T.W.E

101 East - Korea: Wired

2012-10-12T14:25:00.002+09:00

Al Jazeera's 101 East ran a feature episode on South Korea's internet and cyber culture, and their on-going cyber war with North Korea. Very interesting stuff.

Awesome Parody Response to MBC News Hit Piece

2012-07-03T23:16:00.002+09:00

Bravo to Brutal Rice Pictures for this hilarious and well made video parody mocking the MBC news piece run last month about Korean women and foreign men.

Here is the original in case you have been living under a rock and have not seen it already.

North Korea Hit By Severe Drought

2012-06-01T07:19:00.003+09:00

More bad news for the peasants of North Korea

Korea's Defense Industry Thriving

2012-05-18T15:41:00.001+09:00

Here is a boost for South Korea's economy and ego.

Caine's Cardboard Arcade

2012-05-13T22:02:00.000+09:00

Someone told me that making a cardboard arcade would make for a fun summer camp activity. I then asked, "what's a cardboard arcade"?

Then I watched this video. Such a super cute video. I remember being a little kid and thinking that cardboard was the most fun thing ever to play with.

The Top 1% of Koreans Get Bigger

2012-05-09T22:17:00.001+09:00

Nations with greater income equality amongst their people have less crime and better standards of living. Something I love about Korea is that they do not worship their rich. Average, hard-working Koreans aren't dumb enough to believe in trickle-down economics or the belief if they just stop taxing the rich, somehow the economy will become so fantastic all their financial troubles will melt away.

Source:

The top 1 percent of earners in Korea account for 16.6 percent of the national income in a stark indication that polarization is particularly marked here. The Korea Institute of Public Finance on Monday said taxation data show that in 2006, a person making W100 million (US$1=W1,141) a year would qualify for the top one percentile of the income bracket.

The number of people earning at least W100 million a year accounted for 1.2 percent of the total population in 2007, 1.1 percent in 2009 and around 1.6 percent in 2010, according to KIPF.

The top 1 percent of wage earners accounted for 16.6 percent of the national income, which was slightly lower than the U.S. (17.7 percent), but higher than the U.K. (14.3 percent), Canada (13.3 percent), Japan (9.2 percent) and Australia (8.8 percent), showing that the wealth gap is especially pronounced in Korea. But KIPF said top wage earners account for a growing slice of the income pie in all OECD member nations over the past three decades.

But the top wage earners in Korea paid more taxes than their peers in advanced countries. They accounted for 43.9 percent of total tax revenues, as against the U.S.' 40 percent and a measly 24 percent in the U.K.

"The data was limited so it wasn't easy to compare different countries, but one thing is clear: those in the upper income bracket took up a larger share of the overall economy," said Park Myung-ho at KIPF.

The article does not say how much of Korea's wealth is owned by the richest 1%. In America, the richest 1% own more than 40% of America's wealth. I am guessing that for the rich in Korea it might be in the high 20s or low 30s. I think much of the wealth for the richest 1% of Americans is generational and has accumulated over generations. Whereas in Korea, much of their wealth is recent as of the last 30 years and the rich have yet to pass it on to the next generation to begin accumulating.

Here is a great speech by Bernie Sanders talking about income inequality in America. This guy is the only actual socialist in the United States Congress (despite Fox News' accusations).

KPOP Korral - [Sunny Hill] - Princess and Prince Charming

2012-05-09T21:57:00.000+09:00

I only recently discovered Sunny Hill this year. But I have really enjoyed their creativity in their videos. If you haven't seen the Grasshopper Song yet, it is easily my favorite KPOP video of the last year.

Their new video is for Princes and Prince Charming.

Here is old video of some of Sunny Hill's members teamed up with Narsha from Brown Eyed Girls.

Hypnotic Japanese Vegetable Dance

2012-05-09T21:27:00.002+09:00

Not sure... but I keep watching this just to make sure it's real. But in fact, I think it is not. I am certain they are infront of a green screen.

