tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35535898811893852912024-03-20T15:12:33.179+00:00What Paul Says Goes (Here).Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.comBlogger101125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553589881189385291.post-58323132465228164622020-09-18T03:21:00.006+01:002020-09-18T03:21:40.765+01:00My Experiences With Korean Workmen.<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic"; mso-fareast-language: KO; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">First, let me say that I have had dozens of encounters with workmen here (I don’t
wish to be sexist, but I’m talking about car, and washing machine repairs and
the like, which tend to be guys) and most of them have been fine, but, as with
so many things here, such as driving and politeness, the minority that aren’t
is too large and too salient. <br />
<br />
As an outlander here, when something goes wrong you also often get: ‘dumb
foreigner doesn’t know how to use it’. Here’s an example. A few years ago my
new apartment’s underfloor heating only worked along a one-foot strip next to
the wall. This, clearly, to me, meant that the thermostat and boiler were
working as hot water was being pumped into the underfloor pipes, and to me the
problem was a blockage in said pipes. I informed my school. They sent my
co-teacher around to show me how to use the thermostat. I told him my theory of
the blocked pipes. He sent his boss around to show me how to use the
thermostat. I said ‘blocked pipes’. She in turn sent the landlady round to show
the stupid foreigner how to use the thermostat, and once again I said ‘blocked
pipes’. One month later this dumb foreigner finally convinced everyone to send
a plumber to unblock the pipes. Problem solved. Sometimes Koreans are so amazed
that anyone else from anywhere else can do anything. It’s very strange. A
friend once said to me that in China they have a saying, “If you tell a Korean
there are 12 other people in the world they will be surprised.” I know what
that saying means. <br />
<br />
Workmen. Recently, my washing machine, which belongs to my rented apartment,
ceased to function. The landlord came around, with his wife, and they spent a
solid thirty minutes fiddling with buttons and dials and eventually concurred
that it was in need of a repairman. The company, LG, called me later that day
to tell me he’d be here, in a week. This is unusual for Korea, a country where
things are often done so quickly you think you’ve time-travelled, but a week it
was. He came, fixed the machine, and left. I used the machine, and flooded the
room where it sits because he hadn’t put the drainage hose back into the drain
behind the machine. An easy task that took me 5 seconds – just push it in – but
why a professional washing machine repairman hadn’t done this I do not know. And this, I find, is a common work practice
here, that is – speed over accuracy, not checking your work when you’re done,
not getting it right, because time is more important than everything else,
including getting the job done properly, and I have several examples of this. <br />
<br />
Years ago I decided to buy a bicycle. Not an expensive one, just a cheap entry-level
mountain bike to potter around on. I used a local bike shop to support him,
rather than a large chain. I went in, picked one, and the middle- aged male owner
started flapping away at lightning speed, ripping off cardboard, and adjusting
handlebars etc. All the while I was thinking ‘I’ll happily come back tomorrow
fella’ but no, he rushed this and rushed that, took my money, and I cycled away
but a few minutes later. I got about 100 yards along the street and the back end of the bike started
wobbling around, and on closer inspection, he hadn’t tightened the two wheel
nuts on the back wheel. I rolled it back to the shop and pointed this out, and
he was so, so embarrassed that I felt bad for him. His embarrassment could have
easily been avoided however, if he’d taken one minute of time to check the fundamentals.
<br />
<br />
That’s not the end. Maybe two years later, and after many hours and miles on
the bike, I started to notice a bit of ‘play’ in the back wheel – just a little
‘give’ – and estimated that the bearing
had worn out. I took it to the shop and he agreed, and proceeded to take the
back wheel out, and smash the bearing out with a large hammer, right there on
the concrete floor, with sparks flying this way and that. He also spent half
the time looking at me and smiling as if to say ‘look how quickly I’m doing
this.’ Again, I would have happily come back the next day. He fitted the new
bearing, refitted the back wheel, and I got 100 yards up the road and it
started wobbling again. Same guy, same bike, same problem. He hadn’t tightened
the back wheel nuts. <br />
<br />
I went to get my phone repaired a few years ago, as the screen had developed
lines that ran its length. I took the
bus to the Samsung repair centre in downtown Seoul. On the bus back, I noticed, to my horror, that
they hadn’t replaced the volume control switch on the side of the phone, and
where the switch should be was just a rectangular hole. I couldn’t go back till
the following day and on entering they recognised me, ushered me to a table
with coffee etc and fixed my volume switch without asking. I have earphones
with a volume control so I hadn’t noticed immediately, plus the switch is
inside my folding case and partially hidden, but why didn’t they check before giving me it
back the previous day? <br />
<br />
I bought a new (to me) car several years ago which had a central locking fault.
