Long time, no type

I should first apologize for not posting in so long, but I was totally obsessed about this book I was reading, Freakonomics. Joel and I heard the author on NPR before we left the states, so don't even bother telling me how behind the hipster scene I am- believe me, I already know.
Anyway, it is written by an economics professor, and the jist of it is that he looks at regular things from an economics perspective, figuring out how people respond to incentives for certain behavior and what seemingly unrelated things are really very strongly correlated. If for no other reason, it was cool to see the list of popular baby names, as ranked by their mother's education and income level. If we want to keep up with the smarties, we'd better plan on having a baby Glynnis (female) or Dov (male) in the near future.
Anyway, I also got a new job- or, I should say, an additional job. I am going to be the head cashier at a volunteer-run furniture and gift store on post. It is kind of like an Asian Pier 1, with all kinds of things imported from Thailand, China, Hong Kong, Japan, the Phillipines, Vietnam, etc. It is only two and a half days a week, but that, plus my master's degree, Aidan, and the 7.5 hours I tutor should keep me pretty busy, I think. If it gets to be too much, look for my suicide-note blog entry, a la Cheryl's friend Yoshi on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Here is a picture of some of the kids I tutor:

I have nine 25-minute classes a day, with a total of over 80 kids. I also have another job teaching adults.

OK, checking out. Send in your suggestions of what you want to see and hear about- I think we are already getting jaded to what's so different about being in Korea.

The Five Parts of Asia

Jessica and I went to the Korean National Museum on the Tuesday after MLK Day. I know that's been almost two weeks from now and we have yet to post. Our bad. We've gotten caught up in our own lives for a little and forgot about our loyal 200+ viewers. We'll make it up to you.

Anyway, we forgot to bring our camera to the museum take some awesome pictures; however, I pulled this picture from the web so you can get a feel for what this place looks like.

First off, you should know that this museum sits on what used to be the golf course at Yongsan garrison. It was supposedly a real sweet golf course that all the generals would go play golf on in downtown Seoul. It would be the equivalent of having a 18 hole golf course in the middle of New York City that only a foreign government's soldiers could play on. Needless to say, the Koreans did not really appreciate having this golf course there. So after years of protesting and bargaining, the U.S. Army agreed to turn that land back over to the Korean government. They took the land and built this giant museum there. You can't really get a good feel for how huge this building is, but it's several city blocks long.

So Jessica and I are strolling through this museum, checking out all the exhibits. The building itself was absolutely impressive. However, I have to say that the museum was lacking in the exhibit department. The building was so huge that it seemed empty. There was a huge section on the Korean language, Hanguel. FYI, it was created in the 1400s by a Korean king to help give his people some national identity and to separate them from the Chinese language. At one point, we were looking at a section which had a full scale mock-up of a Korean king's throne room, when a Korean tour guide comes up to us and asks if we know what we're looking at. We said, "Not really," and he proceeds to launch into a full-blown speil about the throne. We were a little taken aback, but actually grateful for the one-on-one interaction. He goes into this incredibly elaborate history lesson about the Asian culture; hence the title of this entry.

What he tells us is that there is a particular order of things in the mind of the Korean, and to a greater extent, all Asians. It's generally focused around the four cardinal directions plus one: north, south, east, west, and center. On top of these directions are five colors: red, yellow, blue, black, and white. To this add five guardian deities: dragon, tiger, phoenix, turtle, and dragon. Yes, there are two dragons. Don't kill the messenger. Additionally, there are five classes of people: the king, the royal court, the queen, commoners, and ancestors. I know this gets a little confusing, but imagine our predicament. Every time this guy rattled off one of these groups, he then asked us to repeat it back to him. And he would not accept us messing a piece up! It was a little taxing. Anyway, I made this easy-to-follow chart so that you folks at home can follow along better. Behold:



So after he finishes explaining all this to us, he then proceeds to take us around the museum and show us some of the archeological exhibits. As he is showing them to us and talking about them, he points out that they all follow this five-part design scheme. Most of it is extremely subtle; if we didn't have this old guy to explain it to us and point it out we never would have discovered it ourselves. But sure enough, almost every sculpture, painting, and carving have elements in it that mirrored up with the five-parts that the guide had described to us. It was one of those "ah-ha" moments that you rarely get to experience when you're an adult. I guess it's something like Fung Shui in that the placement of certain symbols and colors signifies certain things.

