Ruminations in Korea

Pusan’s first and only snow of 2004. Light snow fell on Pusan this morning around 3:30 am. In all likelihood, this will be the only snow of the season in Pusan, as we usually get about one day of snow each year.

Top Gear is a great car magazine. It is also a fun radio show and a hilarious television program.

The witty and irreverent hosts have fun with their reviews and comments. In the past, they have done such things as:

Pitting the new Lotus against an Apache gunship helicopter as the highly maneuverable Lotus attempts to avoid Apache radar lock…which ends with the host being "killed."

Having the new Aston DB9 races a train from Surrey to Monte Carlo

Watching in horror as a Jag tries to beat a harrier jet’s time to the end of the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible’s launch deck.

Trying to kill a 13-year old Hillux pickup truck by ramming it through buildings, drowning it, dropping trailers on it, hitting it with a wrecking ball, setting it on fire and putting it on the roof of a 23 story building as the building is being blown up.

They also do thing such as race a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti against an airplane and have a car race a bobsled down a mountain.

You may notice that these bits, with the exception of the 13 year-old truck, all involve cars that most people never even get to see in person, let alone seriously consider buying. In the face of criticism of their elitist car tastes and their snobbish praise of super-slick, super-expensive, super-sports cars, the Top Gear TV people gave in to the will of the people and stepped off their high horse for part of last Sunday’s episode. According to the Episode Guide for December 26, 2004:

The Top Gear team is inundated with e-mails about how we "never feature cars real people buy" and "should stop showing off in fast cars and review sensible cars". Well, to keep those people happy, we thought we would take a look at some cars that cost less than a packet of cigarettes. All from Korea.

The team discovered that it was hard to find anything that wasn’t instantly dislikeable. The reason is simple. There is a certain cost involved in making a car, mostly parts, labour and so on cost the same, relatively speaking, wherever you are in the world. So the only way Korean cars can be cheaper, is to be made out of cheaper materials. And this is the problem. It shows.

The advice is, if you want a cheap car, don’t buy a new one, get a two-year-old Golf or Focus instead. You’ll thank us in the end.

Apparently, during the course of the piece, the hosts, who traditionally dive the best and most expensive cars in the world, brought out washing machines and refrigerators on wheels and compared them to Korean cars.

How was this brilliant bit of elitist snobbery putting down the common folk that drive "normal," "cheap" cars received in Korea? Not well at all. But, then again, that is no surprise.

In the Chosun Ilbo we learn"

"Korean automakers are inflamed at a damning report of Korean automobiles by "Top Gear."

It was not a "report." It was not "damning." It was light-hearted satire and parody of the realities that are faced by people that can afford the ultra cars. Why did they choose Korean cars? because Korean cars are hugely popular among the common people that buy normal cars. If they wanted to "damn" someone and show how truly awful a car was, there are much worse cars than Hyundai to pick on.

"Local car manufacturers are also concerned about how much of an impact the show’s one-sided analysis will have given its high ratings, and why it apparently contradicts an earlier "Top Gear" report that praised a new Hyundai model as peerless within a certain price bracket."

Again, it wasn’t a serious analysis. As to why it contradicts an earlier reports praising the car, it doesn’t. This is another perfect example of cross-culture humor failure. Unless it is mindless slapstick like Mr. Bean, the vast majority of Koreans cannot grasp the subtleties of English humor.

While other car companies would completely ignore such reports and treat it like the comedy it is, Hyundai took a different approach:

"On hearing the news, Korean carmakers such as Hyundai, whose "Getz" (Click) suffered concentrated derision at the hands of the program’s hosts, rapidly contacted their UK offices to confirm what was said and ascertain what the program’s intentions were."

Apparently unable to see how seeing four washing machines strapped together on four wheels by people who drive Ferraris Astons, Lotus, etc. for living in parody of one of the best selling cars in the European market could be funny, Hyundai execs were "perplexed."

In the case of Hyundai, Korea’s flagship carmaker, the firm was perplexed after it received a report on the matter from its UK branch, which played down the report by describing the program as a purely entertainment-based show - more intent on making viewers laugh than conveying the facts.

I sure hope they never catch on to Cartalk….

Although fairly accurate, the report seemed to ignore the high regard with which the show, and particularly host and newspaper columnist Jeremy Clarkson, is held.