I took it back to the garage to get fixed, which they did. On driving away I
noticed that the repairman had left a small panel off the inside of the door
where the door mirror is. He’d just left it off, I was looking at bare metal. I
drove the car back and pointed it out – and he was angry with me for returning!
He did fix it – he’d left it inside the door – but the whole time he was
cussing and swearing and angry, and when finished told me never to come back – after his mistake! Very odd. Koreans have a
weird relationship with anger. They notoriously anger very easily and often use
anger in a strange way, just like this here. <br />
<br />
The crowning glory of my experiences with Korean workmen though, is this. One
day I was sitting at my computer and the internet went off. That’s pretty
unusual here – you don’t get much downtime. I looked down at my feet and the
dog had chewed through the cable. I phoned and a guy came out the next day. My
dog goes crazy at strangers sometimes, especially at home, so I ushered the dog
into the next room while the guy fixed the internet. This involved him fitting
a new modem at no charge to me, as he said the old ones weren’t used any longer.
I said fine and went back to chaperoning the dog. He came through and said he
was finished. I went into the living room to see that he’d run the new cable
straight across from the window to my desk, at waist height – diagonally across,
cutting off a full quarter of the room. He said ‘the dog can’t chew it if it’s
like that.’. I said the dog would also not chew it if you ran it along the ceiling
(as my current internet cable is). He just shrugged and left. To ‘fix’ the
problem I had to slide the desk to the corner of the room so that the cable sat
flush to the wall. And, as before, that’s not the end. <br />
<br />
A couple of days later I’m sitting on the internet, and I noticed that I was on
wifi only, which was odd, because I was sure I had a cable running from my
router to my laptop. I looked, and he’d removed MY cable, and used it to fit his
new modem and left me on wifi only. This whole thing is, without doubt, the most inept,
incompetent and downright stupid undertaking of any task I’ve ever had anyone
do at my behest. <br />
<br />
Most of the work you get done here is fine. I have a car, the same one as
above, and many’s the time I’ve taken it to
the garage to have it fixed with no problems, but as I said at the top,
and just like the driving and politeness, the minority that get it wrong are
too many and too often, often enough that I have stories. <br />
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<!--[endif]--></span><p> </p>Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553589881189385291.post-28517265746748115962019-12-13T10:38:00.006+00:002019-12-13T13:16:48.921+00:00The Most Generous Thing a Stranger Ever Did For MeThere are lots of things people have done for me, without being asked, but the most generous was in a video game. I used to play a game called ‘<a href="http://shotonline.gamescampus.com/en/landing" target="_blank">Shot Online</a>’, an MMORPG golf game. I know, it’s kinda nerdy, but anyway, I played it for years and years. I still have an account and occasionally go back and play a few rounds. It’s a very in-depth game – upgrading your character, clubs, items etc. The graphics are a bit old school, but it’s a really good game, with a nice friendly community, as you’d expect, in a golf game. There are no 15 year olds threatening to hack you or saying they slept with your mother and that kind of thing. <br />
<br />
<br />
In the game there are different play modes – a simple 18 holes alone, quests and missions, 2 balls/4 players, 4 balls/4 players, and ‘mastery’. In mastery, you don’t get an aiming target, that is, you don’t get to see where your ball will land, you have to know the courses very, very well to play, as the name suggests. Also, a typical round costs maybe $20 000 game dollars, but mastery costs maybe $5 000 000, although the rewards, if you’re good enough, are very high. I was quite low level, early on in my career, and had saved up around $6 000 000, a fortune for me at the time in that game, but I was only around level 35, nowhere near good or experienced enough to play mastery. <br />
<br />
So I’m playing hole 1 of what I thought was a regular 2 ball/4 player game, and to my horror I realized that I’d selected mastery by accident. My $6 000 000 savings, which is about 6 months of playing, had gone – and of course I was nowhere near good enough to recoup it via the rewards during the round. I was genuinely devastated – anyone who plays games will, I’m sure, understand. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32QNjUTJlnQ" target="_blank">Kevin Bridges</a>, the famous and brilliant Scottish comedian, says that he once died in Call of Duty and was so grief-stricken he considered buying a poppy. <br />
<br />
So I’m playing this round, landing in bunkers, getting bogeys and double bogeys, and basically screwing it all up – meanwhile in the chat, I’m grumbling a little about how I’d accidentally clicked this game type and had lost all my hard-earned loot. A player who I’d never spoken to before said that he’d meet me back in the ‘square’ (the mini town you go to between rounds to buy clubs etc) after the game and he’d gift me the $5 000 000 – which he, to my utter amazement, did. He just gave me like 5 months’ worth of money, for nothing. <br />
<br />
Now, I went on to play this game for many more years, reaching, I think, maybe level 140, at which point I had amassed around $600 000 000 or $700 000 000, and $5 000 000 was to me, by that point, virtually (pun unintended) nothing. No doubt it was virtually nothing to that experienced player at that time too, but it meant the world to me. Heartbroken to ‘fixed toy’, due to another’s generosity. <br />
<br />
I helped many others out over the next few years – giving away cash and equipment to newer players, so what goes around comes around and all that – but I’ll never forget that one act of kindness. <br />
<br />
