Old Horseface is back…

Towards the end of last semester I decided I had to change the final graded assignment for the students in my writing class. I’ve found that by using the old ‘write about what you know’ ploy I could give them assignments on something that they can relate to and movies were a pretty good way of doing that.

Going to the pictures in Korea is by far one of the most popular ways for people to spend their free time. In fact, I’m sure (for those of you in the same boat) if you ask any regular university student “how often do you go to the movies?”, they’ll probably answer on average “once or twice per month”. It’s about $8 per ticket (although 3-D rip-off flicks will cost you more BUT early morning showings will be cheaper), and I’d say for 2 people you’d spend $20 all in – tickets, popcorn, drinks, transportation. Probably decent in comparison to what you’d pay in the UK?

Anyway, when I’m trying to give the students some ideas to write about, it never fails to amaze me just how many of them will write about the same thing. Not their ‘style’ of writing, but more like the actual subject they end up writing about.

It’s not their fault, but it’s more down to what’s available and showing at the local multiplex that must influence their decisions (and taking peer pressure etc into account). This semester (this being the first time that I’ve done a 5 paragraph essay for a final assignment with them) the winner had to be ‘Inception’. I’d say that out of 60 students there were at least 10 who chose this movie as their ‘favourite’ or most ‘memorable’. Although the movie was released in the summer of 2010 and added to the fact that most of them can’t remember what they had for breakfast (I could be added to that statistic at times myself) it was quite refreshing for them still to be so enthusiastic about this particular film. I quite enjoyed ‘Inception’,  (and the South park spoof episode) and I guess it proved that you could make such a thing as an intelligent blockbuster movie.

There was the occasional student who chose something like Fellini’s “8 1/2″  (I preferred La Strada myself, but hey, it was better than the guy who picked to write about ‘Marley and Me’) and of course a good selection of Korean and Japanese movies too, but the majority of films they wrote about were well-known Hollywood titles. Most of them could be classed as ‘popular’ (or the ‘kids’ like to say - very famous) and had probably done relatively well at the box office.

However, according to a recent article in Time magazine it’s said that sales at the box office in the US have decreased by about 4.5% or $70 squillion dollars. My heart bled for the poor lambs. After a bit more of a trawl through my Twitter feed (yes, I know…) I came across an interesting piece by Roger Ebert (he of the thumbs up/down movie review show) who came up with a list of reason why. I’d go as far as saying that I’m not too fussed if the movie companies or multiplexes are losing money or not. And I’d also go along with his opinion in #6 on his list when he puts it down to a lack of choice, and therein lies my point. The selection of movies in theatres in Korea is pretty poor and when the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the US kicks in it will undoubtedly get worse. Hmmmmm?

The other day I was walking through a nearby multiplex when I saw this huge (and how can you miss Sarah Jessica Parker’s HUGE old horseface on an even bigger banner?) poster for this movie called “I don’t know how she does it”. It doesn’t come out until the beginning of February next year (they’re just teasing me for the next month or so) and that’s it – that’s the biggest movie to get here in February 2012? I’m sure we’ll still have either Holmes or Mission Impossible straggling about then too, but Sarah Jessica Parker? Really? If the movie’s anything like the poster suggests (and it suggests it’ll be like all the worst Kate Hudson movies PLUS Sex & The City combined) that it’ll be utter shite and a complete waste of mine and yours hard-earned. That said, the choice is yours.

Still, wouldn’t it be nice to think that from time to time movie theatres in Korea wouldn’t have to kiss Hollywood’s arse and show what will probably be a huge waste of time and money (but will no doubt do well), but instead there would be a niche for just that something a wee bit different? I know, it’s a pipe dream. It would be even better if point A were to come to fruition that there would be a readily available medium where we could keep up with what’s showing on a regular basis (this website does a decent job of maintaining listings ). Moreover, I can navigate my way through most Korean cinema sites to check to see what’s showing, but try booking a ticket without a Korean ID number and see how far you get? It’d also be an idea to get more Korean cinema’s to show more of their Korean language films with English subtitles as I’m sure given a choice between spending 2 hours in the company of Seabiscuit or checking out something locally produced would be a (sometimes) welcome alternative.

