K-pop Takes Over The World One Owl At A Time

 

With 2012 coming to a close, various organizations and entities are putting up their "best of the year" lists and this morning's Guardian Guide managed to pay homage to a Korean song other than Gangnam Style.

"BEST KPOP VIDEO TO FEATURE AN OWL - BIGBANG: FANTASTIC BABY"

Bigbang's Fantastic Baby may be a bombastic boneheaded beast of a ditty, but the video is quite impressive and does indeed benefit from the inclusion of an owl.

I, for one, congratulate Mr. Dragon and Mr. Top on their efforts to include these feathered friends within the realms of Korean popular music and I hope that in future all Bigbang videos may feature winged specimens alongside their semi-naked muscular selves.

 

 

 

Korea Foundation Free Gallery Concert

Exciting things are happening at the Korea Foundation next month...

To celebrate the seventh anniversary of the Korea Foundation Cultural Center they are putting on two fantastic gallery concerts for free. On September 3rd you get the chance to see pianist Jonghwa Park and jazz vocalist Sunny Kim, whilst on September 4th you can see Geomungo Factory and Pansori diva Jaram Lee.

Tickets are free to both events, but you can only apply for one or the other, not both. Applications open today and run till August 27th, but get your skates on as places are limited and this is a rare chance to see some of the best musicians Korea has to offer for free. Head to the website, fill out an application and hope for the best.

Here's a taste of Jaram Lee:

(The Pansori kicks in just before the three minute mark.)

A soupçon of Geomungo Factory:

A touch of Jonghwa Park:

And a dollop of Sunny Kim:

Saturday Afternoon In Itaewon

I'm back in Seoul after a glorious week of building cardboard box cities in the wilds of Busan and I'm pleased to see that Itaewon is putting on a show at the weekend. These B-boys prove they've got what it takes to entertain the jaded crowds that hang around on the street corners of my neighbourhood.

Busan Bound

Hello one and all, it has been a fair wee while since last I put anything up here. The last couple of months has been a whirlwind of work, with most of my attention firmly focused on The Little Dragon at Latt Children's Theatre.

Now that show has opened, I'm working on projects new - this week I'm heading down to Busan to perform with Polyglot Theatre at the Busan Cinema Centre. We're doing a show called We Built This City from Saturday through till Thursday, come down and join us as we transform heaps of cardboard boxes into incredible cityscapes... It's fun for all the family and a treat for anyone who loves lego and fancies building things on a much larger scale.



I'm looking forward to a week of sun, sand and seafood, though I fear sunburn may be thrown into the mix as well...

The Start Of Something New

It may only be March, but 2012 has already been a busy year for me...

Tomorrow starts a brand new adventure as I begin my work as director for Latt Children's Theatre's latest show. This year to celebrate our tenth anniversary we're going back to where we began and remounting our first and most popular show, The Little Dragon.

 

Latt is the only English language repertory musical theatre for children in Korea and I've been fortunate enough to spend most of the last decade dressing up in rather silly costumes and strutting around the its stage. This time I get to work behind the scenes and bring the whole thing together - A challenge, but one I am looking forward to. The next six weeks are going to be very interesting.

 

High Street Market Goes Green

This weekend there's a chance for you to indulge in some healthier foods down at High Street Market in Itaewon...

I've never tried almond cheese and my curiosity has been piqued, so I may well head down there to sample Chef Colette's goodies. Sounds vegan-tastic!

Beautiful Books In Itaewon

Good news for Yongsan based book worms - The Beautiful Store have opened up a used book shop in Itaewon!



There's a whole wall dedicated to English language books, plus small French, German and Japanese sections.

 

And with a little careful browsing you could end up with some interesting tomes for your shelves...

 

If you fancy picking up a few secondhand books or perhaps donating a few of your own then you'll find the book shop in the building in-between the IP Boutique Hotel and the Itaewon Global Village Centre. Head east out of Itaewon station and if you reach High Street Market then you've gone too far. The shop is on the third floor of the Ansung Tower building.

 

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all and sundry. May your pots be filled with kimchi, your pockets filled with won and your fridge filled with Andong Soju. 

Goodbye 2011

And so we come to the end of another year. As I write this it is already 2012 in Korea, but back in good old Blighty we are stuck firmly in the past waiting for the last few hours of 2011 to waste away into nothingness and for the brand new year to take us into the future.

It has been a rather odd twelve months filled with much happiness, much strangeness and many different jobs. I've bounced around from performer to translator to writer to director and it has been fun to find myself in all sorts of new places doing jobs that I never managed I would be doing just a year ago.

2012 will bring many more challenges and plenty of uncertainty, but I'm looking forward to stretching myself into many different shapes and seeing whether I bend or break.

Thanks to all who have stopped by here to stare at photos or read my rumblings, you are all very welcome and I thank you for taking the time to visit.

Here's to endings and beginnings, and to the hope that 2012 will bring many exciting adventures to all of us.

Goodbye 2011, hello future...