A lifting off...

Hello to anyone and all that read/have read this blog. I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed managing this thing. Not only has it let me feel in touch, but it has provided with a goal - albeit humble - throughout the whirlwind that was my year in Korea. But, as that year has come to a close, so too will this blog.

Though fear not! The internet is not rid of me yet! I have started a new site dedicated to all things post-Korea and pre-whateverthefuckiwilldonext. It exists, but I've yet to really get it cracking. I decided to switch over to the uber-hipsters at wordpress, and all their minutae has impeded these early stages. But I assure you; once I master their system, you will be inundated with over-important, under-thought ramblings about my life and all it entails.

In closing, thanks so much for reading. Knowing that any of you took time to stay with me was one of the great joys of my Asian experience. I'll miss this site enormously.

If you are still interested in my happenings, feel free to check out Roktova.wordpress.com

Anyeongigyeseyo!

Great Lake Swimmers - When it Flows

Tomorrow is another now
Waiting to happen...

- GLS

The Mountain Goats - International Small Arms Traffic Blues

I recently saw a friend tweet (I'm assuming you're aware of Twitter.com) about a band called The Mountain Goats, and I became curious. To be honest, I'm not above being interested in a band because their name conjures up cool images. But beyond that embarrassing aspect, I remembered quickly reading something about them being folk-y and minimalist - two scenes that will always earn a listen from me. Thanks to the casually illegal nature of internet music trading, I was able to grab one of their albums not 5 minutes later. It's folk-y and minimalist and everything I dig about the far flung progeny of Elliot Smith. Moreover it has one of the coolest allegorical songs I've ever heard. Here's a snippet...

Our love is like the border between Greece and Albania
Our love is like the border between Greece and Albania
Trucks loaded down with weapons
Crossing over every night
Moon yellow and bright
There is a shortage in the blood supply
But there is no shortage of blood
The way I feel about you baby can't explain it
You got the best of my love

check out the full tune in all its glory at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_0nROFZDvQ&feature=related

Lion's Final Roar

Today America has lost one of its last true statesman. Ted Kennedy is no longer, but I hope that he may rest with the knowledge that so many of his dreams - racial equality, health care reform, a spirit of compromise - are perhaps more alive now than ever. His achievements will be studied for years to come, and I have no doubt that my children, though totally unaware of him, will live in a world that he bettered for them.

Booya!

-cnn.com

Booty anda Best

For each week of the camp we all must monitor a group project. The first week had us charting dance moves and drilling lyrics for a 'song contest' held last Sunday for parents and various Korea suits. This week we are supposed to conduct some sort of role play, which has manifested itself as the kids recreating scenes from various Disney classics.

My group stumbled upon Beauty and the Beast. It's probably no better or worse than anything else they could have been assigned. I work with the lowest level students, so their comprehension of these stories is essentially nil. That said, the show must go on, and so they are still forced to script read and drill scenes. Last night my Korean co teacher sequestered the girls in a sort of tryout for the Belle character, and I was left to run a 4-page section with the boys. What ensued in this dudes' session was easily the most hilarious thing I've been a part of at camp.

Now, don't take this as me knocking these kids because they couldn't comprehend the scene. That's hardly the case. Most of them actually did grasp the arc of things. What got me going was how they suddenly broke out of their shell and gave Beauty everything they had. The narrarrator adopted a faux deep voice, the Prince/Beast was rife with passion, Belle (as played by an 11 year old boy) exhibited moments of real anguish. As funny as this whole thing was, I'd say it was equally fascinating. I was witnessing boys teetering on the precipice of all-consuming self-consciousness (teenagerdom). The equation was simply perfect. Any older and they would not have attacked such an effeminate piece with such gusto, for fear of seeming uncool. I don't know. Maybe it's not worth all this thought.

As frustrating as this camp can be/is, moments like that remind me that I'm right where I need to be.

Sun Kil Moon (Mark Kozelek) - Lost Verses

Absolutely brilliant. Exceedingly beautiful.

The Things That Haunt my Dreams

Camp Rundown

I'm halfway done with this monster! Here's a list of some highlights and pitfalls...

- (during a "If you're happy and you know it..." activity) "If you're tired and you know it crazy..."

- Being told 5 minutes prior that we had to teach until 9pm when we had been told all day that we would only teach from 7:30 - 8. Why? Because the visiting parents were angry their kids would only be in class for 30 minutes that day - the one day when they weren't in class for 10 solid hours.