A lot of people are pretty critical of KPOP... but really, just watch some JPOP videos and I can't see how anyone can think KPOP looks strange anymore.

RIP Maurice Sendak

2012-05-09T21:21:00.001+09:00

A true creative titan of my childhood imagination passed away.

The Colbert Report
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More children's books should be narrated by Chistopher Walken and Samuel L. Jackson.

Plastic Surgery Humor

2012-05-08T09:52:00.000+09:00

A Korean shared this photo with me on facebook... they thought it was funny (and not racist). I do not like plastic surgery and I think people should love the way they are.

With that said... lol

If you don't get the joke, then you might not be aware of the differences in the beauty standards between Korean and Western culture.

Koreans Eat Powdered Human Flesh?

2012-05-08T07:47:00.000+09:00

South Koreans (usually old men) love telling me about all the obscure and disgusting things they love to eat because it gives them "stamina". I will never believe that eating dog or bovine penis will improve sexual performance... but it is what a lot of Korean men believe for some strange reason. Then I read this!

Sourced from the BBC:

South Korea says it will increase customs inspections targeting capsules containing powdered human flesh.

The Korea Customs Service said it had found almost 17,500 of the capsules being smuggled into the country from China since August 2011.

The powdered flesh, which officials said came from dead babies and foetuses, is reportedly thought by some to cure disease and boost stamina.

But officials said the capsules were full of bacteria and a health risk.

"It was confirmed those capsules contain materials harmful to the human body, such as super bacteria. We need to take tougher measures to protect public health," a customs official was quoted as saying by the Korea Times.

Inspections are to be stepped up on shipments of drugs arriving from north-east China, Yonhap news agency reported.

The Dong-a Ilbo newspaper said that capsules were being dyed or switched into boxes of other drugs in a bid to disguise them.

Some of the capsules were found in travellers' luggage and some in the post, customs officials said.

Allegations that human flesh capsules were being trafficked from north-east China into South Korea emerged last year in a South Korean television documentary.

At the time China's Health Ministry said it was investigating the claims raised by the programme.

Ministry spokesman Deng Haihua, quoted at the time in China Daily, said China had "strict management of disposal of infant and foetal remains as well as placentas".

"Any practice that handles the remains as medical waste is strictly prohibited," the newspaper quoted him as saying.

So... f'ing... disgusting.

Majority of Korean Women Want Husband's Salary to be Double Their Own

2012-05-04T12:32:00.000+09:00

There is a reason why South Korea has the lowest birthrate and highest suicide rate in the world... because people here have unreasonable expectations for themselves and the people they love. This is especially true for finding someone to marry and start a family with.

In general, Korean men have unrealistic expectations for women (good cook, traditional family woman, have a career or at least be educated, look stunningly beautiful all the time). But the same is true for Korean women. I am told Korean women most commonly look for the "4 million won man", that being his minimum monthly salary. Being 180cm tall also seems to be the common height requirement these days for a husband.

Then I read this!

Source:

About 56 percent of Korean women hope that their spouse’s salaries will be double theirs or more, a recent survey showed.

The survey of 255 single men and 255 unmarried women said 75.3 percent of all respondents expressed the hope that the salaries of the couple would be pretty much the same.

The survey was jointly conducted by marriage agencies Bien-Aller and Feeling You from April 14 through April 21.

Some 24.7 percent of those polled hoped that spouse’s salaries would be less than theirs.

But as many as 85.5 percent of women respondents said spouse’s salaries should be higher than theirs, while 9.7 percent expressed hope that salaries of the couple will be pretty much the same.

Okay... whenever these articles come out, I feel like the statistics are always fudged a little bit by the writer. If 85.5% of women thought their spouse's salary should be higher, and 9.7% thought it should be the same, then 5% of women think their spouse's salary should be lower than theirs?

Since women were half the survey, then only 2.5% of the 24.7% hope their spouses' salaries would be less than theirs. So, about 22% of Korean men hope their wives make less money than them, while the rest hope for equality (or greater).

