Post with 2 notes
Operatic Pop
.jpg)
This weekend, some friends and I went over to another ETA’s apartment because her awesome homestay family has been begging her to introduce them to more of her American friends. So we went over, ate some kimchi fried rice with melted cheese on top (delicious) and had a sleepover. And I mean a sleepover - bringing out a mountain of blankets and taking over the living room, painting our nails, chatting for hours and capping the night off with Lindsay Lohan’s The Parent Trap.
But despite all that I think one of the coolest moments of the night was when we learned that her homestay mom is the president of Korea’s official Il Divo fan club. For those of you who don’t know them I had heard of them but knew nothing more than that they existed) Il Divo is an “operatic pop vocal group” known for singing pop songs in an operatic way.
Just to be clear, Korea takes fandom seriously and being the president of a fan club, even a small one like Il Divo, actually entails legit responsibilities like organizing events and sending presents to the members and much more.
As proof of her love, the apartment was full of all kinds of Il Divo treasures including of course their entire discography and concert DVDs on their own special shelf, mugs with each of the members on them, and this gem - a fan club towel.
Link reblogged from Party in the R.O.K. with 2 notes
Party in the R.O.K.: As part of an energy-saving initiative, the Korean government/my... →
This is already a problem and it’s of course only going to get worse.
We have four fans in each classroom (all directed at the students and none at me of course) but when they’re on it’s so loud that I have to speak even louder than I usually do. If they’re off if gets so oppressively stuffy that nothing is going to get done.
It’s really hard especially since I teach middle school, where you have to be active and excited and engaging throughout class. I’m still working on perfecting the art of gesturing without lifting my arms too high lest my students notice the giant circles that always seem to appear under my arms.
As part of an energy-saving initiative, the Korean government/my school have decided that it is not necessary for my classroom to have air conditioning. Now, the no heat in winter thing wasn’t too bad, because I would just teach all day in my freezing room in my knee-length puffy down coat…
Source: partyintherok
Photoset reblogged from A Year in Korea with 525 notes
Oh my word, how cute is this?
서초종합사회복지관과 비씨카드 주최로 21일 오후 서초문화예술공원에서 열린 ‘저소득 어르신을 위한 무료 합동 결혼식’에서 한 노부부가 밝게 웃고 있다. 이날 결혼식을 올리는 노부부들은 어려운 생활고 등으로 인해 결혼식을 올리지 못한 채 적게는 20년 많게는 65년을 한결 같은 부부로 굳건하게 가정을 지켜왔다.
In Seoul, low-income elderly couples, who were too poor throughout their lives to afford a wedding ceremony, were given free wedding ceremonies by a credit card company.
Source: photo.chosun.com
Link with 1 note
Assistant Secretary Stock on the Korea English Teaching Assistant Program's Anniversary →
This year marks the 20th Anniversary of South Korea’s Fulbright English Teaching Assistant program.
I’m so incredibly proud to be a part of this group of talented, dedicated people who are working every moment of every day to represent America while teaching and living with homestays and doing research and all kinds of other awesome things.
The State Department considers the Korea ETA program as a gold standard for other programs around the world, and rightly so.
Love ya, ETAs!
Photo with 1 note
Had a sleepover with some friends this weekend. We borrowed some blankets and pillows and took over the living room. I got to sleep on this pillow, which is apparently her fourth grade host brother’s favorite.
Photo reblogged from It's Okay To Be Smart with 218 notes
There’s a treasure chest full of awesome science podcasts out there. I’ve actually thought of starting my own, although that would require cloning myself in order to have the time. But maybe … just maybe.
I have several favorites, but I’d love to hear yours too. Reblog with your picks or reply and we can give each other hours of entertainment and enlightenment.
- Radiolab: This is by far the most interesting show around. When I meet people that don’t completely love it, I just look at them as if maybe I should have them committed. Jad and Robert are master storytellers, and every episode will leave you saying “wow”. They also have a Tumblr, which you should follow. I’m still waiting for them to follow me, because I really want to be friends with you, Radiolab. Must-listen episode: Lost & Found (I cried at the last segment, Finding Emilie)
- Nerdist: Chris Hardwick isn’t a scientist. He’s a geek hero. A hilarious geek hero. It’s roughly hour-long, meandering conversations with today’s most interesting, funny and intelligent entertainers and thinkers. Sure, interviewing magician Penn Jillette might not seem like science stuff, but wait until he starts to talk about the psychology of magic and thinking skeptically. And when people like Neil Tyson and Cara Santa Maria show up, it’s a burrito of pure science awesome. Must-listen episode: Any of them, but I enjoyed Jon Hamm immensely.
- StarTalk Radio: It’s a science show hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson. Like really, what more could you possibly need to know? Must-listen episode: Time Lords: The Science of Keeping Time
- The Story Collider: Ben Lillie has created a science show where the stories are center stage. It’s recorded live in front of an audience, and each episode features an adventure that winds through a scientific experience. It’s equal parts human and information. Must-listen episode: Carl Zimmer’s “Holes in the Net”
There’s many more out there. What are your favorites?