- Seeing the sun come up from the roof of our dorm complex (shhh...)

- Completely lucking into a single room.

- Being told by an 11 year old girl that she likes beer (pitfall)...

- Being told I look bad/tired after a marvelous 8 hours of sleep (pitfall)...

- (Upon entering a freshly smoked-in room) "Teacher, this is [like] my house!"

- Playing duck, duck, goose and watching a girl idly stand there smiling once picked. At first you think she doesn't know how to play, though there's no way she couldn't, and it soon becomes clear that she simply doesn't want to. Only, instead of complaining, she just stands there smiling as if she just pulled a prank on you. (Maybe you had to be there...)

- (the captions of a student drawing depicting the final scene of The Three Pigs) "Hahaha. Silly wolf!"

- For whatever reason, when I turn on my ipod, the only thing that seems to make sense is Van Halen's "Dance the Night Away".

- As much as my arm hair had baffled students before, nothing has reached the hysteria it has caused out here. There's not a single class period that goes by without a solid shucking of my arm.

- Drinking beers in our temporary dorm homes has caused collegiate nostalgia like never before.

- Playing a spirited rendition of Paul Simon's "Me and Julio Down the Schoolyard" for 250+ captive Korean parents.

- Staring in awe as one of my Korean co-teachers, who insisted he was not very good at guitar, casually ripped through 30 minutes of flawless 4-finger picked classical pieces.

The bees!

Huh?

Dave Carnie, a true American.

Owl Moon

Being constantly surrounded by elementary-age kids has got me reminiscing about my own youth. In doing so, I've realized that I miss the hell out of this book.

Jonsi and Alex - Riceboy Sleeps

So lately I can't stop listening to music that sounds the way a beautiful dream feels. Naturally, one would assume I would drift towards Sigur Ros. But, I feel as if I've been there, and it's important to me that I find out if anyone can do it better. While I have made some valuable discoveries in this field (most notably Grouper) my new favorite dream-pop disc still falls within the Sigur Ros stable.

Riceboy Sleeps is the product of Sigur Ros frontman Jonsi Birgisson and his artistic/romantic collaborator Alex Somers. The Ros-ian vibe is almost immediately apparent, and while many will say this is nothing more than a watered-down b-sides cut, I would have to disagree. To me, Riceboy feels like most other breakaway solo works by popular frontmen: somewhat derivative of the original, but not in a way that detracts from the accomplishment at hand (see: A Perfect Circle, David Byrne, Trey Anastasio, Dave Matthews).

This album would be nature's soundtrack during the hatching of a butterfly, if such a soundtrack existed.

Somehow, no matter how loud you play it, Jonsi and Alex's music never impedes the processes of thought or introspection. On the contrary, I would argue it enhances both.

Do yourself a favor; get this album, get some good headphones, and find some time and space to employ one through the other.

Jonsi and Alex - keeping this blog introspective and socially relevant... (God, I love sweaters.)

Those final agonizing breaths...

The end is nigh! I've been saying it for months, but now reality supports the statement. I just finished my first day of summer camp - the only thing that stands between me and 5 weeks of unbridled freedom (Vietnam > Jeju Island > Ulsan finale > Incheon > Washington DC > Woodstock, NY > Boston > VT!!!!! > Mass [Boston? Cape Cod?] > Washington DC). Oh to be young, responsibility-free, and able to pseudo-support yourself!

Knowing that such things lay ahead, in the NEAR future, is truly a heady feeling (Webster's version). That said, completing this gig will not be easy by any stretch of the word. For the next 14 days I will teach approximately 10 classes/day between the hours of 9am and 8:20pm. Moreover, this is not a situation from which I can return home at the end of the day. This camp has sequestered all 30-or-so of us out in Youngsan, Korea - exactly 30 minutes from the nearest anything. And while I'm humbled by saying this, thank god we at least have Internet in our dorm rooms. The inability to mindlessly absorb obscure nothings for a few hours each night might have seriously affected me (though maybe for the better).

Last night was rough. I cowered in my bed just dreading the fact that falling asleep meant waking to the reality of this camp experience. As always, that was a totally irrational reaction. The camp is not so bad. In fact, by a stroke of sheer luck I somehow stumbled into having my own room. I can't tell you how pumped I am about that. I need my space, and the more of it I can have the better.

