Lena Park (박정현) delivers a top-notch R&B album with no real weak spots. Some of the numbers could come straight from a Lee Soo-young album – big orchestral sound backing a great tune – while others are more internationally inspired. There are some almost celtic influences – shades of Enya (at the slower end) and … [Read More]
LKL articles by Philip Gowman (page 209)
LKL has landed…
… sort of. It was a bumpy landing. On the basis of 5 minute’s playing: I’ve lost all the BlogWatch feeds (easy to fix). Spam Karma doesn’t like you commenting. Don’t know what’s going on there. I’ve also had my email inbox deluged with 300 spam comments to moderate. Probably a related challenge. So I’ve … [Read More]
Martin Limón: The Door to Bitterness
Martin Limón’s fourth book in the series featuring George Sueño and Ernie Bascom continues some familiar themes. Our drink-sodden heroes, officers in the CID of the US 8th Army in Seoul in the 1970s, as usual demonstrate their physical strength in tackling villains and their iron constitutions as their bodies are pummelled by alcohol and … [Read More]
LKL is on the move…
This site will not be updated for the next few days. The removal men are in, they’re putting everything in packing cases, wrapping everything up nicely, and hopefully unpacking things and putting them in the right rooms at the other end. Until you see a post which says “LKL has Landed” this site will be … [Read More]
Delispice #3: Sad but True
(Released: 2000) Delispice are considered to be one of the key Korean rock groups. Formed in 1995 with an advert for people who like U2 and REM, those beginnings give a fair indication of the musical direction the band was to take. This third album is meant to be one of their darkest. Puzzlingly, the … [Read More]
New and upcoming books
Tom Coyner and Jang Song-hyon have just brought out Mastering Business in Korea – A Practical Guide. The ad in Seoul Magazine reads as follows: In an engaging and easy-to-read format, two experienced business consultants explain the ins and outs of contemporary Korean business culture, etiquette, work rules, and marketing to the Korean consumer. Pick … [Read More]
February statistics
As I suspected, I was peaking too soon in January. Three consecutive days of 1,000+ visits earlier in the month have now tailed off to a more sustainable 800-900 per day. What drives the visits I don’t know, but I suspect that there may be an element of rubber-necking at internet roadkill: another three consecutive … [Read More]
Choi In-hun: Reflections on a mask
Two Novellas, Reflections on a Mask and Christmas Carol, by Choi In-hun (최인훈) tr Stephen Moore & Shi Chung Park Moore Homa & Sekey Books, Dumont, New Jersey 2002. Overall: . The novellas are discussed individually below. (1) Reflections on a Mask, first published 1960 By no means an easy book. The subject is a … [Read More]
Welcome to new readers
Browsing my blog statistics this morning I noticed an unusual pattern. Yesterday, 70 people visited this site and systematically read through all the monthly archives. Some of you particularly liked the archive for July 2006. In fact, in the last couple of days more people have looked at my July 2006 archive than have come … [Read More]
Loanwords in twentieth century Korean literature
The chosen specialist subject of Antonetta Bruno, from La Sapienza in Rome, is Korean shamanism. But she has an interesting sideline in linguistics. Her theme at SOAS’s Centre for Korean Studies last Friday evening (23 Feb) was the extent to which Korean has borrowed words from foreign languages, particularly in the first half of the … [Read More]
March events 2007
Music, dance and stage Keith Howard and Rowan Pease present Korean music old and new at Asia House on 6 March. Keith will be autographing copies of his recent books. Many of us will be heaving a sigh of relief at the discriminatory age-cap applied to the Korean breakdance masterclass at the Roundhouse on March … [Read More]
cRu$ty scores a hat-trick
I almost feel honoured that cRu$ty the playful Algerian hacker has paid me three visits. The second visit was seemingly a personal one – he (or she) actually left a comment on one of the posts. But I know I shouldn’t take it all too personally: according to the site that he (or she) directed … [Read More]
Park’s gong
So what exactly is the Alfred Bauer prize? We know that Park Chan-wook was awarded it at the recent Berlin Film Festival for I’m a Cyborg, because there’s this picture on the BBC website to prove it. Yet you read the various blogs and news websites and you get the impression that the prize is … [Read More]
Restoring Seoul’s faded past
Visit OhMyNews for an interesting article from Robert Neff. Great pictures too. Here’s a list of all of Neff’s articles. Well worth a browse for those interested in Korea’s early modern history. [Read More]
Cosmetic surgery to get tax breaks
As if there wasn’t enough plastic surgery in Korea already, the Government has just made it tax deductible. According to the Chosun Ilbo: The costs of plastic surgery, cosmetic tooth reshaping, corrective laser eye surgery, and “boyak”, or traditional Korean health supplements, will be eligible for income deductions in the year-end tax adjustment from this … [Read More]
Feminism and women artists in Korean art
Lecture 5 in Jiyoon Lee’s Art & Society in Modern Korea course. Big caveat: a very simplistic and immature summary, prepared by someone with limited knowledge or understanding of these things, of a very brief lecture covering a huge topic. Treat with extreme caution. Posted here as a “stub” (in Wiki terms) which I might … [Read More]