ZenKimchiZenKimchiNews, commentary, entertainment, and life from the best blogs in Korea Articles
MySpace Korea Launched
2008-03-12 00:32:00 Web 2.0 Asia reports that the Korea n version of MySpace has come online and is not just a word-by-word translation but has features that aren’t in the American original. [MySpace Korea] More About: Myspace , Launched
Mike and Astrogirl on Ohmy News
2008-03-11 06:32:00 Mike’s interviews with Korean astronaut-to-be Yi Soyeon have been posted on Ohmy News . More About: Mike
More Klogic
2008-03-11 01:42:00 Here’s another Klogic scenario from Amanda. This time, it’s about salary payment.
The Woman is First (in Space) Afterall
2008-03-11 00:53:00 Well, it looks like the man originally chosen to be Korea’s first person in space was rejected by Russian authorities because he violated rules that gave a whiff of espionage, intended or not. I’m very happy about this. I met her in February 2007 after touring the Star Wars exhibit that was at the COEX then. She had just finished going through it with Michael Hurt after also attending a wedding together. I didn’t recognize her at first, but I shook her hand and introduced myself. Then a friend of hers came up and said she had the new Korean space program calendars, and they turned to her picture. It then struck me. “You’re the astronaut!” “Yes.” I stood up and shook her hand again. We took this picture together, and she gave me an autographed calendar. Man, that was a cool day. More About: Space , Woman
Ageist and Racist Clubs in Korea?
2008-03-10 02:00:00 PhoenixStorm at Kiss My Kimchi had an interesting night, as he was not allowed into the club by the doorman for dressing too casually–who subsequently let people in who were dressed in old Converse and t-shirts. Could it be because of–nah, not in Korea . On another note, Mark at The Korea Gig Guide relays a rumor that Bjork’s husband, artist Matthew Barney, was not allowed into Hondae’s M2 club because he looked too old. More About: Clubs , Racist
Help Bill
2008-03-03 15:47:00 Long-timer Scott Burgeson (Korea Bug) pontificates that the ex-pat community in Korea has historically been–well–apathetic. I truly hope that if this was ever true that it is changing. This past weekend, I saw a rare positive clip about foreigners on the animal show “ZooZoo Club.” Responding to an Expat Living article in The Korea Herald, they came out to the country to adopt dogs that had been abandoned. It was a good piece that put foreigners in a decent light. Now, listen. We really need to get together to help one of our own. We gotta stop with that adolescent delusion that we’re islands unconnected to the world and people around us. English teacher Bill Kapoun barely survived an apartment fire. He has third degree burns on nearly seventy percent of his body. And if that isn’t fucked up enough, his deal with his school left him without health insurance. Here are some of the details from the burn fund site: Because of William’s contr...
KMA (Now) Kicks Ass
2008-03-03 04:01:00 A year ago, when I was setting up the new version of ZenKimchi, I was looking into adding good weather features. In my research, I was highly disappointed with the Korea Meteorological Association (KMA) web site. It was clunky. It only worked in Microsoft Internet Explorer. The English section had little information beyond mission statements. In just one year, the site has greatly improved. I especially love the treasure trove of satellite images, including Asian Dust satellite images. The composite image is freaky and cool as you watch our section of the Earth move from night to daylight. It also has decent detailed city weather info. The one thing I wish they’d add is some type of syndication method for web site owners like me. I currently use AccuWeather, which is a decent set up. Its downside is that it’s not based in Korea and is limited in its information. In the meantime, I’ve added a link to the KMA site under the Yellow Dust links (under th... More About: Kicks
Gypsy Scholar’s Ozarks Trip
2008-03-02 03:00:00 I don’t know why, but I enjoy looking at other people’s travel photoblogs–especially of expats returning home. This is Gypsy Scholar and family heading to America in February. More About: Trip
The Disney of Sex Theme Parks
2008-03-02 02:11:00 Cracked.com recently featured South Korea’s Love Land in its feature on “The 9 Most Baffling Theme Parks From Around the World.” Turn that crank, baby! Funny, that this is somehow absent from the Tour2Korea site. [HT to Chosun Bimbo and Lao-Ocean-Girl] More About: Disney
Geek Branding
2008-03-01 16:05:00 EFL Geek has a cool new look for himself. I hope he’s not reaching for my beer. More About: Branding
Are You a Green Korean
2008-02-29 09:29:00 Look at these 17 signs that you’re a green Korean and tally the points. More About: Green
Shriya Will Pay…!
