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!

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

BoA gets sex change

At least, that's what appears to be the case from the Korea Times story on the singer's concert in Tokyo:

South Korea's top pop star BoA Monday put on a splendid performance in Japan, taking spare time from his busy schedule in the United States.

I usually don't go in for making fun of other people's English ability, since my own Korean language skills are far from perfect and I can barely put together a sentence in Japanese, French, or Italian, the other languages I've studied.

But I do wonder if they're just using boilerplate news stories or if someone at the KT really has that kind of problems with pronouns.

Oh, and the KT pic (above) is the most atrocious picture of BoA I have ever seen. She's got these nice, cute girl-next-door looks. She's smart as all get out and she mastered Japanese so she could market her talents (so much so that BoA's albums in a typical Japanese music store are mixed in with Japanese artists, not the separate Korean section). I like her.

3 comments:

LastnameKimWednesday, April 08, 2009 1:26:00 AM
I guess the editors at KT made a quick revision as I don't see that error on there right now.
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LastnameKimWednesday, April 08, 2009 1:26:00 AM
This comment has been removed by the author.
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kushiboWednesday, April 08, 2009 2:45:00 AM
I guess the editors at KT made a quick revision as I don't see that error on there right now.

In that case, here's a multipurpose comment that would be relevant whether editors caught the error or she really did have a sex change (or had had a sex change):

Snip, snip.
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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.

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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.