I think the most shocking statistic is given in the headline... a majority of Korean women expect their husbands to make more than double what they make. With expectations like those, how do Korean women ever expect to be treated like equals in the workplace? Are women here so hopeless about gender equality that they have no fantasy of equal pay and equal opportunity in the workplace?

I infer from this article that a majority of Korean women hope to earn around 2 million won a month, and they hope to marry a man that makes 4 or more million won a month.

Meanwhile, Statistics Korea reported Thursday that the number of marriages involving couples tying the knot for the first time rose to a nine-year high last year mainly due to favorable demographic factors.

According to the report, the number of men and women getting married for the first time reached 258,600, or 78.6 percent of all marriages last year. This is the highest percentage since 78.7 percent reached in 2002.

"The increase of about 4,000 couples is mainly due to the rise in the number of women in the country in their late 20s, which is making it easier for men to find wives," an official at the statistical agency said.

In the past, there were usually more men than women because families traditionally wanted boys instead of girls.

These would be all the black market abortions during the 80's when Korean expecting couples were told by doctors that they were pregnant with a daughter. Korean couples would then abort the child once they knew the gender in the second trimester and then they would try again to have a son.

The official said this development should carry over through this year before the gender imbalance widens again in 2013.

Another development that helped push up the numbers of newlyweds was that the sluggish pace of economic growth, high consumer prices and spike in housing costs in 2011, had a less-than-expected impact.

Overall, the number of people getting married in the country hit 329,100, up 3,000 or 0.9 percent from the year before.

This marks the second year in a row that the number of people getting married rose compared to the year before. In 2010, marriages shot up 16,300 or 5.3 percent to 326,100, from 309,800 in the previous year when total number of people getting married contracted 5.5 percent.

The report also showed the average age of men getting married for the first time reached 31.9 years, up 0.1 from the year before. For women, the average gain was 0.2 to 29.1 years. (Yonhap)

There is nothing wrong with getting married at 32. The longer a person waits to get married, the more mature they are and the less likely they are to regret it... in theory...

Yosemite Time Lapse

2012-05-04T09:15:00.001+09:00

I love this stuff!

This one would probably have impressed Ansel Adams.

Shawn Reeder, a Bishop, Calif.-based photographer and musician, spent two years working on this time lapse video of Yosemite National Park. The nearly five-minute video is composed of almost 7,000 individual photographs.

"I tried to really kind of get a good overall representation of the park's major areas," Reeder told HuffPost by phone.

Indeed, a good number of Yosemite's famous landmarks make cameos, including El Capitan, Half Dome, Tenaya Peak, Yosemite Falls and Bridal Veil Falls, among others.

"Yosemite has been a really life-changing place for me," said Reeder, who lived in the park for 11 summers before moving to the Eastern Sierra. "It's really my home. I really wanted to share that beauty with others."

"I wanted to inspire people to see that beauty within themselves," he added, "and inspire people to get outside and make choices they might not have made otherwise."
To see more of Reeder's work, be sure to visit his website.

Poor, Lonely Japan

2012-05-04T08:59:00.003+09:00

I vacationed in Japan last year, and was shocked how culturally different it felt from Korea. The number one thing I noticed and felt strange was that everyone was alone in public and everyone was really quiet. Everywhere I went: restaurants, coffee shops, parks, I could notice many Japanese people just walking around by themselves... alone. I almost never see Koreans alone at a restaurant or a coffee shop. Koreans fear being alone.

RIM Behind Anti-Apple Flash Mob

2012-05-02T14:44:00.000+09:00

Last week I posted that Samsung was responsible for the 'Wake-Up' anti-Apple campaign. That was what everyone assumed and what most tech blogs reported. However, Samsung denied any involvement and it turns out Blackberry's Research in Motion hired the flash mob to protest an Apple store in Sydney.

Source:

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion is confirming media reports that it was behind anti-Apple flashmobs that took place in Australia last week.

