Et Tu Obama

Interesting article in the Guardian today that woke me from my mid-morning slumber.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/26/barack-obama-usa1

New H&M in Harajuku

One of the biggest H&Ms in the world.

What can I say….I WANT TO LIVE IN TOKYO SO MUCH!!

Repetitions In Focus

“Snowmen”, Sapporo, Japan (Feb 2008)

“Steps”, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Dec 2007)

“Yachts”, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong (Dec 2007)

“Thai Glamour”, Bangkok, Thailand (Aug 2007)

“T-shirt Vending”, Harajuku UNIQLO, Tokyo, Japan (Feb 2007)

“Buddhist Statues”, Miyajima, Japan (May 2008)

Winter Update

Imagine taken from http://jeansnow.net , linked from http://www.51japanesecharacters.com/, a Christmas present I’m getting for…me.

So it looks like for this Christmas..and New Years…I’ll be staying in Seoul. Various factors combined to make a trip over to Japan in February a wiser option. The length of the trip will depend on the will and the whim of the English department/ Principal at Baemoon, although at least 2 weeks seems likely, possibly longer if I kick up a hissy fit.

No other exciting news really…except that I like the Japanese Character cards pictured above! Check out the website if you’re a Japanophile, they come in a postcard collection and (what I went for) a poster with detailed information about each “character”.

Video of Joy!

Hmm, probably should have thought of a better post title than that. Anyway, here are a couple of videos I was asked to make for my old school in Japan’s festival. It’s an update on the goings on in the land of Korea, and best wishes for the festival. One has nice nostalgic background music, the other Rokko Oroshi!

Enjoy

It’s Pocky Day!

Ah yes, the 11th of the 11th of the 11th…that famous time when…people give each other chocolate covered sticks? Well that’s right if you live in the nutty world of JAPAN. And things get nuttier still if you live on the loony planet of KOREA, where Pocky aren’t even called Pocky, but are called Pepero, presumably because they resemble peperoni (no?).

So whats the deep cultural tradition that brought on this event? Well, you see, if you write 11th November, 11/11 then you can see that it looks like lots of chocolate covered sticks standing next to each other stupid!

Damn Pocky….anyway I’ll be buying some for the cute history teacher in the 2nd grade teachers staffroom, and possibly some for a couple of female English teachers so my “I’m secretly in love with the 2nd grade history teacher” cover isn’t blown. Ah, she’s so lovely…

Remember the Pocky Steve.

President Barack Obama

Rhetoric is, by its very nature, so often overblown. So when one hears that Obama’s rise is the dawning of a new era, that his victory is historic and history making, and that the politics of fear have finally been replaced by the politics of hope, it is easy to get caught up in the rapture, and the hysteria. Yet the simple fact is that this victory means so much to so many, black and white, men and women, Americans and non-Americans. The capacity for belief and optimism, after years of mistrust and dismay resulting from the actions of George W Bush et al., truly should fill us all with hope. Whether future policies will fulfill the lofty expectations created by today’s events, whether actions will replace rhetoric, we do not yet know. But for certain, we can be happy in a new direction…let’s face it, after 8 years of Bush things could only get better…

Congratulations to all Americans and to Barack Hussein Obama!

Post-Election Without The Emotion

Ok now some more serious looking at the election results, without the wishy-washy “I love Obama and I’m so happy” stuff (though I do and I am).

In the electoral college things went precisely as I predicted, with Obama picking up 338 college votes. This means that…ahem…yes?…whats that?? Ok so there are still three states to call…Missouri, Indiana and North Carolina. The only other prediction in my poll came from Tim, who went for 356. So he’d need another 18 electoral votes. Given that Missouri, Indian and North Carolina have 11, 11, and 15 votes, any one of three, if not more, would technically put Tim closer to the magic number. Hmmm.

In the Senate the Democrats made convincing gains, if not quite reaching the magic number of 60 seats that they’d hoped to. Unbelievably in the state of Alaska disgraced Republican senator Ted Stevens is winning slightly with 81% of precincts reporting, which just goes to show how idiotic a majority of Alaskans are. In the other tight races it really could go either way. At the moment the NY Times puts the total at 56-40 with 4 undecided, but if the Alaskan situations remains the same the final total could be 58-42. In Minnesota Al Franken looks like he’s lost by a mere few hundred votes, mainly due to the involvement of a third party candidate.

In the House the Democrats gained 18, to put there total at 252 to the Republicans 171, with 12 undecided.

Ok and thats enough stats.

The Final Final Countdown…

I’ll go to sleep and George Bush will be in the White House. I’ll wake up and…who knows?

Go Barack!

Hiking In Bukhansan

On sunday- before I was struck down with sickness- I went hiking in Bukhansan National Park, north of Seoul, with my korean friend Minji.

Here are some pics- it was beautiful!

The Final Countdown- Obama vs McCain

I thought it was about time that the blog mentioned Barack. I started reading his book (the one about his dad) before lending it to the Head of English at Baemoon, and unfortunately haven’t seen it since. I also had a teacher class on the US Election, and one teacher asked me if I’d heard of the “Bradley Effect” and if I’d vote for a black man. I said I’d vote for him twice.

Only four days to go! In the spirit of election fun, please guess the percentage of the popular vote each candidate will get, as well as the electoral college votes the winner will end up with! The closest guesses- left as a comment to this post- will win a host of prizes. (PS I haven’t at all stolen this idea from the Guardian)

For a fun way to calculate the electoral college total, visit www.270towin.com