45 minutes from the downtown area of Seoul is a rather special place. Take line 4 to Seoul Grand Park (Gwacheon, 과천), and board the free shuttle bus which runs from near the exit. The Lonely Planet says it would take 20 minutes to walk to the gallery, but it seemed to take the bus … [Read More]
LKL articles by Philip Gowman (page 212)
Book Review: Patti Kim — A cab called Reliable
Patti Kim: A cab called Reliable St Martins Press, New York, 1997 “A novel about growing up in America” reads the bland strapline to this book’s title. A novel about ironies, about mistaken stereotypes, about the travails of multicultural American and the Korean diaspora, would be more accurate, if less catchy. Presumably semi- if not … [Read More]
SoundDay in Hongdae
I’m glad no-one volunteered to chaparone me round the music clubs of the Hongdae area last night. I wouldn’t have had half so much fun. For starters, if you’re with someone else or with a group of people, you have to go at the speed of the most vocal or you probably end up staying … [Read More]
Pet/food
To celebrate my impending arrival in Seoul, a controversial topic prompted by a chance conversation with a work colleague in Hong Kong, where four men were recently jailed for slaughtering two dogs for food. The Letter from China blog helpfully provides extracts from the relevant Hong Kong law banning the practice: Dogs and Cats Regulations … [Read More]
LKL service may be sporadic over next 7 days
I’m off on a quick business trip (combined with hopefully a pleasurable weekend in Seoul) so posts over the next 7 days or so may be a bit hit-and-miss. I managed to maintain the daily posts while I was on a 3 week holiday last year by virtue of having a huge pile of CD … [Read More]
Kajiyama Toshiyuki: The Clan Records – Five Stories of Korea
The Clan Records – Five Stories of Korea: The Clan Records | Seeking Life Amidst Death: The Last Day of the War | When the Hibiscus Blooms | The Remembered Shadow of the Yi Dynasty | A Crane on a Dunghill: Seoul in 1936 Kajiyama Toshiyuki, translated by Yoshiko Dykstra (University of Hawaii Press, 1995) … [Read More]
Darcy’s predictions for 2007
It’s getting to be the case that the more interesting stuff over on Darcy’s site is in his What’s New page rather than his forums. Here are his predictions for 2007: Park Jin-pyo’s VOICE OF A MURDERER is going to be a major critical and popular hit (at least 6 million tickets) There will be … [Read More]
Think Korea 2006 – your feedback requested
Alice Bennell, Peter Corbishley and I went round to the Embassy yesterday to give some feedback to the organisers of Think Korea 2006. We discussed many of the issues set out in my post of 30 December. We briefly talked about the embassy’s recently re-launched website. I visited it today and found that they are … [Read More]
ARCO 2007, part 3: the official press release on the contemporary art strand
Some background on Korea’s participation as guest of honour at ARCO 2007, direct from the ARCO press office. SOUTH KOREA AT ARCO’07: A SPECIAL LOOK AT ASIAN ART For the first time ever, the Madrid International Contemporary Art Fair, ARCO, will welcome a special guest from one of the most artistically effervescent and emerging international … [Read More]
More 2006 statistics: theme parks and military thighs
First, some boring stuff December was a record month for advertising revenue: the princely sum of $11.17, making my life-to-date total $24.32. But if it stays at December’s levels I’ll be happy: that more than pays for webhosting. And something I get lots of, and wish I got less: my life-to-date spam comment count (as … [Read More]
ARCO 2007, part 2: details of galleries in the contemporary art strand
The earlier post included all the special Korean events around the ARCO 2007 contemporary art fair. For you art gurus out there, here’s some details of the Korean artists and galleries showing there, direct from the ARCO press office (with email addresses slightly sanitised) —————————- KOREAN GALLERIES IN THE PROGRAM DEDICATED TO THE COUNTRY IN … [Read More]
ARCO 2007: a Huge Korean festival in Madrid this February
Just received from the organisers of ARCO 2007 in Madrid. Film, music, dance, literature and of course contemporary art. To call it a feast undersells it. And that’s not all: this is just the stuff they know about already. There’s some other stuff they haven’t finalised. I haven’t taken all this in yet, but I … [Read More]
A date with Rain? I’d rather have my hair done
“Sorry, I’m washing my hair that night” is the familiar put-down you get when the girl of your dreams doesn’t fancy a date with you. But it’s also true of LKL visitors. They’re much more interested in finding the best Korean hairdressers in London, or reading about the techniques involved in a “Magic Straight” perm, … [Read More]
DPRK Joint New Year Editorial 2007
Just received from the DPRK embassy Pyongyang, January 1 (KCNA) — Rodong Sinmun, Joson Inmingun and Chongnyon Jonwi today released a joint editorial under the title “Usher in a Great Heyday of Songun Korea Full of Confidence in Victory” on the occasion of the hope-filled New Year. The DPRK has never seen in the annals … [Read More]
And welcome to visitors from the Marmot’s Hole
Thanks to the Marmot for a quick plug on his website. Thanks for your kind words, Mr Koehler. The link in a few hours has provided more traffic (268 visits) than the Korea Times itself has in a couple of days (89 visits): that’s the power of the Marmot, king of the K-bloggers. Take a … [Read More]
Welcome to readers from the Korea Times
I should have realised something strange was going on when I noticed an uptick in the number of constructive comments being left on this site in the last day or so. Then yesterday came my first comment in Korean (1). I thus learned that I had been mentioned in the Korea Times. I assumed it … [Read More]