All in all, it was a pretty interesting visit, and a steal at just $2 each to get in. We'll probably go back in the summer because they have a huge garden outside the place that should be something to see when it's not 30 F. When we do, we'll try to get a snapshot of some five-parts of Asian examples.

Snakes... on a Plane?

"On board a flight over the Pacific Ocean, an assassin, bent on killing a passenger who's a witness in protective custody, let loose a crate full of deadly snakes."

The above is the tagline from an upcoming movie called "Snakes on a Plane" that is scheduled to come out sometime in '06. I know some of you "internet hipsters" have probably already heard of this back in August when there was a buzz because of the entry on a screenwriter Josh Friedman's blog. But, I just heard about it the other day; and since this is my blog, I'm going to mention it today.

The movie stars the incomparable Samuel L. Jackson as an FBI agent who happens to be on the plane for some reason. Maybe to catch the snakes? Perhaps to escort the snakes to their final destination? Who knows; I guess we'll have to wait for this summer. Here's a picture of Sam L. boarding the plane.


Of course the real star of the show here is the snakes. Here's a shot of rubber snakes crawling on Goodburger's own Kenan Thompson as he sits and ponders them. What exactly do you think the director's guidance to him was on this scene? "Look... puzzled."


The other side note about this film is that the title has started to become the new "Shit happens". For example:

Man 1: Hey dude, you just got your third parking ticket and they towed your car... Now you're going to be late for your big date!

Man 2: Snakes on a plane, man. Snakes on a plane.

See how easily it rolls off the tongue. I challenge each of you to incorporate it into your daily speech. Be using the next big thing before it's the next big thing. Alright, daisybreak you later.

Who green lighted this project?!?

My new hobby is reading the descriptions of television shows in the newspaper. Before you feel too sorry for me and my pathetic life, check out these gems that make "Fonzie jumps the shark" or cousin Oliver joining the Bradys look like television magic:
"The Cosby Show- Cliff suffers nightmares after he eats something he shouldn't have. Guest appearance by The Muppets."
What the hell did he eat?? I think this picture shows the Huxtables right after Cliff told Claire about his crazy dreams- ha ha!

"The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air- As a new poetry club member, Will is forced to do some quick thinking."
Who let Will joing the poetry club in the first place is the real question.

"Lizzie McGuire- Lizzie's plans with Ethan and her dad clash on the same night."
Maybe Lizzie should watch one of the 10,000 shows that has handled this hilarious problem in the past.

And the most ridiculous one I've found--
"Three's Company- Teri falls for Jack when he buys a false mustache."
What, the tiny satin shorts/knee high athletic socks didn't get her? The gold chains paired with open necked, polyesther dress shirt? The Magnum, P.I. Hawaiian shirt? Too bad he's into dudes.

If this hot picture of Jack is making you nostalgic for Three's Company, check this out.

Strange Parallels

Just a quick, stupid observation.

As some of you may or may not know, I am currently assigned to the staff of the Eighth United States Army in Korea. I noticed today that our unit patch bears an uncanny resemblance to the corporate logo of the insidious Umbrella Corporation from the Resident Evil games and movies. Don't believe me? Check out these side by side comparisons:

First, the Eighth Army Patch

Now have a look at the Umbrella logo

Coincidence? Umbrella Corporation specializes in medical experiments and creates zombies with its T-virus. So what could that possibly have to do with 8th Army? Nothing, at all.

Nothing... unless...

