Spring Has Sprung

I had a little time on my hands today and made my way up the hill onto the side of Namsan. Not all the blossoms are out yet, but there are a fair few to admire (especially round by the Grand Hyatt Hotel)...

500 Posts

To celebrate post number 500, I offer you one of my favourite photos of the past few years... Taken at Seoul Zoo in 2008, I'm sure he's a lot bigger and scarier now.

Birthday Muffins

Another year has gone by, I'm a little creakier, a touch greyer and slightly hairier. As a consolation my wife made me muffins this morning and mighty fine they were.

Pansori at the Namsan Hanok Village

Here's a few shots of a Pansori performance at the Namsan Hanok Village last week...







Kudos to the elderly gentleman who insisted on involving himself in the proceedings and adding his own unique charm to the spectacle.

Death Of A Video Store

This week saw the death of our local video store. The closure may have been inevitable, but the removal of yet another local business in our neighbourhood saddens me. We have also lost our local rice shop and Family Mart is now in my line of sight when I leave the house.

As Itaewon goes through another burst of redevelopment, I'm sure there will be many benefits, but I mourn the loss of local businesses and as more franchises and chains establish themselves around us, the feeling of community in this area diminishes little by little.

Here's hoping the little shop on our corner makes it through this year...

Guardian Spirits

You can spot these fellows hiding around the Seoul Namsan Traditional Theatre. Look up into the nooks and crannies and you might spot one.

Tea and Sympathy With Stephen Colbert

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I've been drinking a lot of Korean tea for my upcoming feature in 10 Magazine and I feel this report from Stephen Colbert will give those living in Korea a taste of British tea culture (and the upcoming Royal Wedding).

Guns And Tigers

Taken in Incheon's Chinatown. Fluffy tigers and fake assault rifles, the perfect combination for a child's birthday gift.

Film Festival Ajosshi

I'm feeling as giggly as a schoolgirl today as I've spent a fair while flicking through the Jeonju International Film Festival Catalogue picking films to watch. Thanks to the delightful 10 Magazine, I'm the proud owner of a press pass for this year's festival and with any luck I'll be seeing the following films whilst I'm down in Jeonju...

First off - Anyang, Paradise City the first feature film from Park Chan-wook's brother Park Chan-kyong (fresh from winning the Golden Bear at Berlin for his and his brother's short iPhone film Night Fishing). An interesting mix of documentary and fiction as he looks at "disasters such as factory fire accident, flood, temple site excavation, folk tale religion, and native history". I'm not quite sure what to expect, but I'm excited to see what he's created.

Next - The True Taste Show from Kim Jae-hwan, a film dealing with reality tv's portrayal of restaurants and the reality that lies behind it.

My third film is something a little more famous - Inside Job, the Oscar winning documentary by Charles Ferguson dealing with the financial crisis of 2008. Narrated by Matt Damon, it has received rave reviews and promises to be an excellent watch.

Continuing on the documentary theme, number four is - Cave Of Forgotten Dreams, Werner Herzog's 3D exploration of the Chauvet cave in southern France that contains some of the world's oldest art. Herzog has proved himself to be superb documentary maker over the years and I'm curious to see if he can make good use of 3D where so many others have failed.



Next up is the Anifest Shorts collection. One Japanese and four Korean animated films. Midori-ko, Interview, Demag, Camels and Running Egg. No idea what to expect.

Then onto another documentary, this time Planet of Snail, a Korean film, directed by Yi Seung-jun, dealing with the life of a deaf-blind man and his attempts to communicate with the outside world. The trailer below convinced me that I had to see this unusual tale.



Another animation, this time from Columbia - Little Voices, a 3D docu-animation using Columbian children's pictures to tell their stories about war torn life. Based on director Jairo Carrillo's 2003 short film, it promises to be a little different to your average kid's cartoon.



And finally I get the chance to see one of my favourite Korean films on the big screen - Nowhere to Hide. This 1999 thriller is Lee Myung-se's masterpiece and is a must see for anyone interested in Korean cinema.



If any of you, my dear readers, happen to be down in Jeonju for the festival at the end of this month then let me know, hopefully I'll see you there.

In the meantime I'll leave you with my favourite scene from Nowhere to Hide.

Crisps!

More experiments in the kitchen last week, this time homemade crisps courtesy of my wife. Very unhealthy, but incredibly tasty.