Saturday, October 29, 2005

Completely ignorable post

Nothing worth reading here, people. Just move along...


200510280012_03_1

Kim Hee Sun claims place among screen goddesses




Actress Kim Hee Sun, best known for her role in...well...some lame to
mediocre Korean movie or the other, has now joined the ranks of world
famous actresses such as Audrey Hepburn and even Audrey Hepburn. How did she secure such a lofty
place on the world stage? By having her picture taken by the same
photographer who once took pictures of Madonna, that's how. (Oh, and then having a
Korean newspaper claim that this actually should mean something) This
picture book, titled "Marvelously Kim Hee Sun," will soon hit store
bookshelves from Seoul to as far away as Busan and maybe even one or
two stores in Hong Kong. You can rush out to the nearest bookstore and buy it now, or just wait for it to show up half-price in the bargain bins in about 2 months.



Korea could cut troops in Iraq by a third!



200510280017_00...and no one would care!



Korean 'peace keeper' in Northern Iraq, keeping a vigilant watch of the entry to the base PC bang, safe within their compound protected by Kurdish soldiers.



Philosophical question: If Korea sent 3,000 troops to Iraq and nobody there even noticed, did it really happen?



Speaking of Iraq, a certain semi-retired Korblogger has left some messages here and there around the Korean blogosphere about the lack of coverage of US troop casuality numbers exceeding 2,000.



Well there you go again, KP, always looking at the negative side of things. How about acknowledging the bright side for a change?



For example:



Of those 2,000 killed, not one was the son or daughter of any politician who supported the Iraq war. This is a great improvement over previous wars in which politicians foolishly allowed their beloved children to put themselves in harm's way, just because they felt the war was a just cause.



Despite the government racking up a record deficit that will only get larger, thanks in big part to the Iraq liberation, no major US corporation has suffered any financial losses. In fact, several have even increased profits dramatically!



Speaking of the deficit, any day now all the money put into the Iraqi cause (see here for a running tally) will be paid back with interest by grateful Iraqis. Once the Shiites are firmly in control of Iraq then everything will be just fine. I'm sure they'll prove to be great friends of the US and Israel for generations to come, just like their tribal brothers from the country to their east. It's all good baby!



Now, considering the bright future that lies ahead of us, isn't this sacrifice of 2,000 young lives well worth it?




Comments on original post



Kim Hee Sun looks good in profile and with sunglasses... but she looks pretty rough when it's a full-frontal shot of her face. Freaky, bulgy eyes, just like mine.

My frog-visaged sister: the Face that Shot 2000 Troops.


Kevin

Posted by: Kevin Kim | October 29, 2005 at 08:40 AM

Kevin, leave it to you to come up with a better title for my post than I did. Anyway, peeling back the eyelids through plastic surgery does tend to give that frog-eye look. Once again I make my fervent plea to all South Korean females contemplating plastic surgery: leave the eyes alone and just do the boobs. Clearly, Hee Sun isn't listening.

Posted by: partypooper | October 29, 2005 at 09:09 AM

[b]Of those 2,000 killed, not one was the son or daughter of any politician who supported the Iraq war[b]


My point exactly. Perhaps I am negative but I cannot see much positive about what is happening in the middle east.

Posted by: kimchipig | October 29, 2005 at 09:53 AM

And by the way, Honourable Pooper, why do you hate America so much? Why are you so anti-American?

Posted by: kimchipig | October 29, 2005 at 09:57 AM

Since when does being realistic and cynical make one "anti-American?"

Posted by: Joel | October 30, 2005 at 05:03 AM

Isn't any concept or idea that differs from that of the Bush administration anti-American?

Posted by: kimchipig | October 30, 2005 at 09:40 AM

Two successful elections, the most recent - largely free of violence - included the participation of all those Sunnis the MSM declared wouldn't participate; a ratified constitution, despite the same media telling us agreement was impossible and civil war was imminent; and Saddam's in the dock standing trial for crimes against humanity - yeah, nothing to proud of there.

Posted by: David | October 30, 2005 at 12:00 PM

Look. Make the draft mandatory again and it will be a whole, different story.

If people have to die to prove their patriotism, they won't be so eager to support the war.

Look at Israel, South Korea, and Switzerland, three countries with compulsory military service.

How many wars have they started?

Posted by: A Yank Abroad | December 09, 2005 at 07:34 AM

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Photo Fun: Fall 2005

In lieu of a post with actual content...



Dontsuck"We don't completely suck!"



Korean soccer team beats soccer powerhouse Iran 2-0 in friendly match.



19841984 Forever



North Korea celebrates 60 years of Glorious Rule of Kim il Sun and his runty successor. Coincidently, 60 years is about how long we'll have wait for the Sunshine Policy to finally result in real changes in North. Patience my dear friends, patience.



GodisdeadG.O.D. is (finally) dead
Korean pop group sensation G.O.D. announces retirement.
And there was much rejoicing...



EnglishHangeul Day organizers give away Hangeul T-shirts in exchange for English language T-shirts. [If I owned a single shirt with English on it, I would have been there myself. Wonder if anyone traded in a 'Be the Reds" T-shirt...]



FlysingaporeReason 217 not to fly with any Korean airline.