Whoa….Wait a minute…. What’s this? The comedy piece was "fairly accurate?" If it was accurate, then what is the problem? OH!! the problem is that the flaws and shortcomings were pointed out by a highly-regarded person. So, it seems that they are upset because their product was fairly criticized by someone who has a large audience, not because it was unfair.

Industry officials say the program has previously singled out many famous foreign auto brands like Mercedes Benz, BMW, Lexus and Peugeot and subjected them to excessive criticism, so this should not be considered an isolated attack.

Again.. Does everything have to be an attack? Can’t some things just be funny? Why must everything be taken so personally here. I wonder if Lotus is freaking out because in the Lotus vs. Apache helicopter story I mentioned above, the interior of the Lotus, that was praised as being one of the most maneuverable vehicles ever, was described as looking like something you would find in your grandmother’s cupboard being put together with chickenwire, baking foil, and plastic….or do you think Lotus just laughed and cashed another huge check.

"However, as the show is completely of an entertainment character lacking in seriousness, it might appear odd to respond in a serious manner." …

"not one famous foreign carmaker that has been slated on the program, including Lexus, has ever responded with a lawsuit or anything of that nature,"

Yes. It would be odd to respond to a comedy bit in a serious manner. Hyundai will look ridiculous and gave them more fodder for more comedy bits later. But, will the possibility of looking stupid do anything to deter Hyundai from actually looking stupid? No. Of course not. Just ask Anton Ohno or Paul Hamm, or Jay Leno, of Meg Ryan, or Hugh Grant, of Leonardo DiCaprio, or anyone else you has ever said (or, in DiCaprio’s case, been ACCUSED of saying) anything remotely humorous or disparaging about Korea, her products, or her people.

"Hyundai will watch how the BBC responds and how the situation develops after issuing protests to the broadcasting station and the program’s producers through its dealerships in the UK."

Ugh… Korea, remember one thing. Laugh, and the world laughs with you.

An example of a frustrating conversation. There is something intrinsically frustrating and aggravating about explaining things like this.

Me: A man was giving a speech at a meeting. He got a bit carried away and talked for two hours. Finally, he realized what he had done and said, "I’m sorry I talked so long. I left my watch at home." A voice from the back of the room replied, "There’s a calendar behind you . . . "

Korean Friend: i don’t get it why calendar?

Me: He talked so long, he didn’t have to look at a watch… he should look at a calendar to see how long he talked.

Korean Friend: he talked for two hours

Me: that’s a long time…nevermind.

Korean Friend: what’s the related thing with the calendar?

Me: just a funny way of saying he talked too long. it was only two hours, but it was so long it FELT like days.

Korean Friend: it doesn’t make sence completely~~

Me:  Ugh…

What do three great bluesmen, Bukka White, Son House, and me, have in common?

Aside from havin’ the same bitchin’ guitar, and aside from Bukka being fat and (interestingly…at least to me) holding his quitar the same way I do, we don’t got nothin’ in common.

COMMENTS:

Name: Drambuie_man
Message: Don’t sell your self short, you are the blackest man from Utah I know.

Name: Impqueen
Message: You are way cuter than Bukka or Son House. But that truly is a sweet guitar.

Moments ago, a girl, presumably in her mid to late 20s jumped to her death from the roof of my 25-story apartment building.

I was thinking about going on the roof to set up my telescope because the air is so clear and still tonight. However, i got lazy and didn’t do it. What if I had been there when she came on the roof? Would it have been different?

Don’t scroll down if you don’t want to see the graphic pictures. Update: the graphic ones have been removed and only the links remain however, there is still one other at the bottom that may be disturbing.

Through early morning fog I see
Visions of the things to be
The pains that are withheld for me
I realize and I can see

That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please

The game of life is hard to play
I’m Gonna to lose it anyway
The losing card I’ll someday lay
So this is all I have to say

Suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please

The sword of time will peirce our skin
It doesnt hurt when it begins
But as it works its way on in
The pain grows stronger watch it grin

Suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please

A brave man once requested me
To answere questions that are key
Is it to be or not to be
And i replied oh why ask me

That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please

And you can do the same thing if you please

For whatever reason, this young woman decided to take it….rather than call a friend, sleep it off, etc.

Other pics are here, here, and here.

This is a recycled post from September 16, 2004. It seems that adults are still unable to check themselves. Results? You suffer.