EDIT: I’ve just read the movie poster and it says that SJP’s movie “Can You Tell What It Is Yet (or whatever it’s called) is based on a New York Times bestseller. That’s it, I’m definitely reserving tickets for the first night!

Who’s Gonna Drive You Home?

I’ve been off from work for the past week or so and it’s given me a chance to catch up with a few movies that I’ve been meaning to see. It also meant that we could go to the pictures (yes, that’s what we call them in the UK) and enjoy oven-baking heat as well as catching one of the latest flicks.

The other day we were going to watch ‘Tree of Life’ from the pay-per-view option on our TV,  but the running time of two hours and twenty minutes, plus when I mentioned that the movie featured both Brad Pitt and dinosaurs but it had nothing to do with Jurassic Park the notion soon wore off. For another day.  

Instead, I put on ‘Drive’ It’s not a bad film, but after reading (and listening) to the various reviews earlier in the year I was expecting something a wee bit different to what we got. According to the trailer (have you noticed how much of the story they actually give away in trailers these days?) I thought it’d be a bit more car chasey to say the least, but instead it’s all a bit more ‘up its own arse’ if you follow?

Ryan Gosling plays a driver who has aspirations to drive racing cars professionally, but to make ends meet works part-time at a garage and is also a stunt driver for movie studios. He’s also a getaway driver for hire.

He befriends a young woman and her son who live in the same building and he finds out that her husband is soon to be released from jail. The husband is beaten up on his release from prison and the driver offers to help him do one ‘last job’.

Let’s start with the good points. A running time of less than two hours is generally a good thing. It’s very nicely shot and doesn’t over-complicate things with too many hand-held camera bouncing-all-over-the screen shots. He (the character has no name) wears driving gloves and the only other one I’ve seen do that was Alan Partridge but it’s safe to say that’s where the similarities end. Sadly.

It has a good opening set-piece to put things into perspective for the audience nice and early. The cast was pretty good without resorting to the stereotypical ‘underworld’ figures that we see all too often. It has an interesting enough story(and a twist) that doesn’t need to rely on over-the-top special effects, 3-D, or 101 cliches that they could have taken from the Hollywood ‘How To…’ book.

However, it also has some big flaws. First, the background music is a real pain in the arse. As there’s hardly any dialogue in the film the music takes on a more central role, but it hardly ever fades into the background. It was like listening to the Cocteau Twins backwards but not in a good way. It really is one of the most annoying soundtracks I can remember and if it was supposed to help us engage more with the characters, then it failed. All I wanted it to do was stop.

Moreover, after quite a decent opening set-piece, the movie then navel-gazes its way through the next thirty minutes or so. Remember, not much dialogue, so lot’s of looks, glances, suggestions etc. After a while it becomes a bit repetitive. Part of the narrative has Ryan Gosling set up to become a race car driver but his aspirations are never really explained. It leaves the character as a bit one-dimensional in my opinion.

It’s also quite a violent movie (think gangsters and hammers and you’ll get my drift) so if that’s not to your taste then you’ll have to look away once or twice. It did fit in with the story line and didn’t rely on it as an integral part of the narrative.

To sum up, I thought it was decent but nothing as awesome as it’d been hyped up to be. There are one or two excellently choreographed scenes, Gosling and Albert Brooks (as the villain of the piece) are very good, and it’ll no doubt be up for a few Oscars in the new year.

 

A Cup of Red Bean Soup

Today, it’s my birthday. I’m 42, but if I go by my Korean age, I’ll be 48 or more no doubt. Basically, the way the Koreans do the age thing is like this:

1.  Everyone, at the moment of birth, is one year old.
2.  Everyone adds an age at New Year’s Day. (Either on the solar one or lunar one, depending what people celebrate.)

They don’t mix the Western and Korean method together. Plus, the Western method is used for all official counting purposes (birth and death certificates etc). So, now you know.