Korean airline flight attendants (presumably female)






DogsoutWho let the dogs out?




JihyunJeon Ji Hyeon at the premier of her latest movie (Daisy something or the other).
It's been five years since she's been in a movie that hasn't flopped miserably, leaving analysts to wonder just how long she can keep her career afloat based solely on the talent of her ass [I give it 3 more years]Robbed



Robbed.



On the left is the South Korean runner up in Miss Asia pageant, standing next to the 'winner.' I guess the cross-dressing drag queen look is in vogue these days.




NerdfightNerd Fight!



And you didn't think there was anything more boring to watch than a Taekwondo match...



OnoApparently the embodiment of evil himself Apollo Ono won some ice skating competition in South Korea.
Strange, but I couldn't find any photo of the competition in the major Korean media outlets other than this one...







Comments on original post

Comments

Jeon Ji Hyeon sure has a plush posterior...after this movies tanks maybe she'll do "hair nudes"--one can only hope...

Posted by: Brad Spit | October 17, 2005 at 01:26 AM

I have shirts with bad English and if I'd known I would surely have traded them in as well.

Posted by: EFL Geek | October 17, 2005 at 01:34 AM

How can God possibly die???!!!! Pardon me... its not God, its G.O.D (Gigolos on drugs). Ah well~

Hmm... the robot fight actually looks pretty interesting!

Posted by: Vincent | October 17, 2005 at 03:47 AM

Ahh, Korean Airlines, the only airline I have ever flown and actually felt in danger. I remember flying from Kimpo to Manila one time and not a single member of the cabin staff could speak word of English. The pilot handled the 747 like an F-4 and the landing was a three bouncer. On return to Korea my baggage was soaked from having been left on the tarmac and had a big rip in it. To top things off, the rep in the airport was an asshole and said "we don't care if foreigners fly us. We are for Koreans."

Talk about customer service!

Posted by: kimchipig | October 17, 2005 at 09:11 AM

To top things off, the rep in the airport was an asshole and said "we don't care if foreigners fly us. We are for Koreans."

Talk about customer service!
There is no way that you'll convince that this is true.

Posted by: EFL Geek | October 17, 2005 at 04:45 PM

Yup, it as on a flight from Manila to Seoul in August of 1999. These things happened a lot in Korea in the past. I have always found Asiana fine, though.

Posted by: kimchipig | October 17, 2005 at 04:49 PM

Maybe a post about some kid who was # 2000 should be in order.

Posted by: kimchipig | October 26, 2005 at 09:22 PM

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Greater China

A few news items that caught my eye.



China deports 7 North Korean refugees.



``China confirmed that it deported the seven refugees to
North Korea on Sept. 29,’’ a ministry official told reporters. They had hoped
to come to Seoul, he added.



Unification Minister Chung Dong-young expressed regret,
describing the deportation as ``very shocking.’’






Yes, very shocking indeed. This coming from the same man who recently claimed that

South Korea will "stop allowing large groups of North Korean defectors to enter South
Korea, saying that government has no desire to undermine the communist
country’s leadership."



  Dong



Chung Dong-young  struggling to keep a straight face while expressing his  'regret'  over North Korean defectors being sent back to North Korea.











And secondly, China continues to rewrite history at Korea's expense.




The Chinese Foreign Ministry in August last
year erased reference to some pre-1948 Korean history on its website, and now
all accounts of pre-modern Korean history, including the Koguryo kingdom, are
gone from a world history textbook for ethnic Korean- students in Yanbian,
Jilin Province.






Remember how Korea freaked out when nearly
1% of Japanese schools adopted a controversial history book that glossed over
Japan
s mistreatment of Korea? Remember?





About 50-60 percent of Chinese middle
schools use the Chinese version of the world history textbook. China struck the
Korean parts from the Chinese version in 2003.





Expect the streets of Seoul to be filled
with angry demonstrators, flaming Chinese flags and severed fingers.



Or maybe not. After all, this isn't one of the Great Enemies of Korea like Japan or the U.S. Why make any fuss? It's not like China has ever justified taking over another country by claiming it once belonged to Chinese history...



Seriously though, why would China bother doing this if it were NOT keeping the option open of absorbing a large chunk of North Korea if the Nork regime collapses? Any competing hypotheses out there I'm not aware of?



And the MacArthur statue 'controversy' gets more press than this?




Comments on original post

LOL...good stuff as usual. Glad to see you decided to grace us with another post.

:)

Posted by: Nomad | October 11, 2005 at 03:28 PM

good stuff!

Posted by: oranckay | October 11, 2005 at 06:33 PM

Great picture!

Posted by: baduk | October 11, 2005 at 08:48 PM

Great post.

BTW your atom feed didn't update for this post - I found out about it from the Nomads link to you.

Posted by: EFL Geek | October 11, 2005 at 09:24 PM

Well it's good to know my blog's good for something!

Posted by: Nomad | October 12, 2005 at 12:38 AM

That certainly was a thought provoking post - the more I read - the more a think I love you!

Posted by: leone | October 14, 2005 at 10:09 AM

Koreans don't protest against China because they know that unlike the U.S. or Japan, China will actually kick their asses. It would be funny if it wasn't so damn pathetic.

Posted by: Brad Spit | October 17, 2005 at 01:17 AM