In a statement released Monday night, the Waterloo, Ont., company admitted that RIM Australia created the "Wake Up" campaign, which it says involves a series of experiential activities taking place across Sydney and Melbourne.

"A reveal will take place on May 7th that will aim to provoke conversation on what 'being in business' means to Australians," RIM says in the statement.

Last week, dozens of people in black clothing showed up in a coach bus and waved "Wake Up" signs at customers inside a Sydney Apple store.

Samsung — which is known for targeting Apple in its marketing campaigns — was initially blamed for the stunt by tech-focused web sites, but it denied any involvement.

RIM's "Wake Up" campaign is believed to be part of a promotion for the BlackBerry 10 operating system, which was previewed Tuesday at the BlackBerry World conference in Florida.

Funny how Samsung had nothing to do with it and for almost a week they got all the free publicity and promotion from this stunt to hype up the release of their Galaxy SIII phone.

Here is the video again:

Ethnic Koreans Face Mass Deportation

2012-04-30T14:39:00.000+09:00

South Korea's largest minority ethnic population is the Chinese. Not surprisingly, the largest foreign born, but still ethnically Korean population is also from China.

Also not surprising... the rules and regulations on these Korean-Chinese people are much stricter and less compassionate than ethnic Koreans who choose to come to Korea to work or immigrate to Korea from Japan or Western countries.

Eating Live Octopus

2012-04-30T14:31:00.004+09:00

I had a friend from back in America post this video on my facebook wall and ask me if I have ever done this? The answer is "no", but this is very common and I have watched Koreans eat live octopus before.

Seriously... I do not think I could ever do this. Judging from the way she speaks, I am guessing she is Korean-American.

South Korean Youths Look Abroad for Jobs

2012-04-30T14:29:00.001+09:00

It kind of blows right now to be young and looking for a job in most places in the world right now. But South Korea has to have some of the most educated, trained, degree holding, and accredited youth in the world. And there simply are not enough jobs to match their skill sets and career ambitions.

Al Jazzera English ran a newsclip this week.

Step 1 to saving money for young people... stop paying 5,000 won for a cup of gourmet, corporate coffee...

Incredible Video of the Anthropocene Earth

2012-04-30T14:15:00.002+09:00

From Gizmodo:

Scientists are thinking about starting a new geological era: the Anthropocene, the period of geological, environmental and biological transformation of the planet by humans. Cities, towns, shipping routes, global roads and air networks are all changing Earth. This video shows the extent of this change.

The new era's name (anthropo- means human and -cene means new) refers to the effect of humans on Earth ecosystems, including the transformation of terrain and life all around us. This visualization of Earth-made by anthropologist Felix Pharand-Deschenes-shows this effect. It's amazing and breathtaking, but also pretty scary. Enjoy it. Or not.

Cool stuff.

KPOP Korral - [EXO-K] - MAMA

2012-04-30T13:56:00.003+09:00

I cannot honestly I understand this group yet. Wikipedia is telling me that EXO is a 12 member boy band and they are subdivided into EXO-M and EXO-K and they are going to be promoting themselves and releasing songs and video in Korea and China simultaneously.

This video is pretty strange for a KPOP song, so I thought it needed to be shared.

Here is EYK's review:

Samsung Hires Flash Mob to Protest Apple Store

2012-04-27T10:39:00.003+09:00

I like the idea, but this was kind of poorly executed and not very clever. The man who shot this video has no idea what the purpose of this mob was. But, he saw it and talked about it. And now I am passing along the video and blogging about it. So... well done Samsung. I guess your viral marketing flash mob idea got people talking about how blindly obsessed the general public is with over-priced gadgets to help people waste time at work and at family events.

The Samsung Galaxy SIII phone comes out next month.

Source:

Talk about aggressive marketing.

It looks like Samsung's jabs against Apple are now extending beyond cheeky advertisements and into real-life guerilla tactics.

A flash mob, reportedly hired by Samsung, descended on an Apple store in Sydney on Sunday. A crowd of protesters dressed in black surrounded the store with signs, chanting "wake up, wake up!"