2008-02-29 09:22:00 For the ultimate Korean blogger inside joke post… More About: Shriya
SK Telecom Will Turn Off Your Phone
2008-02-29 02:10:00 I just received this from Mike Mackenna: Hey everyone, wanted to let you know about your chance to fight the man, in this case represented by a crappy Korean cellphone company. Because some people were using phones not registered under their own names for scams, SK Telecom has decided to turn off the cellphones of anyone who doesn’t confirm that the cellphone is registered under their name by March 31st. Obviously this will be a problem for foreigners like me who bought phones from other foreigners and never had the registration switched. SK Telecom doesn’t allow you to change the registration unless the original owner is with you, which I can’t do because the original owner isn’t in Korea. The Joong Ang Daily, the English newspaper here that comes with the International Herald Tribune, published my letter about this today (http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/v iew.asp?aid=2886775), and they’re also interested in doing a story about it. You can email ... More About: Phone , Turn
New Section: Events
2008-02-29 01:57:00 Now that there are enough events feeds out there (that I have found), I’ve set up an “Events ” column under “To Munch On.” As of now, it uses primarily Korea Gig Guide and SeoulSteves. Any other tips on events feeds or any other worthy blogs to add to the ZenKimchi aggregators would be much appreciated. More About: Section
New Feed: Korea Gig Guide
2008-02-28 10:26:00 Everyone’s talking about the Korea Gig Guide today, created by our friends at Korea Pop Wars. I’m adding it to the Pop Culture feed right now. I’d really like to start a separate events feed. More About: Feed
Incheon Airport #1… So Nice
2008-02-28 05:59:00 ROK Drop has related to us that Incheon Airport has been ranked the #1 airport in the world by the Airports Council International for the third year straight. I’d agree. It’s a pretty good airport. And we all know my opinion is more relevant than the ACI. More About: Nice
Yellow Dust Alerts are Back
2008-02-26 00:34:00 I’ve put links to yellow dust levels back under the weather box. This time I have posted links to both the USFK site and the yellow dust page on the Korean Meteorological Association site. I’ve noticed that since a year ago, the KMA site has gone through some major improvements, especially in its English section. I’d love to figure out how to get their weather maps on the ZenKimchi page. Hmm… that’ll be another weekend’s work… More About: Back , Yellow
Great Old Stuff
2008-02-25 14:41:00 Korea Beat posted links to these–the oldest photos of Koreans. Gusts of Popular Feeling picked that up and added more historical Western accounts of Koreans with more links to pictures for context. Oh, this is such interesting stuff. More About: Great , Stuff
“Hagwons like P, M, S and so on have name recognition”
2008-02-25 14:26:00 This stuff just writes itself. Korea Beat has a summary of English policy proposals from Lee Myung Bak since his candidacy as well as the controversies that have arisen. Another prime quote: “Does chairman Lee think that writing ‘orange’ not in English but as 아린지 or 오렌지 is really going to make for better pronunciation?” For those of you who don’t read hangeul, he’s asking if writing “orange” as “arinji” or “oraenji” will matter for pronunciation. Of course it won’t matter, as long as they keep sticking that extra “ji” syllable at the end. But that’s part of the rules of hangeul, and you’d have to change hangeul itself to write “orange” as “orange.” More About: Recognition
Korean University Job Listings
2008-02-24 13:43:00 Joe SeoulMan has not only posted a list of Korean universities. He’s added their recently posted salary and benefits info to many as well. A few folks are contributing to his list. If you have any information, please give it to him. Looking at some of those sals and bens, I don’t think they’re aware of the tighter pool of applicants thanks to the new Immigration regulations. Someone would still work for 1.9? Seriously, my hagwon job pays in the top tier of these mo’ fo’s, gives a higher housing allowance and comes without all the political bullshit. More About: University , Listings
