The seventh eclectic and highly personal commemoration of the best of the past year. Personality of the Year Runner up There were plenty of personalities in the South Korean Olympic team, particularly the pistol shooters, archers and the gymnasts. But the athlete that everyone will remember is fencer Shin A-lam, cheated out of a place … [Read More]
Category: Light reading (page 4)
LKL Quiz of the Year 2012
We gave it a rest last year, but we’ve brought it back for 2012: the LKL Quiz of the Year, featuring some of the top celebrity stories of the year, as well as one or two from the business and cultural pages. Some, but not all, of these stories might have been featured on LKL … [Read More]
Who would YOU vote for as Woman of the Year?
Well, GQ Korea says it’s SiSTAR, but the girl group was picked “because there were not many other options.” Actor Ha Sung-woo was man of the year. Needless to say, Kim Ki-duk and PSY also get mentioned. [Read More]
PSY vs the generic K-pop girls
PSY has thrashed the lot of them when it comes to YouTube views. And now he’s up against KARA, SiSTAR and 4Minute in the Soju Wars. According to Koreabang, Jinro’s Chamiseul outsells Lotte’s Cheoeum Cheoreom by almost 3 to 1. PSY has now signed up to promote Jinro, while Hara, Hyolyn and HyunA have just … [Read More]
Elephant learns to speak Korean
Well almost. According to the BBC, Koshik the elephant has learnt to imitate human speech and can say five words in Korean: hello, no, sit down, lie down and good. The zoo animal places the tip of his trunk into his mouth to transform his natural low rumble into a convincing impression of a human … [Read More]
Arson, suicide and creationism
To find the story that links arson, suicide and creationism, visit the Marmot’s Hole, where you can also find the answer to that burning question: what is the Korean for archaeopteryx? (It’s 시조새) [Read More]
Bae Doo-na’s London fashion shoot
Bae Doo-na was in London earlier this year, staying with her language coach in preparation for the shooting of Cloud Atlas (which we’re really looking forward to at LKL). She took the time out to do a fashion shoot for Marie Claire Korea, which recently hit the news stands. Thanks to Yuna at the Marmot’s … [Read More]
How to get a Korean boyfriend
Many of you will have seen this already, but I only just came across it via Stephen Epstein’s and Rachel Joo’s fun article on Japanfocus.org on legs, abs, and the surprising de-emphasis of boobs in Korean pop culture. The entertaining video, from My Korean Boyfriend, is particularly fine in respect of its observation of “aegyo” … [Read More]
Exhibition visit: Kim Beom’s School of Inversion
Kim Beom is known for his videos of very serious Korean TV newsreaders, their newscasts chopped into a thousand pieces and spliced back together word by word to create nonsense stories. Londoners were introduced to his work back in 2006 as part of the Asia House group show Through the Looking Glass and Untitled (News) … [Read More]
Korea’s latest theme park celebrates the toilet
Suwon is home to Korea’s latest theme park: the “Restroom Cultural Park” (수원 화장실 문화공원), which opened on 4 July 2012. Suwon is the city that launched the “Making Beautiful Public Restrooms” project in 1997, and lists its top conveniences on the city website. (via Rocket News; photo: KBS) [Read More]
Korean badminton pairs – bad losers?
The two South Korean badminton teams kicked out of the games for trying to lose their matches – against Chinese and Indonesian pairs who were also trying to lose – both ended up winning. (Source – FT) [Read More]
Witty Specsavers ad irritates academics
The quick-thinking Specsavers ad capitalising on the Olympic flag gaffe seems to have ruffled a feather in academic circles for being written in bad Korean. So what if “Specsavers” should be at the beginning of the sentence? Putting it there would have completely baffled the non-Korean speaking audience it’s aimed at. [Read More]
Oh dear
The first mess-up of the games: I really don’t blame the North Korean team for walking off. (Image source) Links: North Korea Threatens to Destroy Glasgow in a ‘Sea of Fire’, Dokdo Times, 26 July 2012 [Read More]
Japanese invaders colonise Dokdo
This month’s Korea.net magazine features Dokdo, but in cataloguing the island’s human and plant inhabitants, the magazine reveals five species with suspiciously Japanese-sounding names that have a firm foothold on the Korean islands. In the plant world, there’s Artemisia japonica var. macrocephala Pampan and Rumex japonicus Houttuyn (both ominously said to be “spreading quickly these … [Read More]
Korean Air needs a language consultant…
Unfortunate Korean Air commercial promoting flights to Nairobi, Kenya, and encouraging travels to enjoy the “indigenous people full of primitive energy”. Originally tweeted by journalist Wouter van Kleef, and expanded upon by Al Jazeera, with some of the Kenyan response including this image from C_mwangi. [Read More]
Naneun Ggomsuda: His Highness gets lampooned in Oxford and London
A guest post from Andrew Jackson, covering the recent visit to the UK of the team which brings you the world’s most popular political podcast. Last month saw the arrival of the ‘Naneun Ggomsuda’ (‘I’m a Petty Minded Creep’) for sell-out shows in London and Oxford. The political satire podcast show, now transferred to the … [Read More]