Monday, November 17, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
24 Hour Theater
Last weekend had my actorial debut in Seoul. Had less than 12 hours to memorize my lines, no minor challenge since I sort of had the lead role in the play. This would also mark my first pantless production. Though in Bent I was topless, so those few people who managed to catch both plays could have a pretty good idea of what I look like nakie. Our play was called RinseCycle Romance and keeping with the spirit of 24 hour theater our writer wrote the play between 10pm and 4:30am within the same 24 hour period. In all there were 5 plays including Monica's showstopper "Gerbil Power" I'm a little suspicious of the writer of my play seeing as how she wrote me into my boxers after she met me and spent a lot of time taking photographs of me half nude on stage. Hmmm. What's a boy to do?
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Birthday Pastels
Recently made birthday pastel portraits for two friends of mine. Mark Bell and Damien Holguin.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Snowman
I may be 290 years old now, but I'm still cool enough to make a snowman. Mon added the hair.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Japanese Gardens
Even in bustling Tokyo we were able to escape to a few of the many tranquil meticulously designed Japanese gardens that always seemed like the experience of walking through a painting. Here I am pretending it is warm sunny day as I don the T-shirt and cheery smile. What you don't see cropped out of the foreground is a heavy winter coat I am eagerly dying to get back into.
Tanooki Suit Mario Bros 3
Mario 3 - The Tanooki suit. You had a tail and could fly, but could also turn into a statue to deflect fireballs. It was a helluva a suit. But a real Tanuki has a couple of things they don't sho you in Mario 3 and that is hugenormous testicles that actually drag on the ground. These little Tanooki statues were all over Kyoto greeting you with a bottle of whiskey, an innocent smile, and cahones bigger than your fists.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Thought deer were timid and gentle?
Then you've never been to Nara, Japan where these sacred creatures have been eating out of the hands of tourists for decades. If they see you have any deer crackers on you and you aren't forthcoming you may even get a little bump as this overlyfriendly creature is demonstrating.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
A-mazing Japan
Occasionally as Mon and I tromped through the streets of Tokyo we would find ourselves a little lost. This was one such moment where at a 4 way intersection it seemed as if every road I looked down looked exactly the same - a ton of lights, a ton of Japanese people, and some buildings stretching out far far into the distance. We always eventually found our way, but it was damn cold that night and I was even considering taking a $200 taxi ride to my hotel. Of course for that price I might as well just go check into another hotel.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Copyright Infringement
I need a patent attorney. Someone has taken my image and is using it to sell hot dogs all over Tokyo. Don't have some rights to my own face? What kind of cut should I be getting here?
Friday, March 7, 2008
Nara, Japan
I heard when I was little that if you dug throught the Earth to Japan you'd end up upside down on the otherside of the Earth where everyone walks upside down, but I didn't believe it until I landed in Nara on me head.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Tokyo I Love thee
Howdy, I took 443 photos of Tokyo and lost them all because I hit the wrong button on my camera which is hilarious because its the same way I lost my Prague and Jamaica photos. Okay, maybe its not so hilarious and I should go buy a less finicky camera but I'm cheap and thankfully Monica's got a bajillion photos of theses cities. One of my fave things to do in Tokyo was to go to the hot ection of the vending machines there and buy a coffee drink. Funny thing is, we have them all over Korea too, but I never noticed them until I was in Tokyo.
I mainly noticed them because Tommy Lee Jones face was all over the machines promoting BOSS coffee. It almost looks as if he had the real LOST in TRANSLATION moment of being told to look intensely in the camera for a Japanese product. He looks very very intense. And at first I doubted that whatever they paid Tommy Lee Jones was worth it for their company especially if Lost in Tranz 2 million figure is accurate, but after I drank my 17th, or 18th BOSS coffee I figured they got a bargain.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
somewhat violent relationship
Saturday January 26, 2008
Leeum Museum
A Void in Korean Art is the current special exhibit at the Leeum Museum. And no they aren't complaining about the lack of Korean art or the absent quality, but rather negative space. One of those situations where the translation makes sense, but kind of looks funny anyways. Suffice to say "Avoiding Korean Art" was low in foreigner turn out. The highlight of the attraction was a racquetball sized room whose walls and eilings were covered in grease. There were inflatable cusions that lined the floor that matched the color of the orangy yellowy grease. I lay in the room for about 20 mintes or so feeling like I was in a giant can of crisco. I couldn't resist touching the walls so that I could know for sure it was grease. Something about the Ender's Game book series reminded me of the room. 7,000 won for special exhibit. Near to Hangangjin subway stop.
