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!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Daily Kor for March 24, 2010

So Lee Kunhee, the Samsung emperor, is back on his throne now that his legal troubles have magically vanished. If this is followed by a drop in Samsung's stock, can we call it a Post-Pardon Depression™?

Visiting South Korea, former US President Jimmy Carter says Seoul and Washington should talk directly with Pyongyang (AP via WaPo, Yonhap, Korea Herald)
Lee Kunhee returns to the helm of Samsung (Yonhap, AP via WaPo, WSJ, Bloomberg, Reuters, Joongang Daily)
Prime Minister calls for cautious exit from stimulus (Reuters via CNBC)
Seoul seeks help from Tokyo and Beijing in finding remains of celebrated patriotic figure An Chunggŭn (Yonhap)
Government dismisses eighteen leaders of outlawed civil servants union after "illegal" rally last week (Yonhap)
President Lee steadfastly defends Four Rivers Project as environmental rehabilitation (Korea Herald)
Ssangyong Motors and GM Daewoo sign agreement to jointly sell cars (Korea Herald)
Using only indigenous technology, North Korea proudly announces invention of Atari 5200 (Yonhap)

4 comments:

RobertWednesday, March 24, 2010 5:30:00 PM
I presume the "Using only indigenous technology, North Korea proudly announces invention of Atari 5200" is a tablet, or at least a laptop...
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kushiboWednesday, March 24, 2010 7:01:00 PM
I think it would be the entire console you see there. The North Koreans don't yet have the miniaturization technology possessed by American game makers back in the mid-1980s.
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UnknownThursday, March 25, 2010 4:21:00 AM
That's insulting to Atari...

How about Intellivision or Magnavox Odyssey?.. ;)
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kushiboThursday, March 25, 2010 5:02:00 AM
Hey, I had an Atari 5200 when I was little, and those joysticks... when I saw this picture it just reminded me of that. And if KJI really were to try to reverse engineer an Atari 5200, I think that's what his Frankentari monster would look like.
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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.