That luck worked in my favor is both beautiful and completely unusual. Past experiences normally have me getting laughed at for my god awful bad luck. And just so you know, had I not pulled off a little side-dealing, I would have been stuck in a room with a socially awkward, middle-aged, deeply religious, and irrepressibly irritating dude named Joe. All I wanted was to not be HIS roommate, and I ended up somehow being my own.
Though as my father said, I should probably get prepared for some sort of late-arrival to rain on my parade. And if that does go down, you can rest assured that he will have either a) a flatulence issue b) a masturbation issue c) a snoring issue or d) all of the above. If my history is any indication, I best begin preparing his bedding now...

Metallica - Death Magnetic

After a few solid weeks of straight Phish and dense indie rock I needed something... a wild card. I had let several months of cyber dust gather on Metallica's latest, so it seemed right to let it be the album to jerk me from noodly hipsterville. Great call. Death Magnetic is nearly perfect. Give this album a spin if you ever feel the inclination. My bet is that you find it worthwhile.

Key track: All Nightmare Long

Yes, I just whole heartedly repped a Metallica album. So what?

Naked City - Speedfreaks

Equal parts pure hipster, ruthlessly inaccessible, and hardcore genius.

Can You Feel It?

The hot, sultry days of summer have most certainly reached Ulsan, South Korea. Summer brings about many things - pummeling rainstorms, longer days, melting ice cream - but none less innocent than the wandering eyes it provokes. Everyone is looking to score. Let's face it: everyone's been prepping their bodies, everyone's used the winter as a prep/rest up period, and summer means game time. This is true for people in most places, but doesn't seem to be the case in Ulsan, at least not as I've seen with many of the Koreans out and about. However, if summer has done anything to this little industrial hamlet, it has unquestionably stirred up the loins of Ulsan's resident Dragonflies.

I'm not kidding when I say that the skies are filled with the horniest dragon flies I've ever seen. They're everywhere, and they're doing everything and anything to make it happen. I've never seen so many of these things in my life, and while at first I was alarmed by their presence, I'm now kind of pumped to have them around. After all, their intentions are probably not that different than mine or some of my more libidinous friends... well, except we're not trying to procreate, so to say.

To give you an idea of their scene, I ran by an ordinary tree today, and I'm dead serious when I say the whole thing was abuzz with the sound of dragonfly love. If you magically transformed that tree into a trailer filled with humans doing what those flys were doing... whoa! It would have been Calligula-esque. I was so taken aback by the sound of their love making chirps, that I literally said out loud, "Oh man! That's so intense!" I kid you not (and I think I got stares as a result). Listen, I'm not an idiot. Clearly, like secadas and other insects, this is the traditional mating season for Korean Dragon Flys. I just can't help but see the parallels between their aims and those of so many of my friends. None of us are as aggressive as these winged studs, but I think there's a shared value... whether they know it or not.

Bibimbap and me.

As far as I'm concerned, there are few lunch options more perfect than bibimbap. It is a dead-on example of why I'm going to miss Korean food so much: it's healthy, but not aggressively so. There's literally nothing unhealthy in a bowl of bibimbap, but you wouldn't know that from the taste. So often I meet people who feel that they must forego flavor to put good things in their body. Perhaps that's America's problem, because Koreans have a litany of healthy foods at their disposal, and almost all of it f***ing rocks! And this coming from the guy who existed on a diet of pizza, sandwiches, and cereal for the better part of his life. I mean, how cool is it that I'm totally full and satisfied from a serving of rice, veggies, and a fried egg (the least healthy guy at the party)?! The simple beauty of this dish is unassailable. I'll never knock a blt, but come on...

Oh yea, the cost of this delicacy? Somewhere in the ballpark of $2.

Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill

I just spent the last 45 minutes listening to this album, and it was perfect. I'm not saying the album itself was perfect - in actuality it's no better or worse than any of the other airy, blissed-out, dreamscape pop I've heard - but it's role in that 45 minutes was, in fact, perfect. It didn't ask too much of me. It required nothing beyond a mellow disposition, low lighting, a content stomach, and magnificent headphones. Simply put, I'm overjoyed that Grouper and I could meet at that junction in time. I believe it was mutually beneficial.

...


- Though in reality a Grouper has nothing to do with the artist I discuss above, I want to let it be known that I'm pretty pumped about the fish as well. RIP. (How much fun is this guy having?!)

Blissful Repetition

I've now listened to this song 10+ times in a row.
Ryan Adams - Oh my god whatever, etc.