Just a small addendum, unrelated to generosity. Back then – mid 2000s – I had an old friend, Dave Westoby, who was approaching 60 at that time – but we’d have a smoke and a drink together. I liked Dave – he’d tell me his stories about his wild life – the time he made a porno, or the time he went to jail for smuggling, or the time he lived in flat above a brothel. We’d play boules in his back garden and drink whisky. Anyway, one day I was telling Dave how I’d spent $2 on a virtual golf club to improve my online golf game – and it totally blew his mind that I’d spent real money on a virtual golf club. “You did what? Run that by me again! You can't even hold it in your hand?” RIP Dave, you’re missed, don’t worry about that old pal. Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553589881189385291.post-59752633683921605612019-06-13T06:16:00.001+01:002019-06-13T06:16:05.695+01:00BTS Shouldn't be Compared to The Beatles, but to Bros.<span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">BTS played Wembley Stadium recently, and the press went </span><a href="https://www.star2.com/entertainment/2019/06/09/bts-wembley-beatles/" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;" target="_blank">wild</a><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"> </span><a href="https://pulsenews.co.kr/view.php?year=2019&no=401532" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;" target="_blank">wild</a><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"> </span><a href="http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2019/06/682_269876.html" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;" target="_blank">wild</a><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"> </span><a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/behind-scenes-bts-korean-beatles-defy-boy-band-tradition-demand/" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;" target="_blank">wild</a><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"> comparing them to the Beatles. But let’s get a few things straight. I’m not a Beatles fan, mostly on account of my never listening to their music. That’s what defines ‘liking’ music to me - would I play their songs at home, for my own pleasure? In the case of the Beatles, no I wouldn’t. I’m very much a ‘songs’ person anyway, I prefer individual songs over artist worship. I may like one song by, say, Father John Misty (and I do), but I’ve checked out the rest of his stuff and none of the songs grabbed me in the same way. It’s the same with the Beatles, I’ve probably heard most of their songs over the years – it’s just not my thing. </span><br style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;" /><br style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;" /><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">The Beatles were serious musicians though, and changed the face of music forever – they have been hugely influential, their songs have been </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cover_versions_of_Beatles_songs" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;" target="_blank">covered</a><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"> by thousands of artists, they are </span><a href="https://www.ign.com/boards/threads/guinness-world-records-held-by-the-beatles.112844074/" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;" target="_blank">record-breaking</a><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"> songwriters, hold numerous sales records too, and have had many compositions written by them charted with other artists – did you know ‘Fame’ by David Bowie was co-written by John Lennon, for example? How about ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’ by the Rolling Stones? Yup, a Lennon/McCartney song. And there are countless others. Between Lennon and McCartney, they have five of the top ten most covered songs of all time. </span><br style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;" /><br style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;" /><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">And they’ve been famous for almost sixty years. In the decade 2000 – 2009, they were the</span><a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/eminem-and-the-beatles-the-top-selling-artists-of-the-2000s-249639/" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;" target="_blank"> second best selling artists</a><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"> in the world after Eminem. They are still, almost fifty years after splitting: influential, big sellers, much covered, and oft-emulated. Anyone who likes music knows who the Beatles are. They are simply the most famous, most well-known, most covered, most copied and most successful band there ever was. </span><br style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;" /><br style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;" /><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">And then there was Bros. Who? Exactly. But if this was 1987, you’d know, because in 1987 they were a very famous teeny-pop band that </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZI7BDGiQMk" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;" target="_blank">sold out</a><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"> Wembley stadium, and 77 000 delirious teenage girls went absolutely wild. For a brief period. That’s who you should be comparing BTS to, not the Beatles, because filling Wembley stadium and selling millions of records for a couple of years has been done by many a teen heart-throb who has since faded into obscurity. It’s music that endures, not ticket sales and ‘fan worship’ and the Beatles music, love it or hate it, has lasted, is influential, and admired over a wide-ranging demographic, from cool kids to dusty geography teachers, and everyone in between. BTS are not, and will never ever be, that big, that widely liked, that popular, that influential. Never. They are Bros. </span><br style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;" /><br style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;" /><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">Incidentally – although the Beatles played Wembley Arena, a nearby indoor venue with a capacity then of about 10 000, they never played Wembley Stadium. </span>Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553589881189385291.post-60013713097773746142019-05-01T06:14:00.004+01:002019-05-08T17:13:51.061+01:00Meat Shaped Vegetarian Food<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hello, and welcome back to my blog. It’s been a few years, and honestly I
thought I was gonna finish it with my last post about why I don’t talk to my
sister – it seemed like a good place to stop, and furthermore an old nemesis
from years past had caught up with me and was trolling me about it, so I
thought I’d stop. <br />
<br />
But I’m back! And this time I’m vegetarian. And that’s what this post is about.<br />
<br />
Firstly, one criticism often laid at vegetarians, is that we are always
harping on about it. That may be true, but no one is forcing you to read this,
so if you don’t like it, fuck off and read something else. <br />
<br />
<b><u>People Saying You Shouldn’t Eat Meat-Shaped Food That Isn’t Meat.</u></b><br />
<br />
Well. This gets my goat. Gets my goat? Did you read about PETA trying to change
common sayings that contain animals, for example ‘flogging a dead horse’ to ‘feeding
a fed horse’? They really did/are. Read about it <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/peta-mocked-for-suggesting-animal-friendly-alternatives-to-popular-phrases-a4009141.html" target="_blank">here</a>. I digress. Why would
anyone want meat-shaped food that isn’t meat? Well isn’t it fucking obvious?
