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!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

News links for October 1, 2009

Pyongyang dismisses ROK President Lee's "Grand Bargain" as "rubbish" (Xinhua and Reuters)
H1N1 "swine flu" outbreaks appear to be slowing (Korea Herald)
Netizens outraged by light sentence for brutal rapist of child (Korea Herald)
Hannara lawmakers submit bill scrapping military duty exemption for "biracial" Korean citizens (Korea Times)
President Lee supports redrawing of administrative and electoral districts to end regionalism (Korea Times)
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myunghwan agree to work closely and coordinate policies with the US on North Korea's nuclear disarmament (Japan Times)
United Nations Development Program returns to North Korea after three-year hiatus (AP)
Government to give 50,000 won "culture vouchers" to quarter million people deemed socially marginalized (Korea Herald)
South Korean factory output drops 1.2 percent in August, ending seven-month streak of gains (Forbes)
US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg says US open to dialogue with North Korea if that would help get nuclear disarmament talks restarted (AP)
USFK Commander General Sharp warns of North Korea production of IEDs (AP)
Fearing cultural encroachment by Koreans, Chinese scholars preemptively claim Hadrian's Wall was subsidiary of Great Wall of China; retaliation-minded Seoul historians eye Wall Street, Wall-E, Pink Floyd's The Wall, and Van der Waals forces (Newsweek Asia)

2 comments:

AnonymousThursday, October 01, 2009 11:49:00 AM
Broken link @ #12

Word verification: Redalin... sounds like a new ADHD drug.
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AnonymousThursday, October 01, 2009 3:09:00 PM
Chinese claim Hadrian's Wall... hahaha... hilarious!
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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.