An Australian blogger, Blunty, happened to be on the scene, and videotaped the protest.
Check out the video above.

The South Korean electronics company is gearing up to the anticipated release of its newest Galaxy phone. In Australia, Samsung has even created a website with a count down clock.

Asteroid Mining?

2012-04-26T23:58:00.001+09:00

I saw this and got really excited!

But apparently there are skeptics that there is really progress being made by these billionaires... lol

The Daily Show
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'Avengers' Comes to Korea Early

2012-04-26T22:33:00.000+09:00

I have already pre-purchased my tickets to see 'Avengers' this friday night. The movie was released a week earlier in Korea than it will be in America next week. I am a huge Joss Whedon fan and I love comic books.

The movie has come out in several other Pacific region nations and appears to be crushing the international box office.

Source:

"The Avengers" doesn't come out in America until May 4, but the Marvel blockbuster is already setting records overseas.

The Joss Whedon film opened in some foreign markets on Wednesday and has already earned $12.5 million, according to THR.

"Marvel's The Avengers" had the second biggest opening ever in Australia (behind only "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"), and earned the best-ever opening day in New Zealand. "The Avengers" also grabbed $3 million in France.

Based on box-office tracking figures, "The Avengers" should be huge. Projections for the film's opening weekend top out near $150 million, but even that could be on the low-end. After all, the reviews for "The Avengers" have been stellar and audiences seem to have a pent-up anticipation to see Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and Hulk together onscreen.

The aforementioned "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" owns the all-time record for opening weekend grosses with $169.1 million. "The Dark Knight" and recently-released "Hunger Games" follow in second and third, with $158.4 and $152.5 million, respectively. With its 3D-enhanced ticket prices and comfy summer kick-off release date, could "Marvel's The Avengers" beat even the Boy Who Lived? It's possible, but whatever record "The Avengers" set by assembling could be short lived: "The Dark Knight Rises," the sequel to "The Dark Knight," looms in July as another possible record breaker.

"Marvel's The Avengers" hits theaters on May 4. The film will close out the Tribeca Film Festival on April 28.

Sweet, let's armor up, get mad, shoot some nazis, eat lighting and crap thunder!

US General Adopts Korean Name

2012-04-25T23:03:00.003+09:00

Koreans always want to know if I have a Korean name. I tell them my name is 한솔로. They do not get the joke, and for those who cannot read Hangeul, that says Han Solo. This, to me, is a very Korean sounding name with Han being a common family name and the total name being three syllables and three characters. But, alas, it is not a real name in Korean.

Source:

Maj. Gen. Edward Cardon, commander of the United States Army’s 2nd Infantry Division in Korea, adopted a Korean nickname as a gesture of friendship to Korea on April 20

Cardon adopted the name Choi Min-ho at a reception in Seoul hosted by the Korean-American Friendship Association (KAFA), in which about 100 members of the American Taekwondo Association visited from Little Rock, Arkansas.

In the reception attended by over a hundred U.S. service members, Suh Jin-sup, 81, chairman of KAFA presented a certificate to Cardon, which illustrated the special importance of his new name.

The meaning of the name “Min-ho” carries symbolic significance of “protecting the peace and prosperity of the Korean people,” according to a press release by KAFA.

Some 10,000 soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Division are almost all based in a northern region between the capital of Seoul and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

U.S. President Barack Obama has adopted the name Oh Han-ma and U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has been given the name Han Hee-sook.

Why do Koreans insist on doing this to everyone? When Lee Myeung Bak or Ban Ki Moon visit Washington, we do not insist on giving them local names like David Johnson and Larry Smith.

Daily Show Demotes North Korea Out of the Axis of Evil

2012-04-25T13:28:00.001+09:00

With North Korea's diastrously failed rocket launch this month, Western powers and the media have been quick to taunt and disqualify North Korea's threat level in the world. (which is a mistake)

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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I love it when the photo shopping team at Comedy Central does bits about North Korea. This guy deserves to be laughed at by the rest of the world.