You’ve eaten certain foods, in certain ways, with certain textures, all your
life. Food isn’t all about ousting hunger, it’s also about other things –
health, satisfaction, enjoyment and so on. If a person particularly enjoyed
bacon sandwiches before becoming meat-free, they may particularly enjoy the
same thing but meat-free afterwards. I kinda get it with say, a steak. But a
burger? Meat eaters saying ‘you shouldn’t eat meat shaped food!!’ What shape do
you mean? That well known meat shape, round? <br />
<br />
This isn’t the problem with meat eating though. The problem is the macho-ness
associated with it. ‘Men’ thinking they are somewhere between Bear Grylls and
Fred Flintstone, because they recently consumed a bacon butty. ‘It’s man food!’
they say. Get over yourselves. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not
up on recent animal-related politics, but if PETA and whatnot aren’t focusing
on the associations between misplaced masculinity and meat-eating, they should
be, rather than being concerned about the above sayings (which, I have to say,
I don’t entirely disagree with – there’s no harm in changing the sayings.
Anyone who went to school when and where I did, will remember ‘eenie meenie
minie mo, catch a n*gger by the toe’, which has now changed, thankfully to ‘catch
a tiger by the toe’. It looks like we’ll have to change that again too though.)<br />
<br />
Anyway. <br />
<br />
Plus ça change. </div>
<br />Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553589881189385291.post-2267699494489286772015-04-24T07:22:00.001+01:002015-05-12T15:19:06.665+01:00Why I Don’t Talk to My Sister<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">There
may be many people back home wondering why I don’t talk to my sister any more,
especially after she did such a great job looking after my Mum during my Mum’s
final months. There may also be many people hearing that my sister isn’t
speaking to me, when in fact the opposite is true. <br />
<br />
Given my distance and lack of contact to people ‘on the ground’, I thought I’d
put my side over. I’m not back home. It’s not fair that people will only be
getting one side of the story. Also, what happened immediately prior to the
funeral bothered me greatly, and I don’t think that’s fair either. I should
have been mourning the passing of my own mother and, solely, processing those emotions; not having to deal
with my sister’s anger, uptightness, control-angst, hubris, misplaced sense of
superiority, delusion, snootiness, snobbery, ego problems and hissy fits. But
then, what did I expect? <br />
<br />
<b>A little background on our relationship.</b><br />
<br />
One of my earliest memories of my sister is when we were maybe 5 or 6
years old. <br />
<br />
There are only four years between all of us, my brother, sister and I. If I was
six, my sister would have been four and my brother eight. I think I was maybe 6
years old and the three of us were playing in the kitchen, and my brother
spilled a pint of milk and broke the glass bottle on the floor. My Dad heard
this, and came in, a little annoyed. My Dad asked who did it, and despite my
sister knowing and seeing who did it, pointed at me and said “Paul!” and despite
six-year-old me pleading with my Dad and my sister, she stuck to the story and
I was sent to my room or whatever. A small, seemingly trivial story, but,
honestly, a foreshadowing of a lifetime of spiteful lies and weirdness. <br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Fast
forward another few years, and us three, my brother sister and I, and some
cousins, are playing on a slide, there was some horseplay at the top, and my
sister fell off and broke her arm. I can still remember seeing her fall,
spinning as she fell – it seemed to take forever for her to hit the ground,
even though it was only around 15 feet. <br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
was 2 or three people behind her on the steps, but on returning home, and despite
the pain of a broken arm, she was still able to summon the discipline to look
everyone in the eye and tell them I’d pushed her off. A lie she carried on
despite my protestations, and despite everyone there confirming it was an
accident I was not, and could not, have been involved in. I don’t think she
ever changed her story. I imagine she’s still disappointed the lie didn’t work.
