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  • Time Magazine Says Kpop is Going Global!

    Big props for Johnny Noh and AllKpop for knowing that Kpop was going to be big and Time Magazine is now recognizing that.  Time interviewed Johnny and others about the growing popularity of Korean pop music.

    “Korean artists are now out there,” says Johnny Noh, who runs the (AllKpop) site. “People like [Korean artists] and want to know more about them.”

  • What is Jung?

    “Teacher, do you know what is jung?”

    “Yes, Jah Min, I’ve heard about jung. Roughly, it translates to a sort of sentimental obligation, loyalty to family and friends.”

    “Actually, it is not easily translated into English because it does not exist outside of Korea. Only Koreans have this.”

    “That’s not true. Loyalty; we all have our loyalties.”

    “It’s more heartfelt in Korea.”

    Oh?”

    “Heartfelt responsibility.”

    “An unending love for people close to them, hey Jah Min?”
    “Yes, teacher.”

  • Satruday Night Special

    Saturday Night Special. Nine to eleven. Doctors kids. Nice kids. Hard workers. One girls a cutie. Up the elevator. Twelfth floor. Open door. Plate of apples. Sweet and seedy grapes. Korean pears are the best. Persimmons are too sweet. But I’ll eat. Eat eat eat. Sit in front of the air-con and dry my pits. Read a book. Watch the beach. Should be here any minute. It’s just now nine. Probably coming from another cram school too. Four hours of sleep per night for these kids. Some day they’ll rule the world. Already taking over America. Good for them.

  • Babelfish Translation

    Babelfish Translation

    Jee Hae: Oh! Is like my duty officials long time no see!

    Hyung Tae: Both

    Jee Hae: However Hyung Tae, is woman you coupled together on foot short time your girlfriend?

    Hyun Tae: She is. Is second year in high school but now gathers in eyes but height is big but deliberate. She is live same village is ready front-door next door house. It is thinking of going together inside my girlfriend this school if she graduates. Do you have a girlfriend?

  • Mother-in-law Diaries February 2003

    1-02-03

    Another old friend from back home stopped in Korea for holiday. He‘s on his third year as a high school English teacher in Japan. We all have our silly fantasies about living in Japan, and my friend confirmed most of them. But as a black man in Japan he‘s found personal intimacy close to impossible. Japanese girls, he says, want one thing from him. They don‘t need his name for this.

  • Mother-in-law Diaries March 2003

    This month: The Dirty Diaries.

    1-22-03

    Sitting on a cold seat, in my cramped outhouse, staring at a wastebasket stuffed with stinky folded tissues reminds me of my first year in Korea. My housemates were an old single man rarely up before dinner and three college kids sharing a room. The bag of tissues next to the toilet never filled up. I‘d assumed my roomies changed it. I flushed mine.

  • Mother-in-law Diaries December 2002

    The Beat December 2002

    10-16-02
    Today neighbors put out reed mats with sliced persimmons to dry in the autumn sun, reminding me of time spent in Nepal where locals lay out mats of unshelled rice, wheat and millet for trucks to run-over thus separating the hulls. The bright orange persimmons are speckled in black as I look on from a distance. Raisins perhaps? I get closer and the speckles fly, buzzing around me before settling back to lay more eggs on our Chuseok holiday snacks.

  • Captain Q

    Their first date was at a local bar. Beers, soju, gas grilled squid, silkworm larvae, and what seemed spicy barnacle soup to Brian. Her teeth speckled with seaweed paper, she fed Brian stinky strings of squid jerky. Later she suggested a video bang, a small room with vinyl couches, VCR and TV, typically frequented by young Korean college couples needing intimacy. She immediately pulled a random video from the video library’s shelf and took him to the softly glowing room.

  • Wiki Rummage #6: Octopuses

    Wikipedia's biggest pull factor for me is that the large majority of articles are presented in a succinct and relevant way. Complex topics are often simplified for the layperson, but simple topics usually contain comprehensive information that your average joe wouldn't know. A good example of these kinds of articles are the ones on ants, chickens and today's article, on the humble octopus.

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