On the Border
Monica, Annie, Ryan and I all headed out to On the Border last night in what we soon found out was the finest and most expensive in Mexican dining in Seoul. We were seated in a corner booth that could accomodate 12 people with a nice view of the bar which was lighted by a chandilier made out of old beer bottles in a tasteful and brilliant manner. Food arrived and plunked before us were Jalepeno poppers bigger than swollen tennis balls, Mushroom stuffed torpedo sized burritos, and Quesadillas that are as think as thick as your arm, oh and did I mention Margarita glass globes that could double as aquariums for a full grown catfish? Needless to say we ordered too much food and are still eating leftovers. The endless supply of freshly baked tortilla chips and salsa were a nice touch. If salsa aint your thing you can order a bathtub full of spicy jalepeno infused nacho cheese for a mere 6900 won.
A special Kudos to the staff. Our waiter "Huey" could be spotted sprinting back into the chip room as our bowl of chips were nearing distinction. All the waiters of which there were about 20 or so greet you with "Hola" and wish you farewell with "Beunos Dias, Muchos Gracias" The manager came buy to sprinkle us with coupons for our next visit to make us feel better about our astronomical bill. But to be fair it was just under 100,000 won for four people and we all ordered twice as much food as we needed. A bargain in NYC, but having grown accustomed to spendng 4 bucks for a low end meal and 12 bucks for a hgh end in Korea it was a bit of a yipers. Near Shincheon station, exit 4. Walk straight two minutes.
Doctor Fish
After walking out of On the Border massaging our bloated bellies we sauntered around until we found the Hongdae area just south of Shinchon. Meaning only to pop into one of the many bars that litter the congested streets full of 20-somethings and 20-wannabes, Serendipity smiled upon us when Monica spotted a color changing neon sign on the seventh floor of a building and there it was "Doctor Fish". Monica and I conspired to keep the mystery of what "Doctor Fish" is away from Annie and Ryan so that we might surprise them with it one night. They were extremely puzzled when our waitress began with, "So first, you have to clean your feet, and then you can go have them nibble your toes, and finally you clean your feet again with a little bit of oil"
At Doctor Fish you order a beer and a slice of cake and you get to dip your feet into a pool of water filled with fish that specialize in eating dead skin cells. I miagined a somewhat more relaxing experience that what happened but my compatriarts all said that I was way too sensitive and a total wimp. Not that it hurt at all, but the tickling drove me insane. I was able to leave me feet in the water the whole time though as long as I kicked off the fish every 20 seconds or so. Because of my agression toward the fish no more than 7 or 8 fish were ever chewing at my feet at the same time. However when I looked over at Monica's feet I would see a good 40 fish all taking little chomps of the top of her feet. We all experiecne a sensation of more sensitive feet after we stepped out of the water. The cake and beer were good as well and Annie and Ryan opted for tea which came in a kettle slightly smaller than my fist. Doctor Fish cafes can be found all over Seoul.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Istanbul
My fave cheap chow place in Korea is a Kebab shop called Istanbul that’s a 6 minute walk from my domicile. Its one of those places that has a hard core fan base that like showing up minutes before closing time so they can drink booze and maybe munch on some French fries as they talk to the hip and happening Aussie owner of the place, Nev.
Nev isn’t a big guy but comes across as having a large presence do to his shaved head, deep voice, and tattoo exposed muscular arms. It’s the cheapest, fastest, and best food along a strip of burgers, tacos, pizza, and Thai joints near Noksapyeong station. I can normally expect a 2-3 minute way for my Kebab as opposed to the pizza/sub shop down the street which has an average waiting time of 20 minutes.
But a word to the wise on how to ensure fast service at Istanbul, never show up before Nev. If you show up at noon there’s a chance you may be waiting a while for Nev to show up and prepare the meat rack spinners. This has happened to me twice, both times on Sunday at noon. Both times I had to wait 30 minutes, but being a leisurely Sunday I never really cared.
Today I went over to Istanbul and when I arrived, Nev was MIA and I prepared myself for the long wait as we sat next to a Korean American man and four Korean American boys who seemed to be touring Seoul together. They had no doubt already ordered their food unaware that the man who was meant to make their food had not yet arrived.
The Korean waitress kept ensuring the customers that Nev would be there in 5 minutes, and sure enough, 10 minutes after Monica and I had ordered our food Nev stepped in out of the cold looking a little weary starting the last day of his work week (Istanbul is closed Mondays).
As we waited for our food an almost stereotypically obnoxious American came in and ordered after us and proceeded to conduct business very loudly on his cell phone and by conduct business I mean talk with his friends about how he just got fired from his job for performing inadequately and he held his workplace accountable for stabbing him in the back for expecting him to grade the students and give them tests.
The whole place was nearly held hostage by this one sided phone conversation and everyone in Istanbul was quickly able to determine that this patron was first and foremost a jackass and who was secondly rightly fired. If he were living in any other country in the world he would have been fired long ago.