HOLY CRAP! ZOMBIE SOLDIERS! Take that, terrorists!

It's time for the Bloggies!!

In keeping with the end-of-year frenzy to compile best of/worst of 2005 lists, I present our Fillet of Seoul Awards ceremony, The Bloggies! For those of you that are site regulars, enjoy this walk down memory lane; for new readers, use this oportunity to catch up on the highlights of our awesome blog. Enjoy!!

Biggest Contributer

Eric "Tab O'Miley" Yeager, with six comments posted to the blog. Joel and I get positively giddy when we read your opinions, so keep it up!
Honorable Mention: Pat and Laurie, my dad, and the Bevins family, with two posts each.

Best Post

Cross Cultural Explosion!!!! is the big winner- because it is about pizza, obviously.
Honorable Mention: They warned me!, in which I break the news that Americans smell like butter and that Koreans can't drive.

Best Picture

Sam the Snowman, from the Destiny's Child, have you no shame?? post. Many of you may be partial to cutie-pie Aidan pictures, but Sam's Colonel Sanders/R&B look takes the cake.

Honorable Mention: Aidan's near nude shot in They warned me! will be shown to future girlfriends for years to come.

To pick up your award, get in touch with that biker guy.

And that concludes tonight's ceremony. Thank you to all of the people and things that made this blog possible. Seacrest, OUT!

This is for real

We've all had some chuckles over Korean culture and the like, but when we saw this yesterday our reaction bordered on terrified. Aidan was watching Korean kid's TV when a show popped on that freaked us out. It was shot with a camera, but the characters weren't moving like some extremely low budget cartoon show. Upon closer inspection, we saw that they weren't people at all, but mannequins dressed up and posed out in public. Behold!

Yes, that's three vaguely Korean looking mannequins posed to look like they're interacting with each other. There were voices dubbed over, to make it seem like they were talking. Also the camera would cut from character to character to give the appearance that they were more than mannequins. I've seen this done with other inanimate things before as a cheap way to make an anthropomorphic toaster seem more alive, but when used with the mannequins it gives a completely different, creepy feeling.

Also, the "little girl" in this picture is dressed a little inappropriately, I think. Not to be a prude, but I just don't think that a pre-pubescent girl needs to wear a Charo outfit. Maybe you think that makes me an old man. Maybe you should check out this next picture before you make that decision. Shazam!

Ok, anyone else think that's a little much? Keep in mind that this was on a Korean kids show. Whatever. I've got one more gem for you. In the first picture there was a little old lady with her back to the camera. That was, I assume, Grandmother. In this next one, we get a better view of her; additionally, she's joined by Grandfather. Here's the rub, they're both tiny as hell! It's kind of hard to see in this picture, but both of these old people were shorter than the little boy. In fact, I'm pretty sure that they are just other children mannequins dressed up as old people. Witness!

Check out those glasses! Awesome! And that bonnet on the old lady! Nuts! Hopefully you've gotten as much of a laugh out of this as we did. Maybe someone can turn this into the next American kid's show sensation. Just remember where you saw it first.

Oh, and check out this awesome death ray.

Happy New Year, Charlie Brown!

I've always disliked New Year's Eve. It seems like there is this expectation that it's got to be this insane blow out where everyone cuts loose and goes "CWAZY"- but it never lives up to the hype. It's like New Year's eve is the Las Vegas of holidays, if that makes any sense. Hmm, I wonder what New Year's in Las Vegas is like...
Anyway, this year, we decided at the last minute to go to a party at the hotel here on post with some friends. It turned out to be pretty fun, and we remembered to take lots of pictures to share with you all.
Here is an awesome picture of Joel and I, circa 1920, at the Dragon Hill. We met up with Kat and Tyler there. Kat's two sisters, Heidi and Gretchen, and Kat's parents were in town for the big night, and we also met up with Gavin and Leah, Tim and Sarah, Matt and Kacie, and the Endrikens. Y'all got the official blog shout out, yo.