Today, also happens to be the winter solstice or dong-ji (동 지) when we have the shortest daylight hours, but after today we see longer daylight hours and the whole yin and yang thing starts balancing out once again. It’s also traditional on that day (and during the winter in general) to eat patjuk (팥죽) red bean porridge. Not being much a traditionalist, I’ve cunningly managed to give patjuk a bit of a body swerve on almost all of the birthdays I’ve had whilst in Korea. It’s not bad, but I’d rather have a bit of carrot cake (just finished a piece with a cup of coffee) or just a piece of good old birthday cake. That said, the story behind why patjuk’s eaten is quite interesting if you’re into that kind of thing.

However, my favourite weird thing that Korean’s do (well, it’s in the top 3) is called go-sa(고사). It’s not that weird to me now, but when I first came to Korea you could say it definitely took me by surprise. I remember I used to teach a private lesson twice a week near Kyung Hee University which was about 20-30 minutes away from where I was living at the time. I’d jump on the bus for 450 Won (which was criminally cheap), get off 15 minutes later, then walk through one of the old subway stations on the number 1 line. It was a right dump, with just the 2 exits either side of the tracks, then about another 10 minutes to the university for lunch and a chat.

After a few weeks I decided to vary the route a wee bit and see what else there was in the local area. So, getting off the bus one stop earlier, then walking through more of the back streets I came across a sight to behold. Outside one of the shady-looking ‘shops’ I noticed an older woman washing something in a huge basin and it wasn’t her smalls. Upon closer inspection there were about half a dozen or more pig’s heads being doused down in cold water. “What the **** is that all about?”, I mumbled to myself. The lady didn’t take that much notice of me, then I saw that there were about another 2 or 3 of these places in the same street. Not really a butcher’s shop as we’d know it, but something that more resembled the kind of place you’d end up if you owed a gangster a lot of money and couldn’t pay up.

I scurried along to my appointment and told my friend Dr. Bill about my most recent discovery. I remember him asking me if it freaked me out (I’m paraphrasing) and I said not really, but it was a bit weird and that it’s not really the kind of thing we’re used to seeing in Western countries, especially in what you could consider a residential neighbourhood. Bill went on to explain to me that what the pig’s heads in particular were used for and the cultural significance of it all.

As it turns out, the pig’s heads are bought by people who are starting a new business venture or moving into a new house( and so on and so forth) and originates from a Shaman ritual that was supposed to scare away bad luck, evil spirits, and interfering mother-in-laws.  The best part of the whole thing was that you wanted to get hold of a pig’s head that was smiling. The better the smile, the more chance of success (or less chance of failure? – Scottish optimism?). Like this…

Your guests would then place some money in the pig’s mouth (or ears), do a little ceremony thing, then get stuck into the pig and wash it down with some rice wine liquor. Cool, huh? Well, unless you’re the unlucky, smiling pig?

Koreans also believe that pigs represent fertility (as well as money) as the Chinese character meaning pig ((I can’t do Chinese yet…) is pronounced as ‘don’, which is the Korean word for ‘money’. All makes sense now, eh? If anyone’s interested you can buy a pig’s head for anything between $10-30, depending on the smileyness of the pig.

Well, enjoy your Winter Solstice and I’ll be back with more soon. That means less than 5 months, but I have good reasons for that…

 

 

 

“You’re Getting Old…”

There was a great South Park episode (Season 15 episode 7 – ‘You’re Getting Old’) where one of the characters growing cynicism for everyone and everything around him saw him being alienated by his friends becuase he thought everything was ‘shit’. It was nice to see something that I could relate to so accurately.

The music everyone was listening to, the movies they had to watch, the computer games they were playing and even the ice cream they were eating was ‘shitty’. Eventually, the doctor diagnosed him with being ‘a cynical asshole’.

I couldn’t figure out if Trey Parker and Matt Stone were trying to make a statement that the music the kids, specifically the “tweens,” are listening to today is crap, or if those who don’t like it and condemn it are just a bunch of cynical old fools. I guess that’s what the creators of South Park do best. Make some biting cultural comments, some of it subtle, but most of it in an ‘in your face’ kinda way, crass, crude, thought-provoking and most of all  - funny.

My favourite part would be the movie trailers. See for yourself.

I just love the biting cynicism of the show and everyone they make fun of. Of course, I understand that some people will think it’s just adolescent toilet humour, produced by guys who’ve not grow up yet and they’d probably be right. But that’s just the point.