<br />
<br />
Fast forward yet another few years and my Mum had allowed me to have a 21<sup>st</sup>
birthday party at our house. Long story short – my sister pushed me (she’d do
this crazy attack thing where she’d run at me backwards). I pushed her gently
away, with a heavy emphasis on gently. She swooned and swaggered, looked over
her shoulder, swooned again, and proceeded to throw herself down a full flight
of stairs, backwards, risking, literally, her own neck. She would have been
around 19 at the time. Luckily for me a host of people had seen her do this and,
after establishing she hadn’t actually hurt herself, everyone just laughed at
her. Again, she’s never admitted this, nor apologized. She probably denies it
even happened despite all the witnesses. <br />
<br />
I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s still telling people these kinds of lies
today. “He pushed me down the stairs once… he broke my arm …he did this and
that….”etc. <br />
<br />
What did she say when I went to university as a mature student? “Well done Paul”?
No. She screamed at me, through angry tears, “You’re only going because I went!!’
revealing some of her underlying psychosis. She cannot stand it if either
myself or my brother ‘do well’ at anything. She thinks we’re just trying to
beat her, stop her, compete with her – this competition exists in one place – within
her psychosis. p.s. I've completed a Masters degree since. Not so much as a 'well
done'.<br />
<br />
It may seem, and this is <i>very</i> important, that I’m just dragging up small
sibling rivalries from the past and holding a grudge, but the only grudges I’m
holding are direct and dishonest attempts to discredit me – lifelong attempts, by
my own sister! It may seem like trivial sibling stuff, but I don’t know of any other sibling
relationships where one has such a black-hearted opinion of the other they are
willing to risk everything just to lie. It’s not healthy, and it’s not normal. <br />
<br />
<b>Dad’s Funeral</b><br />
<br />
Before my Mother’s funeral in 2013, was my Dad’s funeral way back when we were
kids in 1979. I’ve always deeply regretted, if that’s the right word, not being
allowed to go as an 11 year old. It’s come up in conversation a few times over
the years, and I know my brother feels the same – we are hurt that we didn’t
get to say our final goodbyes at the actual funeral. The decision was made by
older family members, so that us kids should remember our Dad how he was. I
understand their motives – but I didn’t get to go to my own father’s funeral,
and I’m still sad about that. I feel this is the worst decision anyone has ever
made on my behalf, and I talked about it with my Mum and family more than once.
She understood and was somewhat apologetic, but I didn’t blame her, it seems to
be something of a family tradition on my Dad’s side. Anyway, my point is that
this is a big issue for me and my brother, and so not to involve us, and not to
do things in the traditional time-honoured way at my Mum’s funeral was,
frankly, disgusting and thoughtless (towards us, her brothers) on my sister’s
part. She says we should have been more involved ‘near the end’. I don’t know
what more we could have done. We’re neither of us rich, my brother and I, and
he lives 150 miles away, and I live on a different continent. <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Mum’s Funeral<br />
</b><br />
This is where the hissy fits kicked in…<br />
<br />
My sister had arranged the entire funeral herself without consultation with
either of her brothers. Honestly, who does that? Someone who a) knows it’s
wrong and b) doesn’t care.<br />
<br />
The service and everything else was to be in Harpenden where my sister lived,
150 miles from Mum’s hometown, 150 miles from where all Mum’s family lived, and
150 miles from everything. Now, my sister had convinced my Mum to move down to
Harpenden in around 2007/8, and help my sister look after my sister’s two kids. My
sister helped my Mum buy a house down there. My Mum was happy there. That’s no
reason for the funeral to be there. She wasn’t to be buried there, and Mum’s
whole family lived in and around Hull. The main reason that a Hull-based funeral was not to be, is
that my snooty sister didn’t want her middle class husband’s family to have to
travel to Hull (a very working class town)! So after we complained that the
funeral service should be in Hull – she relented and agreed, but arranged a
separate service in for the posher lot! In Harpenden. We weren’t invited. I’ve
no idea what happened at it. Bar her husband, NONE of my sister’s husband’s
family attended the Hull service. They had their own!<br />
<br />
My brother asked where the (Hull) funeral procession should be leaving from?
His house? Somewhere else? – my sister forbid any procession, and we were all
to meet at the crematorium in Hull. Her reason, my working class, Hull born,
dead mother, and I quote ‘would have been mortified to leave from there’. ‘There’
being Stephen, the eldest’s, house. Pure snobbery. No, my Mum wouldn’t, she used
to stay there often. I think we know who would have been ‘mortified’. <br />
<br />
I have no idea what’s on my own Mother’s gravestone. I was neither asked, nor
told. I don’t even know what colour it is.<br />
<br />
I don’t know when the ashes were taken up there to Scotland to be next to my
father. My sister took care of all that. No consultation, no information, nothing.
