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, July 26, 2009

unwelcome passenger

I can't remember if I posted a picture of this creature or not, but this spider was living on the back of my car, over the rear license plate, for about two months. I didn't have the heart to kick him/her off.

If you don't like nature — spiders, mosquitos, mosquito-munching geckos, and moths the size of your hand — stay away from Oahu. I'll have pics of all those things later.

6 comments:

reijeneThursday, July 30, 2009 3:43:00 PM
i have the same spider here. living outside the window sill. what kind of spider is it?
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kushiboThursday, July 30, 2009 3:44:00 PM
Car spider. Final answer.
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BrianThursday, July 30, 2009 4:09:00 PM
Nephala clavata?
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reijeneThursday, July 30, 2009 7:25:00 PM
LOL

i guess my spider's name would be.. window spider..
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kushiboThursday, July 30, 2009 11:04:00 PM
It does look like it could be a Nephila clavata, or mudang kŏmi (무당거미), which I've seen a few times in older places in Seoul where I've lived, but this one on the car doesn't have as elongated a thorax as the Korean/Japanese species. But on the other side, though, it did have that same strange "freaky mask" look to it (one time it basically flipped to the other side for about a week after rebuilding its web, so I got a good look).

But the legs weren't quite as long nor were the colors (yellow and black) as clearly separate as they are on the Korean/Japanese variety.

The other thing, of course, is that the mudang kŏmi is not indigenous to Hawaii, but then again, neither are a lot of things found there, like cats.

So it could be. I should ask a local (Hawaiian) entomologist to see. If it is a local thing, I'm sure there's some colorful lore that's associated with it.

It liked on the back of my car for about two months, becoming something of a biology experiment for me. Even the people who did the safety check on my SUV at Jiffy Lube left it alone, after doing a comical double take upon seeing it.
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reijeneFriday, July 31, 2009 1:51:00 AM
so it might not be an endangered specie...

thanks! now i can crush it.

WORD VERIFICATION: pilat

translated to my mother tongue it means to flatten. =)
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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.

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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.