I Hate K-Pop (by Jon)

Seriously, when you think about it, is any kind of Pop music what you would think of as “Greatest Song of All Time” material. In defense of K-Pop, it gets a bad rap because it’s Korean and no other reason. It’s no different than the cookie-cutter pop-stars and “their” formulaic “music” back home. Pop is pop. K-pop just saturates the culture here because of the ingrained sense of nationalistic pride. The world knows it better because it’s just so catchy. Korea note the popularity, so they mass produce it, giving it more reach across the world, and the vicious cycle continues...

           All the while, the music written by the actual performers, the “real” music, if you will, gets buried in a sea of pastels, glitter, and awkwardly sexy dance routines. But it does exist!

           Rock is solid, rock will never die. When you think of Korean rock, though, you think of CNBlue, but they are a Trojan Horse, my friend. They are the Monkees. They are fabricated, auditioned, conceptualized, trained, and pushed out there with songs written by other people, played on instruments they barely know how to use. There are also the rock balladeers, but they only know how to do ballads, and that’s just depressing. Real Korean rock can be heard most readily by YB, or Yoon Do Hyun Band. This is Korea’s premiere rock band and they most definitely do rock. They even do some English songs. I remember sitting in one of their concerts being the only one who knew the words to those ones. Ahh, memories… Recommended songs include “No Regrets”, “Stay Alive”, “Flying Butterfly”, and “I Will Forget”. They also do some pretty solid covers that are harder to find, including “Dash” and “Hae-yah”.

           For a lighter, more innovative feel, Jaurim is your best bet. The female vocalist is small but powerful, and the songs they write are like an intense study in composition. Also good with covers, they have a whole album dedicated to them. Their take on “Even Flow” is something to experience, though you may have to filter out the Kongglish in your head.

           Psy isn’t real hip-hop. He’s straight up entertainment and goes way beyond “Gangnam Style”, nobody ever gives it a chance though. Try looking it up. That being said, if you want REAL rap and REAL hip hop, look no further than the Movement Crew. This is a collection of like minded artists of the genre who have embraced the roots of rapture. Drunken Tiger, Tiger JK, is the YB of this realm. Listen to any of his stuff and you’ll get it. His wife, Yoon Mirae, is another great option, and common collaborator. If you want something a little funkier, try LeeSSang. If you watch any variety shows, you’d recognize the two of them (Gil and Gary) from doing the circuit, “Infinity Challenge” and “Running Man”, specifically. For something a little more technical and intelligent, try Epik High, or anything by their front man, Tablo.

           For a solid piece of Jazz, the best thing to do is go live. Jazz festivals crop up like weeds in University Neighborhoods and anytime you feel like going to one of these neighborhoods, just look for a stereotypically dank and shady coffee house or bar, and you’re there. If you’re in Busan, you can find it along the street on Friday or Saturday nights in Gwangalli.

           In summation, I hate K-Pop, but I love Korean Music. Check out the links below for a taste.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kefkuzmLmlU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J9dKpkaKAI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxrPsEXXiLU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p08JFzkinKM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaY3zKDpDDA

(Thanks to memegenerator for the pic)

Jon's Guide to Go Stop

So what are those red-backed tile-like thingies (in Latin, “Resins”) that are sold next to the playing cards at every convenience store? Well sir, those are ALSO playing cards, Hwatu, to be specific, and they are technically illegal to use.

You use them to play the game known affectionately as “Go Stop”. To do so, one must first understand the matchability of each and every card. The cards are divided into 12 matching groups of 4, each representing a month. Once matched, they are separated into four different groups: Junk (pi- like the letter ‘P’), Ribbons (tti- almost like the letter ‘T’), Animals (yul- like Christmas), and Bright (kwang- like the sound of a cartoon duck being hit by a frying pan). Play by dealing the cards and then, starting with the dealer, lay down one card on the pot in play (hopefully to match), then turn over one from the stack. When you get a pair, you collect. Collected cards add up to points.

Bright!

These cards are five in total. If you have one or two, they mean nothing. Once you have three, they each count for one point, except December’s Bright, which doesn’t count. If you have a win that includes these cards and your opponent has none, the amount they owe you is doubled. If you have all five of them, you get 15 points.

Animals!!

These cards are nine in total. You need 5 to make them count for anything, and even then, it’s only one point, plus one additional point for each one after that. They also have a subgroup, consisting of the birds, or Godori, except for December, which doesn’t count. Collect all three of these cards and you’ll get five points. Get a win with the Godori and your opponent has no animals, the amount they owe you is doubled.

Ribbons!!!

These cards are ten in total. Like the animals, five is one point and each card extra adds on. Collect one of the subsets and you get three points on top of the points you collect individually for the ribbon cards. There are the Red with writing, Blue with writing and Red without writing, except December, which doesn’t count..

Junk!!!!

The most numerous of the groupings, you need ten to get a point, then you only get one more for each junk card on top of that. There are also a few double-pi cards that count as two, which includes December, making up for it not counting anywhere else. If you get a win with these and your opponent has five or less, the amount they owe you is doubled.

January

This set is meant to be images of pine. It includes 2 junk, 1 bright and 1 ribbon.

February

This set is a representation of plum blossoms. It includes 2 junk, 1 ribbon, and 1 of the Godori, which is part of the animal set.

March

This set is meant to be images of cherry blossoms. It includes 2 junk, 1 bright and 1 ribbon.

April

This set is a representation of wisteria (desperate housewives not included). It includes 2 junk, 1 ribbon, and another Godori.