Comments

As most of you have noticed, I have discontinued the comments section of my blog. Enough people have asked why that I feel it necessary to explain and to explain My new comment and email policy.

I write this blog primarily for myself. My blog is not comment driven. Unlike many bloggers, I don’t post things just so I can see what people think of my writing and what they have to say to me. Quite frankly, I don’t really care if anyone comments or not. I write mostly for myself. I write about the things I am interested in and that I want to remember. Writing my blog is cathartic and very therapeutic for me personally.

If no one ever read my blog, I wouldn’t care. In fact, as I have said in numerous places, I originally anticipated that no one except for my brother, mother, and maybe a few friends would drop by occasionally to see what was going through my head. I actually estimated that I would get about 13 visits per month.

Now, I am getting a modest 200 - 300 hits per day. Of course, many are from people who are undoubtedly disappointed in their search for BoA, Lee Hyori, Lee Sabi, Lee Seung Yeon, Akira Fubuki, Sally Yoshino, and various other naked Korean and naked Japanese women. There are also some from the Ogrish-hunting crowd searing for Italian, American, and Korean beheadings. However, a large portion of the hits are from people stopping by to read what I have written.

When I first started this blog, I decided to open the comments section to the readers as a place for them to leave their thoughts and comments not only for me to read, but also for readers to debate issues amongst themselves. Although I am not dependent upon others’ comments, I do enjoy reading most of them and responding to some of them.

However, a few immature jackasses with too much time on their hands decided that they would make my blog their little playground. They decided that it would be fun if they posted useless, juvenile, insulting, and annoying comments to every post. They decided to insult me, my family, and other things personal to me. I would delete the completely useless and most offensive comments in order to maintain at least a modicum of civilized behavior on my blog.

I’m all for dissent, I am all for playing devil’s advocate, and I am all for wit and humor. But I would hope that it would be done in an mature manner. Simply making asinine comments trolling for some sort of response is not worth my time. I don’t want in on my blog. I refuse to clutter up my blog with the juvenile scratchings of social misfits.

I refuse to play the sorts of games that those few commentors were engaging in. As their comments were wasting my time, and as I was no longer interested in reading their immature comments, I took the step of removing the comment option from my main blog.

While I am not entirely happy about doing so, I just had no desire to read the many comments posted by those certain few.

For the time being, I have decided to do two things. One is to take the comments off-site. In the left-hand column, you will notice a comments section where anyone who wants to can leave comments in a guest-book style arrangement. I will give everyone the chance to act like a mature adult and check themselves in their comments. However, if the off-site comment book becomes cluttered with the same useless trash that was infecting my blog comments, then I will pull the plug on the comments book without a second thought. So, in short, police yourselves.

The other thing I have decided to do is to alter my email policy.

From now on, I will consider any and all email sent to ruminationsinkorea@yahoo.com to be open and not private. Thus, any email that I receive will be subject to posting at my discretion without any notice to the author. If you don’t want something posted on my site, don’t email it to me.

I will not post everything that is emailed to me. But in certain cases I may choose to post an email for whatever reason. Again, it is entirely my decision what emails will or will not be posted.

Thanks for visiting and keep coming back.

-It is always possible to park directly outside any building you are visiting.

-A detective can only solve a case once he has been suspended from duty.

-If you decide to start dancing in the street, everyone you bump into will know all the steps.

-Most laptop computers are powerful enough to override the communication systems of any invading alien civilization.

-It does not matter if you are heavily outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts - your enemies will wait patiently to attack you one by one by dancing around in a threatening manner until you have knocked out their predecessors.

-When a person is knocked unconscious by a blow to the head, they will never suffer a concussion or brain damage.

-No one involved in a car chase, hijacking, explosion, volcanic eruption or alien invasion will ever go into shock.

-Police Departments give their officers personality tests to make sure they are deliberately assigned a partner who is their total opposite.

-When they are alone, all foreigners prefer to speak English to each other.

-You can always find a chainsaw when you need one.

-Any lock can be picked by a credit card or a paper clip in seconds, unless it’s the door to a burning building with a child trapped inside.

-An electric fence, powerful enough to kill a dinosaur will cause no lasting damage to an eight-year-old child.

-Television news bulletins usually contain a story that affects you personally at that precise moment you turn the television on.