If you’ve ever had the misfortune to sit through a Rob Schneider movie (there are plenty more examples) then you’ll know just how unbelievably bad they are? Shitty is just the tip of the iceberg.

Here’s a round-up of a few movies that I’ve seen of late.  Well, the past couple of months at least. Cynicism and all…

Black Swan – The first of a 3-in-a-row movie nights at home with the Mrs and it wasn’t worth any of the hype. In fact, I’d go as far to say that it bored me from the begining to the end. I couldn’t work out if I was to feel scared, sympathetic, worried or whatever else about the characters. With the exception of Vincent Cassel as the sleazy ballet company director, the rest of the characters left me feeling empty. It was billed as a psychological thriller and I’m still waiting on either of those genres to show up. For all the hype and expectation ( I didn’t really know what to expect before watching) I felt it was 2 hours of pretentious navel-gazing. Definately non-thrilling, really annoying and another example of style over substance.  Redeeming features? It was nicely shot.

We’d ordered these movies through the pay-per-view option on our TV, and I thought this would be the one that I’d really hate. How wrong can you be? Well, in my case – a lot. Not being a huge fan of the monarchy, I had this vision of Chumley-Warner types, plummy-voiced, in-bred Germanic stereotypes talking down to the common man. Hey, I was right! But the film really was entertaining, quite touching and Geoffrey Rush was excellent as speech therapist. It wasn’t so much that the stereotypical portrayal of the Royal Family was a bit OTT (Guy Pearce really should be in pantomime with a performance like that – the King who abdicates), but I felt that the film showed some nice human touches in the relationship between the two leading characters. A surprise hit…

I’m a big Clint Eastwood fan, and some of the films he’s made in the last few years have been up there with the the best of his career (Gran Torino, Flags Of Our Fathers/Letters From Iwojima, Changeling) in my opinion. However, Hereafter, despite a realistic opening sequence fails to deliver. It’s a really disappointing film, despite an interesting premise it just fails to deliver on any fronts. If you’re struggling to sleep it would definately help you on the way.

Inside Job, or sometimes also known as “what those corrupt bastards did with YOUR money”, is an interesting, thought-provoking, in-depth documentary detailing financial corruption in the United States by the banking industry. It’s a bit long, but it’s incredibly detailed,  as a lot of complex facts are explained in a simple yet straight-forward manner, but if you stick with it ’til the end then be rewarded with an in intelligent, analysis of the banking crisis and all that ensued. Matt Damon narrates.

Sword and Sandals

The Eagle (based on the historical novel ‘The Eagle of The Ninth’) is not a bad film despite having the dull, insipid and wooden lead provided by Channing Tatum (which sounds like something you’d order a case of in a health food store), but Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot) is very good as the Pict slave Esca, ordered to serve his master Marcus Flavius Aquila as they hunt for the lost eagle standard of the ninth legion. A lot of the movie was filmed in Scotland, giving it a very grey, green, grainy, damp feel to it, but the movie does very well not to resort to the over-excessive use of CGI that we see so often these days. There are lots of scary Scottish types in it too.

Another movie with the same subject as the previous entry. This time it’s a bit more brutal, violent, gory and we see just how many ways there are to die at the hands of the Picts. It’s directed by Neil Marshall (who directed the excellently scary The Descent and features a bit more of an all-star cast, but it still falls a bit short of the mark. It’s all a bit run-of-the-mill, you don’t get to empathize or relate to the characters, and it’s all a bit rushed.

When I see Matthew Mahogany’s name next to a movie I instinctively think “shitty”. He’s synonymous for making shit films of all shapes and sizes. I remember seeing the eye-bleedingly dreadful Failure To Launch on a long distance flight and wondering who thought it would be a good idea to make this pile of shit, and when you see how much it took at the box office ($128 Million), it beggars belief.

Thankfully, TLL is a decent thriller and Mahogany provides a likable lead character. It’s not going to rip up any trees, but it’s quite well acted and provides decent entertainment for your 2 hours. Just stop making those shitty romantic comedies, OK?

Which takes us nicely back to some cynicism. If you go to see this, give them your heard-earned cash (or in some cases maybe not so hard-earned?), then we’re all doomed. Al Pacino? Come on! No doubt it’ll rake in fortunes at the box office. Tell me it’s not shitty.