She just did it herself. We, other family members, weren’t invited. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<br />
So we didn’t get to take the last trip, with our own mother, because of my
sister’s snobbery, and after all that happened over my Dad’s, which I’m sure
she’s known about over the years. She arranged her own separate service. She
didn’t consult me and as far as I know anyone else as to what to put on the gravestone.
She didn’t invite me or anyone I know on the final journey. Oh, and she kept
all of my mother’s belongings. Everything. Every photo album, every….everything.
Were we asked? What do you think? Not that I care about having anything of material
value you understand – I’ve never been a materialistic person, a fact that is well
known throughout our family. But I would have liked to look through my Mum’s
(and that’s the point – it’s MY MUM TOO), I would have liked to look through my
Mum’s stuff one last time – and maybe take a keepsake, a photograph, a memento –
perhaps even something that I’d bought her over the years. I wasn’t allowed of
course! My mum’s old room at my sister’s house, where she moved into when her
cancer developed, was cleared out and empty, with nary an explanation as to where
my mother’s entire life went, or what was to happen with her stuff. <br />
<br />
Despite what she may think, and have tried to alter over the years, our mother,
and our father, loved all of us. <br />
<br />
And that’s just a little background. Now. I’ve made some bad decisions in my
life. There are stories you could tell about me that are true. Fighting. Car
crashes. Drunken behavior. I once had a party at my Mum’s WITHOUT my mother’s permission,
for example, and the place took quite a bit of damage. So I’ve no idea why
someone would need a load of lies to make it worse. She’s really had a weird
view of me, ever since she was old enough to realize she had to share her
parents. I’ve never understood it. I doubt I ever will. It’s a pure undiluted
hatred of her siblings, not borne out of any action (and heaven knows there’s
enough of it) but pure undiluted jealousy and loathing borne of something, and I
doubt I’ll ever know what. Being the youngest? Being female? Not being an only
child? Feeling she is better than her two brothers? All of these things? Who
knows? But you don’t have to scratch far beneath the surface for this hatred to
come spitting out. Even at our own mother’s funeral (or at least the arranging
of it) hissy fits were thrown. “you’ve done nothing to deserve any say it what
goes on”, “I never want to see you again after this” and so on. She threw tantrum after tantrum when she wasn’t getting her
own way. A civilized discussion became impossible when she knew all the arrangements
she’d made behind everyone’s back may have to be changed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
And this is the over-arching point. My younger sister, out of nothing but pure
spite, excluded her two older brothers out of arranging or having any say in their
mother’s funeral because SHE didn’t feel they’d deserved to have anything to do
with it. She used, one last time, our own mother’s funeral as a stick to beat
us with. She used our mother’s funeral as a weapon, to cause us pain. An
unmerited and disgusting act of revenge.<br />
<br />
Having to deal with a foot-stomping sister who wasn’t getting her own way (but
of course did) meant that I bottled up the emotions I should have been feeling
at the funeral, and had to deal with my disgust and anger at her. I wouldn’t be
surprised if she meant for that to happen. <br />
<br />
Sister, you were great looking after our mother, and you’re a great mother
yourself, but you have, throughout your entire life, been a hateful, spiteful,
cunning lying bitch to me. <br />
<br />
And that’s why I don’t talk to my sister. </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553589881189385291.post-59185641907341143442014-08-09T02:01:00.000+01:002014-08-09T02:03:00.502+01:00POMPC: Days 2 and 3, Summarised. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNpgqLpSFHmNIniqfBgPBbSkdXK89gqvule5aBYPGU-ZWvxsvMFFb278Oo1F_cJ-Kb1nQV-91_70IgYqMpyTDYLVaBgAgIFSrd5wtXrfs7bPhXawsSHcEeHZBz8wlLzYfRnF27_MkP-E0/s1600/flag-outline-with-yay-hi.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNpgqLpSFHmNIniqfBgPBbSkdXK89gqvule5aBYPGU-ZWvxsvMFFb278Oo1F_cJ-Kb1nQV-91_70IgYqMpyTDYLVaBgAgIFSrd5wtXrfs7bPhXawsSHcEeHZBz8wlLzYfRnF27_MkP-E0/s1600/flag-outline-with-yay-hi.png" height="168" width="200" /></a></div>
Albums listened to [one per day]: (Day 2) Black Keys 'Rubber Factory', (3) Thelonious Monk 'Straight, No Chaser', both of which I enjoyed. More album suggestions are invited.<br />
<br />
Meditation [twice per day]: Once a day so far.<br />
<br />
Exercise [new morning routine plus general extras]: Have been cycling FROM work (train avec bike to work - next week I intend to start using bike in both directions). No morning workouts. Again, I will.<br />
<br />
Dog walking [extra walk in morning, hill at night]: Managed full-blown morning walk on days 1 and 2, but actually clean forgot on day three! Haven't been up in hills in the evening as have had prior engagements, or weather has stopped us. Going camping tonight with dog, up a very big hill.<br />
