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, April 28, 2010

Daily Kor for April 28, 2010

It's nice to have some good news for a change. Congratulations, Oh Eunsun! Now get down safely.

South Korean climber Oh Eunsun becomes first woman to reach summit of all fourteen peaks over 8000 meters (AP via LAT, Reuters, Guardian, Yonhap, Joongang Daily, Korea Herald, Korea Times)

Dispute exists over alpinist's feat (BBC)

South Koreans stream to memorial altars for victims of Chonan sinking (Yonhap)

Heritage Foundation senior researcher says ROK unlikely to respond militarily (Yonhap)
Experts say sinking shows hole in ROK defense (Yonhap)
North Korean watchers report boasting about "revenge" brought by sinking (Joongang Daily)

ROK foreign exchange traders buy $1.5 billion to offset "excessive" rise of Korean won (Reuters, Bloomberg)
HSBC head says bank will not bid for Korea Exchange Bank (Reuters)
South Korea lifts iPad "ban" (WSJ, Yonhap, Joongang Daily)
President Lee says Saemangeum tidal flat reclamation will change Korea's history (Yonhap)
Shockwave ripples through washed-up former athlete community as Pete Rose's girlfriend, Kiana Kim, revealed to be Real Doll (ESPN)

3 comments:

JeremyWednesday, April 28, 2010 5:06:00 PM
If she's gonna dig for gold, then why target Pete Rose?
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LastnameKimThursday, April 29, 2010 2:27:00 AM
Hey, maybe she's not digging for gold but dates Pete Rose because she grew up a Reds fan and liked the way he played ball back in the '60s & '70s....no?

Anyways...this is just another story of a young Korean hottie wrapped around the arms of an old washed up celebrity (a la Nicolas Cage, Woody Allen, etc).
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kushiboMonday, June 06, 2011 2:55:00 AM
I get a lot of hits to this particular post ("Real Doll" is blogging gold!), so I come back and re-read it from time to time.

I just wanted to respond with something I probably should have months ago: Soon-yi Previn a "young Korean hottie"? Only one word in between those quotation marks is correct, one is still sorta correct, and the other is flat-out wrong.

Don't make me put up links.
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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.