I’m a bit ambivalent about the new ‘rise of The Planet of The Apes’ movie. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t…You could say it’s all been done before, but that would be cynical of me.

 

 

 

K-ola

Last week I watched a great documentary/movie about Motorhead’s Lemmy. Not only was it entertaining, funny, loud, crass and at times a bit bonkers, but it was also refreshingly candid and honest.

Lemmy came across as one of life’s survivors and was paid tribute to by a host of rock’nrollers (Slash, Dave Grohl, Metallica and so on). There wasn’t any bullshit, no pretentious shenanigans, no tantrums and definitely no mansions. What you saw was what you got. Warts and all if you’ll pardon the pun.

Lemmy – The Movie contains rumbustious language>

In one early scene he’s talking to the actor Billy Bob Thornton, I’m not really sure why. He comes across as a bit of a dick it has to be said (BBT not Lemmy), but at one point that start talking about Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Elvis and the like, and how they were ripped off by managers and various other chancers. Lemmy laments that he remembers meeting Chuck Berry while they were recording something for TV and that he wouldn’t go on stage until he’d been paid his fee in full – up front. Berry took to the stage with his pockets full of dollar bills and the show went on.

Anyway, it got me thinking about the Korean music scene and our recent experiences with ‘Top Band” and why there’s never any decent exposure for anything other than insipid, lame, manufactured guff. Kinda like this

It’s painful…

There’s also been a lot in the press of late about “How Pop Music Crosses Borders” where they cheekily compare a recent K-pop gig in Paris to when the Beatles first played in the US  and just how much it influenced society. Aim high and all that, eh?

The guy in the picture looking more than happy with himself is  Lee Soo-man. No, me neither? Still, he’s being being credited with promoting K-Pop to the rest of the world and beyond. Good for him I hear you cry. Well, not all is as rosy in the garden as they’d like you to believe.

A couple of weeks ago 29 people were booked with K-Pop chart rigging and other goodies. And another interesting article from the Economist claims that the practice of bribing your way into the charts “Payola” as it’s known in the west, is also rife in the music business. K-ola, or 증회 in Korean, is the latest ‘pay-to-play’ scandal to hit the industry. Interesting reading.

So, where does that leave the rest of us? Well, it seems that the kids are still being duped into thinking that they have a chance of making it.

This article gives an insight into the current craze of auditioning for talent shows and the numbers are huge. Strangely enough, the article fails to mention ‘Top Band’ and instead focuses on the more commercial, manufactured K-Pop stuff instead.

I think Lemmy said it best with this line:

“The pleasure is to play, it makes no difference what you say. I don’t share your greed, the only card I need is The Ace of Spades”

Voodoo Children & Top Band (톱반드) – part 4 – “Extra Garlic Sauce…”

Eventually the sound guys got both stages set up and ready to go. It was quite a cool system they had rigged up.

The stages were split into 2 halves. Both halves were on runners (or some other kind of remote control system) and it meant that when one band was playing on Stage A the next band could get ready on Stage B and they weren’t in the way.

I don’t remember the name of the first band who were to play, but they did seem to get a bit of a rough ride from the judges. It took them 3 or 4 takes just to get started (sound issues) then when they were finished we saw what kind of reaction we could expect from the judges.

A few of them went straight for the jugular. Nothing constructive, no complimentary comments, just ripped them apart. ” The guitar’s were too loud.” “Why did you need a second guitar player when he added nothing to the band/song?” “The vocalist looked as though he was thinking about something/anything else…” You get the drift?

To be honest, the first band gave it their best, but were maybe missing that wee spark, that bit of charisma that’ll set bands/artists apart, and that’s really what the judges were looking for. They left the stage looking a bit dejected, were interviewed a couple of times and all this was relayed back to the rock’n'roll shack on the TV’s there.

To be fair, the bands in the shack did shout, cheer and support the other bands which added to the bonhomie and good vibe of the day as a whole. We hung around, caught a few of the other acts, trying to gauge (or in my case understand) what the judges were saying to them when they were giving their critiques. We still had a bit to wait but at least the train was moving.

