuku station, which I have AKA'd as 'the nightmare zone' and 'the halls of Mordor')
-Went to a hot spring theme park and wore a sweet Japanese robe
-Kill Bill restaurant (Gonpachi)
-Shrines, shrines, shrines...
-Did I mention that Japan is f*ing expensive?
-Sushi
-A tattoo parlor and a tattoo artist named Hara (don't worry, mom, I didn't get a tattoo)
-Leaving Beckie alone for literally 15 minutes and her getting sexually harassed by a really old toothless/homeless man which she had no way of communicating except to slap his hand and run away (don't worry, once it was over we had a good laugh)

Well, that is really my last trip out of Seoul, and I really enjoyed it. Tokyo was very modern and seemed at times to be just mall on top of mall on top of underground city. I think I saw some crab people. It is the only city that I've ever felt really lost in, so I humble myself before it.

07 May 2008

네일 친구하고 일본에 가요!

That is to say "Tomorrow, I go to Japan with my friend!" We have a 5 day weekend that mustn't go to waste, so we are seizing the day and going to Tokyo. I won't be able to go while my sister is there because it overlaps with my final exams so now is the time. I'll take lots of pictures and report back when I return next Monday.