May

The iris set contains 2 junk, 1 ribbon, and the most confusing of the animal cards… because it’s not an animal. It’s a bridge or something…

June

This is the peony set. It has 2 junk, 1 ribbon and butterflies standing as the representative animal.

July

The bush clover set contains 2 junk, 1 ribbon, and the most well known and delicious of the animal cards: the wild pig.

August

The big black smudge, or grass set has 2 junk, 1 bright, and the final Godori: the 3 birds.

September

This set (chrysanthemum) is not only difficult to say, but difficult to play. The 2 junk are good to grab the 1 blue ribbon and the 1 animal card. This animal looks to maybe, possibly, if you squint, be another kind of butterfly, with writing. That butterflyish thing can be played as an animal, then changed to a double junk at a later turn, but then never played back. OR you can just put it as a double junk right off the bat as most people do.

October

Maple is another 2 junk, 1 ribbon, 1 animal set.

November

This set is known as ddong (poop) but is actually paulownia, or something like that. It has 2 junk, 1 double junk, and a bright, making it one of the most sought after sets in the game.

December

Known as both rain and willow, This has the bright that doesn’t count, the bird that’s just an animal and the red ribbon that doesn’t belong with any of the ribbons. It also has the double junk that looks like it doesn’t really belong with the set at all. It’s best to think of it as willow bark.

There are a few additional rules depending on situations.
First, for three or four players: The dealer deals out 3 to the pot, then 4 to each player, then 3 to the pot, then 3 to each player. If there are three players, you begin, but if there are four, the dealer must play and one of the others drops out. The first two get the choice, in order, then if the last is forced out, they show their double junks and brights and at the end, they get paid 2 points worth for each that they show. Their hand gets shuffled back into the deck.
If there are two players, 4 to the pot, 5 to players, 4 to the pot, 5 to the players.
The winner is the dealer of the next game.
Jokers will also be included in the deck, you can add as many of these as possible. Each counts as a double junk. If it’s in your hand, you can play it on your turn and take a card from anywhere in the deck (without looking) and place it in your hand. If you turn it over from the deck into the pot as part of your turn, it goes into what you collect and you turn another over.
If a joker shows up in the original pot, it goes to the dealer’s collection and another card from the stack is turned over.
If you lay down a match, then a third matching card is turned over, you take nothing and they are trapped until the fourth turns up into play. The person who takes the trapped cards gets one junk card from each players’ collected group. If it’s the person who made the trap, they get two.
If you clear the pot, you get one junk card from each player.
In a game with 3 players, 3 points wins, and 7 points in a 2 player game. If you choose to keep playing after you win, say GO. This sounds crazy at first, but it’s how you really increase your take. 1 Go adds a point. 2 adds another. 3 adds another and then doubles the points. Every Go after that just adds another point to the score before you double it. The points at the end is your take.

Keep in mind, gambling is illegal in Korea, so try playing with candy, buttons, chips or counters. This should only be done for bragging rights and not monetary rewards. Remember that even “playing for pennies” can add up to a huge sum with the way the point system works. Have fun!

TV You Can Share: "Oh The Drama!" In REVERSE!!!

So, you enjoy watching TV from home and you want to share it with your Korean friends, husband, wife, gf, bf, bff, or fwb. You can!

There is a great site introduced to us by our friend Tony called www.heyheyfriends.com and it has become an instant favorite. Seriously, We heard about it at dinner yesterday and are already close to being up to date on New Girl. After that, Operation: Modern Family begins.

There are limitations, however, as we can only view what they have and not whatever we want. Here we find gaps in the list, where our other favorites, such as Community and Happy Endings, and the ads tend to be ever present. There can also resolution and translation issues every other episode. Of course, these are small problems that are far outweighed by the awesomeness.

If you know any similar sites and want to share leave it all in the comments below!

Oh! The DRAMA!!!

Korean Dramas have reached a global appeal, along with K-pop. There are many different TV shows that would appeal to the global community, no matter what your tastes. The major difficulty with watching Korean TV in Korea is that it is in Korean.
Once upon a time there was a magical website called “mysoju.com” which allowed you to see pretty much everything that came out of Korea, complete with subtitles so that you could see it AND understand what was going on. They are currently (and have been for some time) having technical difficulties.
 Two other websites are floating around: yodrama.com and dramacrazy.net. These are also good for watching other Asian dramas. They are very similar in style and format, but neither are quite as good as mysoju was, so let’s hope it comes back some day.
 While scrolling through the selections, some of our recommendations may narrow down your choices.
Secret Garden – this was popular a few years ago and references to it still remain in K-pop culture. Good mix of comedy and drama. There are some magical moments, literally and figuratively.
 Coffee Prince – another oldie-but-a-goodie. The central coffee shop was then turned into a coffee shop that you can go to if you don’t mind hiking halfway up a mountain. Awesome view though.
 Bridal Mask – mix campy action with the drama that would be included with anything about the dark days of colonialism. VERY patriotic moments mixed with some top-notch fight choreography.
Vampire Inspector – That’s it… seriously, no title could ever describe a show better.
 Boys Over Flowers – Jon hates this one… Girls loved it though.
 My girlfriend is a Gumiho – Great TV. Gumiho means “nine-tailed fox” and were a bit of Korean folklore, but this is set in modern times.
 Dream High – K-pop meets Drama!!!!
Variety programs – shows like “Running Man”, “Infinity Challenge”, and “1 Night, 2 Days” are great entertainment, filled with celebrities doing stupid things. They also have over 100 episodes a pop to watch.
 These shows are also good for knowing some of the memes and references your students are using, so you don’t feel lost and frustrated when they keep popping up. Take a look; you might find something you like!