By this time, we were slowly but surely moving through the acts and we could see who we were up against and what styles they were playing. It really was a mixed bag. Thrash, Rock, Indie, New-Funk-Power-Pop-Fusion-With-No-Singer-But-Hey-That’s-OK to name just a few. However, what we did notice was that we didn’t really have any ‘rock’ judges in the panel. I don’t think it made a huge difference but it would have been nice having a ‘rocker’ in there somewhere.

What came as no real surprise was the quality of the musicianship we were seeing. There really was lot of talent out there, in all shapes, sizes, ages, and styles of playing. It was great to be a part of that and I really enjoyed seeing who we’d be competing against. In fact, Sam was being mobbed at one stage by quite a few students who he’d taught at one time or another. They were paying homage to the master before proceeding to kick his ass. Youngsters today…

So, we made our way to the stage. The wait was almost over, the rain was about to start , the sun had gone down and the band before us were just about to do their thing. We watched on from the sidelines.

– it kicks in after about 3 minutes.

What added to the surreality of the event was that when the band’s had finished their routine there was no applause, no cheers, nothing at all from the stage area. You could have heard a mouse fart when the band’s had finsihed. That was kinda weird.

They were then asked to make their way to the front of the stage where they’d be given the judge’s opinions and what they’d scored. We were up next.

We’d rehearsed the song, gotten it down to what we thought was a good time (about 3:30), and we gave it our best. There were one or two ‘dodgy’ bits that the judges may or may not have picked up on, but it wasn’t the worst take we’d ever done of the song. Maybe an 8/10?

See for yourself

We also got some nice pics from the TV footage. It’s true what they say, the camera does add 10lbs.

When we eventually saw the final edited version of the show, they’d put together our segment into a 1:30 minute piece. It looked pretty cool.

What you didn’t see was the 3rd judge give us 55/100. Go figure. He mumbled a few words (literally 2 or 3) then entered his score. Maybe he didn’t like the eye make-up?

So, we took a fairly healthy score of 292 home with us and waited to see what would happen next.

We pondered the possible outcomes over dinner. Would it be enough to make it to the Final 24? Why can one judge give you a score of 88 and another on the same panel give you 55? Would the judges have to bring the scores down for the remaining 2 days as they’d already set quite a high benchmark score on the first day?

We found out soon enough. 3 or 4 days after our audition we were informed that we’d missed the cut by about 30 points or so. It wasn’t quite enough to get us into the Final 24, but we’d come a long way in a short space of time.

Being the modest type, I didn’t really tell a lot of folks that I was participating in the show. But, quite a few times I’ve had folks come up to me and say they saw me on TV and that it was great. The best one being the receptionist at the doctor’s clinic a couple of weeks ago. Take it all in your stride…

Voodoo Children & Top Band (톱반드) – part 3 – “The Final Countdown”

 

Starting a rock’n'roll show at lunchtime is bound to have some repercussions.

Bands, musicians and ‘arty’ types in general don’t respond well to getting told what to do at the best of times, but when it’s at lunchtime and you’re sent towards (what can only be described as a shack) tempers could get a bit ‘tetchy’.

We were to spend the best part of 6 1/2 hours before we took to the stage. Shit, that’s a long time…

The deal was we were to be given 5 minutes to set up, sound check (yeah, right) then play. Go over the time limit and I guess you’ll lose points? There were bands Friday through Sunday and a variety of respected musician/producer types from the music biz would give you a score out of 100. There were more than 200 bands left in the competition, so that would just add to the intrigue. Or would the same-same factor kick in?

To add some confusion there were also judges who could have been dragged along from nowhere in particular who were precariously perched high in the ‘gods’ (or directly above us and to our left). I never quite got the hang of what they were there for. They would also score the bands, then the highest and lowest scores would be removed, leaving you with your final score. Make sense so far?

So, with a lot of time to kill we merrily made our way into the rock shack. The mood was one of anticipation, expectation, nerves, kimchi burps and boredom. We were kept amused by a few tv screens that promised to show us the stages but the sound was still getting done. Some guys warmed up, some groups chatted, drummers battered away on anything they could find lying around, and just to make me feel really old a kid in front of me was playing some kind of flying aliens game in 3-D on his cellphone. I had no idea what it was. He looked happy though.