Eat the Taco, Not the Taco Bell DOG
2008-02-21 00:34:00 Oh, this doesn’t bode well for Korea’s reputation. And I’m not helping by spreading it. Anticipate this to be added to The Metropolitician’s Wall of Bad Ajosshis. A 52-year-old man was caught for attempting to eat his landlady’s pet dog. The man, identified as Park, took the pet Chihuahua into his room, while his 69-year-old landlady Jeon was in the bathroom. He then killed the dog and attempted to cook it at the boarding house in Jongno, Seoul, Monday afternoon. Park tried to scorch the dog before cooking it in his room, but his clothes in the room caught fire and emitted smoke. His neighbors called the firefighters and his attempt to cook the dog was detected by neighbors and firefighters, according to police. Police quoted Park, drunk when apprehended, as saying, “I did so because I was hungry.” He was booked without physical detention on charges of theft. More About: Bell , Taco Bell
Gerry “Takeshima” Beavers Speaks
2008-02-21 00:20:00 Matt at Occidentalism has posted an interview from Zero which features Gerry Beavers . If you don’t remember, Gerry was fired from his Korean university for posting historical Korean maps on his personal blog that challenged Korean conventional wisdom that the Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo–Korea, Takeshima–Japan) did not historically belong to Korea.
Crazy Middle Schoolers
2008-02-21 00:13:00 James at The Grand Narrative has been disturbed by a new tradition among graduating middle school students (part 1, part 2). The tradition has usually involved throwing flour or eggs on graduates. But now scissors are getting involved. How? Do not watch this video at work. More About: Crazy , Middle
Metropolitician Column in OhMyNews
2008-02-20 04:15:00 Michael “The Metropolitician” Hurt now has an opinion column in the major Korean newspaper OhMyNews. More info on his site. More About: Column
It’s a Backwards World, Huh?
2008-02-19 10:26:00 Don’t you love this racially ham-handed opening to a Korea Times article: In the reversed world of today where the best golfer is black and the best rapper is arguably white, could the best Korean footballer be wearing the colors of the North, not the South? Thanks, Brian, for pointing this one out. More About: World , Backwards
No, Honey, You Watch What You Want
2008-02-19 08:23:00 Web 2.0 Asia talks about a passenger side in-dash LCD display that Hyundai will introduce into their cars. The cool thing is that the passenger can watch one thing while the driver can see something else, like the GPS, on the same screen. It shows different views based on the angle of the viewer. Cool! More About: Watch , Honey
Google Korea Revamped
2008-02-03 02:02:00 GI Korea at ROK Drop reports on an MSNBC report that Google Korea is changing its web site to be more suited for Koreans. So I guess we can look forward to more Flash animations and ActiveX plug ins.
Seoul Survivors #59: The End…?
2008-02-02 04:17:00 “Male dog penis wine is better than female dog penis wine.” The final Seoul Survivors podcast ended up being a three-hour three-parter affair. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 I put a question mark in the title because Jennifer and I are working on something for the future–possible revival. Details are being hammered out. Stay tuned. Also, we finally found out Karl’s last name, as he’s quoted by the BBC on a story that has nothing to do with Korea.
I’m Not Pretty Enough for MIT
More articles from this author:2008-02-02 04:11:00 I found this on Joe Seoul Man. Miss Korea 2002 has been accepted into MIT, according to the Choson Ilbo. The power quote: The letter from MIT stated that Ms. Keum is an outstanding student with a great deal of potential and possesses both beauty and intelligence. Maybe with the No Child Left Behind program universities have resorted to different criteria for admission. More About: Pretty 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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