Monster Island (actually a peninsula)*

Pearls of witticism from 'Bo the Blogger: Kushibo's Korea blog... Kushibo-e Kibun... Now with Less kimchi, more nunchi. Random thoughts and commentary (and indiscernibly opaque humor) about selected social, political, economic, and health-related issues of the day affecting "foreans," Koreans, Korea and East Asia, along with the US, especially Hawaii, Orange County and the rest of California, plus anything else that is deemed worthy of discussion. Forza Corea!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Move over, Harold.

The Orange County Register has a focus story on Justin Chon, the 27-year-old Korean-American Irvine resident who played a high school student in Twilight, a crazily popular movie about vegetarian vampires that my niece made me watch. In the movie he takes a shine to Kristen Stewart, who looks freakishly like my ex when she was a teen.

Chon is also in Crossing Over, a movie in limited release this weekend that presents disconnected immigration stories about people trying to get legal status in Los Angeles. It features Harrison Ford, Ashley Judd, and Ray Liotta. Chon plays a Korean who came to the US as a teen.

His father is supposedly a famous South Korean actor from a couple decades ago, but I'm having trouble tracking down the name.

There is a growing presence of Korean-American actors on the big and small screens. There's John Cho (Harold of Harold & Kumar fame), and of course there's James Kyson Lee (of "Heroes" fame).

Tim Kang, who plays California Bureau of Investigation cop Kimball Cho on CBS's "The Mentalist" is a departure from the could-be-nerds. His character is serious and professional, and the actor himself is tough-looking but without the annoying machismo.

There are a lot of complaints among Asian-American activists that there are few depictions of Asian males as anything but nerds, which makes for disadvantageous stereotypes when it comes to dating and mating, so maybe Kang's image will work to erode those impressions and help Joe Kim and Jack Nguyen get a White girl.

Should I have put an emoticon there?

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Ask Kushibo.

My Google/Blogspot data shows that a lot of the 2 million people who have landed on my site (yes, that's the real number) are looking for cultural information on Korea (e.g., “When did Syngman Rhee die?” “What did the Indians bring to the first Chusŏk?’ etc., etc.), as well as practical or historical stuff.

That got me thinking that, hey, I have a master’s degree in Korean studies and a minor in Japanese studies, I’ve lived in Seoul far longer than most foreans my age (whether they're kyopo or non-kyopo), I teach introductory courses on Korea and its cultural trappings and history, so why not offer a free service where I attempt to answer people’s questions, point them in the direction of where they can get them answered, and/or offer my regulars (that’s you!) a chance to take a stab at some of this stuff, too.

So if there’s something you’d like to know from a “contrarian scourge,” click on ASK KUSHIBO and just ask a succinct question in the comments section below.

Oh, and play nice. Please don’t make me regret this.

九十五大怪獣란? 쿠시보의 몬스터 아일랜드란?

Pearls of witticism from 'Bo the Blogger: Kushibo's Korea blog... Kushibo-e Kibun...
Now with Less kimchi, more nunchi. Random thoughts and commentary (and indiscernibly opaque humor) about selected social, political, economic, and health-related issues of the day affecting "foreans" ("foreigners" in Korea be they kyopo or non-kyopo), Koreans, Korea and East Asia, along with the US, especially Hawaii, Orange County, and the rest of California, plus anything else that is deemed worthy of discussion. Forza Corea!

* Monster Island (actually a peninsula)

The name of this blog comes from a line in "Lisa on Ice," a beloved episode of The Simpsons, perhaps my all-time favorite television show (even though for several seasons there, it really did suck). Lisa is imagining being sworn in as president, but at the last minute, it is discovered that she failed P.E. (physical education) and she is thus "sentenced to a lifetime of horror" on Monster Island. "Don't worry," the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court confides in her, "It's just a name."

Fast forward to Lisa and other prisoners running in panic through a tropical jungle, chased by Godzilla-like creatures, including a monster turtle and a monster firefly.

"He said it was just a name!" Lisa screams to the man next to her. While he, too, runs for his life, the unidentified man calmly says, "What he meant is that Monster Island is actually a peninsula."

Anyway, I thought in some ways that punchline summed up modern-day Korea in a nutshell. For many people—foreigners and Koreans—the ups and downs and everyday travails of the Republic of Korea make it as precarious as a Monster Island would be (and with the DMZ being the only land border, it really is like an island). But it actually is a peninsula. Okay, it made sense in my head.

So as you can see, despite the hits I get from people looking for Japanese tentacle porn, it has nothing to do with anything salacious as that.

Monster Island (actually a peninsula)*

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Move over, Harold.

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