Although I ordered my food before this unemployed sack I was happy when Nev tossed him a to go bag out of turn and the bastard finally waddled out the door still shrieking in his phone.
At this point in time Nev served up the Korean Americans who were grateful to finally chomp down on some food. The boys were happy to be served, but the man betrayed his feelings of being malcontented with an irked sideways glance to the waitress scurrying away.
When it came time to pay the bill, the man caught a hold of Nev walking across the store and said, “What’s with the fifty minute wait?”
Nev turned with a confused look and with the most retarded expression he could conjure up declared, “Me no speaky Enrishee”
“Don’t give me that, I heard you speaking English earlier. Hangeul mal Hahseyo? I can speak both. What’s your pick?”
“Listen. Ok. This is my shop and all I care about is the quality of the food, now your not going to get better food at 5000 won a meal in all of Seoul”
“I’m not complaining about the food. I’m complaining about the wait. The food was good. I liked the food. I sat here wait-“
“Where are you from? You’re North American?’
“I’m from here. I’m from Korea.”
“Yeah. You’re North American. I’m Australian and I care about serving a high quality product. You want to complain, write out a complaint on the Internet, it’s a beautiful thing; you can speak to 6 billion people about how dissatisfied you were with the wait.”
Nev walked into the back and brought out a piece of paper and handed it to the man. Nev continued, “Here’s a food site that discusses places to eat in Korea. Reach your audience directly.”
“Yeah, thanks, and it remains an impersonal incident in a mix of other nonsensical anonymous comments. There are no real connections. Nothing gets solved. It’s griping for griping sakes. I’m talking to you right now. You have no comments about the 50 minute wait?”
“Good luck to you.”
Nev turned on his blinders and methodically walked back into the kitchen as the man paid the waitress. The man was smiling. He enjoyed there little back and forth. He was amused by Nev’s unwillingness to relent any wrongdoing, any hint of an apology. He was impressed how Nev used the conflict to express his pride in the food that was served. He didn’t know that he would get nowhere arguing with Nev before the scene unfolded, and now that it was over he was still happy for the moment.
Monica and I walked out of Istanbul laughing at the whole scene. We wondered how does Nev feel about North Americans; dealing with them all day and arriving at this conclusion that we whine and complain and want things now rather than good.
Monica then recalled a conversation we had about the Matrix earlier in the week, she said, “So the Matrix was really filmed in Australia?”
“Yep. That’s what I heard.”
“And it took them twice as long to make the movie compared to what an American studio would have pumped out, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“Good movie though.”
“Yeah, if you don’t mind the wait.”
Istanbul is a 5 minute walk from Noksapyeong station, Exit 2. It is open Tuesday through Sunday. Closes sometime around 10pmish and opens sometime around noonish.
Nev isn’t a big guy but comes across as having a large presence do to his shaved head, deep voice, and tattoo exposed muscular arms. It’s the cheapest, fastest, and best food along a strip of burgers, tacos, pizza, and Thai joints near Noksapyeong station. I can normally expect a 2-3 minute way for my Kebab as opposed to the pizza/sub shop down the street which has an average waiting time of 20 minutes.
But a word to the wise on how to ensure fast service at Istanbul, never show up before Nev. If you show up at noon there’s a chance you may be waiting a while for Nev to show up and prepare the meat rack spinners. This has happened to me twice, both times on Sunday at noon. Both times I had to wait 30 minutes, but being a leisurely Sunday I never really cared.
Today I went over to Istanbul and when I arrived, Nev was MIA and I prepared myself for the long wait as we sat next to a Korean American man and four Korean American boys who seemed to be touring Seoul together. They had no doubt already ordered their food unaware that the man who was meant to make their food had not yet arrived.
The Korean waitress kept ensuring the customers that Nev would be there in 5 minutes, and sure enough, 10 minutes after Monica and I had ordered our food Nev stepped in out of the cold looking a little weary starting the last day of his work week (Istanbul is closed Mondays).
As we waited for our food an almost stereotypically obnoxious American came in and ordered after us and proceeded to conduct business very loudly on his cell phone and by conduct business I mean talk with his friends about how he just got fired from his job for performing inadequately and he held his workplace accountable for stabbing him in the back for expecting him to grade the students and give them tests.
The whole place was nearly held hostage by this one sided phone conversation and everyone in Istanbul was quickly able to determine that this patron was first and foremost a jackass and who was secondly rightly fired. If he were living in any other country in the world he would have been fired long ago.
Although I ordered my food before this unemployed sack I was happy when Nev tossed him a to go bag out of turn and the bastard finally waddled out the door still shrieking in his phone.