Source: jtotheizzoe
Post with 2 notes
For this week’s lesson on practicing future tense, I had the kids imagine the future. Here are some of my favorite answers.
They ranged from the typical awesome technology predictions:
- Robots will do all work.
- People will eat capsule.
- People will put chips in brain like computer.
- People will have wings.
- People will control the weather.
- People will go on a picnic to Mars.
To the pessimistic:
- Ozone layer will be destroy.
- Earth will be burst so people will be all die.
- Oil will disappear.
- Rich people will get more money, poor people will lose everything.
- Or the simple: WAR. DOOM.
To the unusual:
- Some 10-years-old child will go Hogwarts. (I like the way you think)
- People will look like each other.
- We will live with dinosaur.
- People will wear bones.
- People will have no hair.
- People won’t go army. (from one of my boy students - tugging at my heartstrings with this one)
- [Homeroom Teacher] will be sixty and have many wrinkles.
Post with 2 notes
A great way to cap off the week - having a group of boys literally burst into cheers when they find out you’re headed to teach their class.
Photo with 5 notes
- The Sapphire Blue Sea, at Super Junior’s Super Show 4 encore in Seoul.
For the non-initiated, each K-pop group has their own fan color (in this case sapphire blue) and at concerts everyone buys a light stick to help cheer on their idols. When the lights went out before the start of the concert and all the blue lights flashed on, it was absolutely breathtaking. This picture doesn’t even begin to encompass what it was like.
Post reblogged from My First Love Story with 42 notes
K-Pop Like A Rock Star: A rock-influenced K-pop mix
A great mix of two things that I love: K-pop and rock.
The idea of a rock-influenced K-pop mix was suggested by Trevor a few months ago, and it stuck with me. I thought a research-oriented approach would be best, starting at the beginning and working my way through to the present. As such, the tracks are arranged in more or less chronological order, with some fudging to accommodate the categories I want to discuss.
Rock music came to South Korea via the United States military around the time of the Korean War. That’s how Shin Jung-hyeon first heard it, while he was performing for the American troops in the late 1950’s under the stage name Jackie Shin. Shin would go on to more or less found psychedelic rock in South Korea, but his influence was not long-lasting in popular culture. After he demurred from writing a song celebrating president/dictator Park Chung Hee in 1972, his music was frequently banned for being “vulgar”, and he was arrested on vague drug-related charges and banned from all public performances in 1975. Following Park’s assassination in 1979, Shin returned to find that popular music had changed: “It was all ‘Let’s work hard’ and ‘Let’s be happy’ kind of stuff. It was completely physical, with no spirit, no mentality, no humanity.” (source) Nevertheless, he did work with some artists of this new era, such as a young, pre-dubstep Kim Wan Sun, whose track “리듬 속의 그 춤을” (The Dance In That Rhythm) he wrote. With this background in mind, this mix will cover the modern era of K-pop (from the 90’s to the present), which is not only descended from the music of singers like Kim Wan Sun but incorporates and synthesizes outside influences like American R&B and pop.
What I found was that rock is generally used for two things in K-pop, and those two things should not be surprising to observers of North American popular music: It was initially used to signify transgression, aggression, and individuality, but over time it has also come to represent artistic credibility and authorship. Of course, sometimes it’s just used as a new and different texture, especially once the definition of rock expanded outside of metal to include pop-punk and alternative rock. Currently there’s a move toward idol musicians having more artistic control, and in an era where rock acts can top the American Hot 100 by the grace of Spotify, the line between indie rock and idol pop is getting fuzzier in Korea too. (The definition of “rock” I am working with here is, admittedly, vague: basically, a general feeling of what “sounds like rock”, along with the use of electric guitar and a 4/4 drum kit sound, and sometimes a guitar-bass-drums rock band setup.)
Track list:
1. Seo Taiji and Boys, “난 알아요” (I Know) (1992)
2. Seo Taiji and Boys, “교실 이데아” (Classroom Idea) (1994)
3. H.O.T., “아이야! (I Yah!)” (1999)
4. DBSK, “Tri-Angle” (2004)
5. Super Junior, “Don’t Don” (2006)
6. EXO-K, “Mama” (2012)
7. SNSD, “힘 내! (Way To Go)” (2009)
8. C.N. Blue, “외톨이야” (I’m A Loner) (2010)
9. Infinite, “BTD (Before The Dawn)” (2011)
10. G-Dragon, “악몽 (Obsession)” (2010)
11. B1A4, “O.K” (2011)
12. 2NE1, “Ugly” (2011)
13. FT Island, “신사동 그 사람” (The Man From Sinsadong) (live on Immortal Song 2, 2011)
14. Jeong Jinwoon, “라라라” (RA RA RA) (2011)
15. Wonder Girls, “Me, in” (2011)
16. Miryo, “Party Rock (feat. Gary of Leessang, The Koxx)” (2012)Download (.rar, 78MB)
Detail on the tracks, lots of YouTube links, and recommended further listening/viewing under the cut.
Source: maddieloveskpop
Page 1 of 55
