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!

Monday, June 13, 2011

Hulu goes Hallyu

Forget the K-pop concert in Paris, the real sign of the Korean Wave is Hulu.com adding a slew of Korean "dramas" to their repertoire. Frankly, I'm not sure if they're on the regular hulu.com service, which is free, or if it's the hulu+ pay service.

The latter is about $8/month and it includes all episodes of back seasons of many television shows, as well as a growing list of classical movies. I myself have subscribed to hulu+ because that's the only way they let you watch hulu.com shows on a mobile device like an iPhone or an iPad.

Also, I don't believe hulu.com or hulu+ are available in South Korea. At least, last time I was in Seoul I could not get hulu.com to work (ditto with my Netflix membership, which happens to have a large pool of Korean movies).

3 comments:

AnonymousTuesday, June 14, 2011 10:01:00 AM
Kush,

Korean dramas have been on hulu for quite some time. I think they get them from dramafever, which has also been around for quite some time.
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kushiboTuesday, June 14, 2011 10:05:00 AM
For how long? The last time I checked, some months ago, there did not appear to be any.

Moreover, I made this discovery after hulu.com started running ads for the Korean dramas. In other words, they are actively trying to promote them.
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The Sanity InspectorTuesday, June 14, 2011 10:49:00 AM
My wife used to watch the dramas on dramafever a few years ago, before she finally had enough of them.

I'm just hoping that Chaw will reappear online again. I saw it on the seatback screen on a flight to Korea, and enjoyed it muchly.
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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.