At this point in time Nev served up the Korean Americans who were grateful to finally chomp down on some food. The boys were happy to be served, but the man betrayed his feelings of being malcontented with an irked sideways glance to the waitress scurrying away.
When it came time to pay the bill, the man caught a hold of Nev walking across the store and said, “What’s with the fifty minute wait?”
Nev turned with a confused look and with the most retarded expression he could conjure up declared, “Me no speaky Enrishee”
“Don’t give me that, I heard you speaking English earlier. Hangeul mal Hahseyo? I can speak both. What’s your pick?”
“Listen. Ok. This is my shop and all I care about is the quality of the food, now your not going to get better food at 5000 won a meal in all of Seoul”
“I’m not complaining about the food. I’m complaining about the wait. The food was good. I liked the food. I sat here wait-“
“Where are you from? You’re North American?’
“I’m from here. I’m from Korea.”
“Yeah. You’re North American. I’m Australian and I care about serving a high quality product. You want to complain, write out a complaint on the Internet, it’s a beautiful thing; you can speak to 6 billion people about how dissatisfied you were with the wait.”
Nev walked into the back and brought out a piece of paper and handed it to the man. Nev continued, “Here’s a food site that discusses places to eat in Korea. Reach your audience directly.”
“Yeah, thanks, and it remains an impersonal incident in a mix of other nonsensical anonymous comments. There are no real connections. Nothing gets solved. It’s griping for griping sakes. I’m talking to you right now. You have no comments about the 50 minute wait?”
“Good luck to you.”
Nev turned on his blinders and methodically walked back into the kitchen as the man paid the waitress. The man was smiling. He enjoyed there little back and forth. He was amused by Nev’s unwillingness to relent any wrongdoing, any hint of an apology. He was impressed how Nev used the conflict to express his pride in the food that was served. He didn’t know that he would get nowhere arguing with Nev before the scene unfolded, and now that it was over he was still happy for the moment.
Monica and I walked out of Istanbul laughing at the whole scene. We wondered how does Nev feel about North Americans; dealing with them all day and arriving at this conclusion that we whine and complain and want things now rather than good.
Monica then recalled a conversation we had about the Matrix earlier in the week, she said, “So the Matrix was really filmed in Australia?”
“Yep. That’s what I heard.”
“And it took them twice as long to make the movie compared to what an American studio would have pumped out, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“Good movie though.”
“Yeah, if you don’t mind the wait.”
Istanbul is a 5 minute walk from Noksapyeong station, Exit 2. It is open Tuesday through Sunday. Closes sometime around 10pmish and opens sometime around noonish.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Saturday, January 5, 2008
AFN
Does every episode of that Vegas Casino show have to be about some kidnapping in the family? Now that my tv works these are the questions I ponder. The best part of watching AFN though is all the commercials that are spose to give helpful advice to people in the military. These tips include: how do avoid terrorists when hopping in a taxi, remembering to pay your lease, and why watching AFN all day is not a great way to see Korea. Thank you Arm Forces Network.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Snow Gloves
The four of us who went snowboarding each ended up buying snowboarding gloves at a total cost of 133,000 won.
This averages out to about 33,000 won a person for snowgloves. Then last night I go to a bar and four us ordered a guiness at 7,500 won a pop., for a total of 30,000 won. As a reward for ordering four guiness they bring our these snowboarding gloves that are far superior to any of the gloves we bought. Had we but known we could have come to the same bar last week and each ordered four guinesss and got some superior snow gloves and saved some money and if we wanted to we could even drink all 16 pints of guiness, though I can't recall any time in my life where I've ordered a third Guiness, so I think four would be a bit of a doozy.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Megan Kinsey
What do you do when your 18 year old dancing British model genius friend gets kicked out of China and is stuck in Seoul for a week? Slumber Party! We had a blast dancing an Irish jig atop Namsan as Ecudorian flautist hammered away into their pan-pipes.
Proposal
This photo shows Monica and I the night I proposed to her. At this moment she thinks we are just going out to the symphony, but she's getting a little suspicious because I've been really nice to her all day and that's a little bit aways from the normal beatings she's forced to endure.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
My dog and my ride
Today I bought a puppy and a bike. They made such a good pair I decided to combine them into one unit.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Sweeny Todd
The most magical play I ever saw was Sweeny Todd at the Rep in Stl. The show came alive to me and the main actor was beyond brilliant. I'm a Burton fan, but I can't really even imagine the film living up to the experience I had that night. After Jim Carrey, Johnny Depp is the second most commented on look-a-like celeb I get. And thanks to my ginrmous chin, Jay Leno is next in line.
Snowboarding
If they open a 24 hour snowboarding mountain I would snowboard until all my money was gone and then i would rack up credit card debt until they came for me and hopefully I would die first.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)