<br />
Reading [just, more/some!]: have done more, including an academic paper/chapter of a book an teaching English to Koreans. Reading levels have improved but could do more.<br />
<br />
Learning Korean [10 new words, 3 new phrases per day]: have studied a little every day. Not quite met targets but still, an improvement on the norm of zero. Feeling quite motivated to learn more.<br />
<br />
Money [150k per week]: I've spent, so far: (Day1) 26k on groceries, (2) 10k on household items from Daiso, (3) 34k on a restaurant meal as I met a former student of mine, plus another 5k here and there. Total: 75k. Hopefully I won't spend too much over the weekend. Still on target for this one.<br />
<br />
General procrastination [improve upon]: apartment etc is a lot cleaner. Still work to be done though on changing my computer/sedentary habits.<br />
<br />
All in all, a decent start. I'm feeling a ot more positive and 'alive'. Let's do stuff!<br />
<br />Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553589881189385291.post-87588177040787367472014-08-06T13:19:00.001+01:002014-08-07T04:57:45.323+01:00POMPC Day One A Moderate Success<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoC4A2dzWRBEY6zuhd2U8x8D23rRS1TIxY_lJr_FbE_TcOy6vP_KdtBXhbYxC4D4bNcPtOtyQ-GbtSGzv9pbJxKZPQyL6VUScu4FDjTPYxLY8SeN3gNCnCG45J2aKFCf6b4w7cCXMMsZg/s1600/download.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoC4A2dzWRBEY6zuhd2U8x8D23rRS1TIxY_lJr_FbE_TcOy6vP_KdtBXhbYxC4D4bNcPtOtyQ-GbtSGzv9pbJxKZPQyL6VUScu4FDjTPYxLY8SeN3gNCnCG45J2aKFCf6b4w7cCXMMsZg/s1600/download.jpg" /></a></div>
I had planned to do many things, and at the time of writing, 9.11pm, have done some but not all.<br />
<br />
I DID walk the dog a good long walk before work this morning, which was a first. I DID eat my five a day (several bananas, a good handful of grapes, and a made a fresh stew/soup using cabbage, potatoes and carrots). I DIDN'T meditate before work. Nor did I work out before I left. Nor did I cycle to work. However, it was raining a little, though that's no real excuse.<br />
<br />
I did take my bike to work on the train, and cycle home though! I also meditated at work - it's summer classes right now and my afternoons are free, so meditating is not a problem. It's deathly quiet, I'm almost certain to be undisturbed, and there's a big cushioned area at the back of my classroom. Perfect. So I did meditate. And I did cycle home.<br />
<br />
I also learned my 10 Korean words today - all body parts. It was quite easy, and though my memory is not great, I think I've memorised them. I didn't get around to the three phrases, so that's a minor failure. Must do better tomorrow, and I will.<br />
<br />
I listened, all the way through, to 'Blood on the Tracks', a Bob Dylan album. Whilst I was cooking a spicy sausage stew. So two success in one there. I didn't get around to writing, or painting either today, but I didn't expect to achieve everything in one day either.<br />
<br />
I also have not read yet, but plan to read a chapter of something before I hit the sack. (Edit, didn't do - watched a TV show I 'needed' to finish).<br />
<br />
All in all, not perfect, but an improvement on the norm, and something I hope to build on over the coming weeks.<br />
<br />
Again, album suggestions are most welcome.<br />
<br />Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553589881189385291.post-14648295001070981182014-08-05T07:41:00.002+01:002014-08-05T07:41:37.289+01:00Paul’s One Month Positivity Challenge (POMPC), DAY ZERO. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.imgur.com/XKWkTKR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/XKWkTKR.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
I'm calling this day zero for several reasons. Firstly, I'm not starting until tomorrow because...<br /><br />...there are one or two things I forgot to include in the plan yesterday, for example, MEDITATION. I plan to meditate every day. I've long believed in the benefits of meditation, but don't get around to it very often. The recommended 'dose' is 20 minutes,. morning and evening. That will take some time rearrangement.<br /><br />I want to walk my dog better. He gets plenty of walks, but he could always use a little more. So now, rather than the brief walk around the block in the morning to relieve himself, before I head to work, he will get a proper walk in the mornings. He will also get a walk up the nearby hills once a day, weather permitting, rather than just the local park. This will double as a calorie burner for me too. And young Bonesy will love it. I've never seen any being more ecstatic than my dog up a hill!<br /><br />I will cook more, better food. And I will try some new recipes.<br />
<br />On workdays, I will go to bed at around 10.30 each evening, and get up 6.30. My morning routine will include a long-ish dog walk, meditation, and a small work out.<br /><br />I will cycle to work, which is about a half-hour cycle ride, most uphill.<br /><br />I will eat healthier foods.<br /><br />I will spend less time surfing the net, and more time being creative - which includes writing, and painting.<br /><br />