Having no access to beer or any other goodies, some of us were more creative than others in how they utilized the down time. Ripley got out the face paint and was soon noticed by the few cameramen/people who were mingling in the shack, taking vox pops, interviews and that kind of thing. He started painting stars on their hands and arms and was soon causing a bit of a stir. In a good way.

Everyone was trying to relax and just get prepared for their 5 minutes of fame as best they could.

We weren’t allowed to move from the shack (except for the obvious refreshment breaks) so we could only see the stages being prepared from the back. It was taking its time getting the first band to the stage, but it would be ready rock any time about now.

Keep Fallin’ on My Head – update

It seems that the storms are showing no signs of letting up.

The first clip is from Bangbae-Dong in southern Seoul. Mt. Woomyeonsan landslide to be more precise.

Some more debris from the scene.

And if things couldn’t seem to get any worse, it looks like old land mines might have been swept into the area by the landslide.

I hope it ends soon, but according to weather reports from the KMA, the’re expecting 25-49mm tonight.

Voodoo Children & Top Band (톱반드) – part 2- Yangju or Bust?

After being lucky enough to get through the first round, then our little interview piece that we’d recorded the week after, we now had about a week to decide what to do for the second and final round of competition.

The rules changed somewhat from the initial round. This time bands were told to pick a Korean rock song from the ‘Top 100 list”, then perform it at one of the 3 designated competition days.

We decided to choose 미인 (Mi-in) by Shin Jeong Hyun and we had about 3 rehersals to get it down. It was an interesting choice for me as I wasn’t really aware of the influence that the ‘Godfather of Korean rock’ had on today’s music scene. After a bit or reading and a chat with Sam and Joon it all became too apparent. We’d have some big boots to fill.

Of course, being a Korean TV contest and a Korean song, it meant that Ripley would have to sing it in the native language. Luckily for us he’d already played the song with another band a few years previously and had sung it with them. Not blowing smoke up his arse, but he does speak Korean well and takes it all in his stride.  We’d be fine…

We dropped down to a 4-piece after Josh had conflicting travel plans and unfortunately couldn’t do both things. However, the show must go on and all that and we hit the rehersal room.

Sam had put together a track at his studio at home giving us a good idea of how different we could make the song sound. It was a good starting point and after some trial and error, experimenting, angst and the usual ups and downs that go with getting a song ‘right’, we were ready to go give it the beans.

KBS had advised all the remaining entrants that they’d have to make their way to a place called Yangju (양주), about an hour or so the north of Seoul. It would be an early start as we were expected to be there by 12 or so. Such a rock’n'roll o’clock.

We met up and hit the road, not really sure what our fate was going to be. But we were in good spirits, if still a bit sleepy.

It’s always nice to get out of the city, even if it’s not that far, the difference is quite amazing. Yangju has plenty of forests, roadside restaurants and plenty of things to see and do for the day tourist. Movie sets and all that jazz are just one of the ‘famous’ things in this hood.

We parked the car, walked up a hill towards what looked like some kind of resort-dwelling. It was hard to make out what it exactly was used for. The bands signed in, got to hang out and relax for a bit, then the random interviews started. This was to be a recurring feature of our day in the country.

We were band #14 so plenty of bands to see before we hit the stage. It would prove to be a very long wait.

 

Harbinger of Doom

Holy shit! The rain hasn’t stopped much at all.

We got lucky (Tormod, Kenny and I went to Sam Ryan’s Pub for Rib Night) and when we left the pub we were able to walk home. No rain whatsoever. Result!

Within 30 minutes of getting home it had started again and hasn’t looked like giving up any time since.

Some of the pictures that have been posted online are quite shocking. Yesterday  I was driving through Kangnam (towards Seoullung Station) to my private class that I teach and getting home was no fun at all.

Driving through Kangnam, then crossing the Hannam Bridge in almost zero visibility was not an experience I’d like to repeat any time soon. Squeeky bum time. I’ve cancelled tomorrow’s class. I’m sure the New World Economy will survive…

Kangnam and Sadang subway stations are now both closed.

Kangnam Station flood