I will spend no more than 150 000 Korean won (about <span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">£</span>75, $130) per week.<br /><br />I will study some Korean every day - learning 10 new words and 3 new phrases each day. I can do this at work.<br /><br />I will read every day.<br /><br />I will listen to a new album every day.<br /><br />In general, I will procrastinate less. I will have a get-on-with-it attitude. This month is about results.<br /><br />I will keep a daily log here. There will be no doubt things that I have over-looked, not planned for, forgotten about. I will add or remove items as I go on.<br /><br />Some days I will fail. Others I won't. But for one month I'm gonna try to live life as I'm supposed to.<br /><br />Day one is tomorrow. I will spend the evening in preparation: tidying my apartment, arranging books, buying fruit and vegetables, downloading albums, resetting alarms and creating a suitable spot for meditation.<br /><br />I wish myself luck. I don't need you!<br /><br />
<br />
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553589881189385291.post-65247356320583085182014-08-04T08:43:00.001+01:002014-08-04T08:43:42.789+01:00Paul’s One Month Positivity Challenge<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">You’ve probably heard ‘carpe diem’ before (seize the day). I’m gonna ‘carpe
mense’. Seize the month.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I’ve seen a few of these around on Facebook
recently, and so I thought I’d do my own, tailored exactly to me.<br />
<br />
So, what do I need to fix? Well, it’s hard to admit this, but I guess I’m kinda
lazy. Not ridiculously so – I walk my dog regularly, and I often take the
stairs instead of the escalator etc., but I spend too much time sitting in
front of my computer doing not much, either at home or at work, when I could
easily be doing something much more productive. I’m a vaguely creative person,
and have a couple of writing projects on the go at the moment. When I say ‘on
the go’, what I actually mean is I procrastinate around them. I leave them
alone. I also have a canvas and paints, that have been waiting for me to use
them for around 3 months. And a bike I rarely use – I could easily cycle to
work. So there’s a start. Let’s do all of those above. Add to that – I want to
exercise daily – I shall look up a simple daily exercise regime that doesn’t
involve much equipment. <br />
<br />
I’d like to drink less. I don’t drink <i>that</i>
much, in that I rarely drink alone, at home, etc. But I probably spend more
money on going out than I’d like to. I’m also a bit ‘spendy’ in general. If I think
I need something I just buy it. I’m not a spendaholic, but I could do with a
tighter rein on my finances. So there’s another thing. A budget to live by, for
one month. I’m going to set that at 150k, for everything (about 75 UK pounds),
per week. That doesn’t sound like much – but it’s plenty here in Korea. I
should be able to live well on that, without trying too hard, and still go out
here and there. I’m not going teetotal for the month; I don’t think a little
alcohol will be of any detriment. <br />
<br />
My diet is not that great. I eat a lot of, well, whatever I feel like eating or
is put before me. Today I’ve consumed: some chocolate, a lunch of noodles (cold
and quite nice too), a can of Coke, several coffees, and some cracker/cookie
type things. None of this concerns me greatly – I’m not hugely overweight or
out of shape, but I could certainly improve my diet by eating more fresh fruit
and vegetables. So here’s another one – I will at least have my ‘5-a-day’, for
a month. <br />
<br />
I’d also like to look better ‘on the beach’. I don’t go to the beach – beaches and
sunbathing is the most fucking boring thing anyone could possibly do in my
opinion – just lying there? Wut? I’d rather walk around. Anyway. I’d like to
look a bit more buff. So I’m gonna work on that too. Every day, for a month.<br />
<br />
Korean.<br />
<br />
I’ve lived in Korea for five years, and have only bothered to learn a
smattering of ‘getting by’ phrases. I will study Korean every day for a month. I
will learn 10 new words, and three new phrases every day. For a month.<br />
<br />
Music<br />
<br />
I’m gonna listen to a new album every day. I’m not really an albums kinda guy,
or artists for that matter – I’m a big believer in the power of the individual
song. However, with a view to broadening my horizons, I will listen to a new
album every day. For a month. <br /><br />I will read some part of a book. Every day. For a month.<br /><br />
There are other things I have may have overlooked or forgotten about. I shall
add them in as I remember them, or feel their inclusion is necessary. I will update my progress, or lack of it, here.<br />
<br />
</span></div>
Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553589881189385291.post-50166842007371861562014-06-03T16:20:00.003+01:002014-06-03T16:32:30.679+01:00My Take on What Korea Needs to Do in the Aftermath of the Sewol Ferry Disaster<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Is It Cultural?</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">There is little point in dwelling on the enormous tragedy and sadness of the
Sewol's sinking other than to remember those lost. What happened there that day,
or who is primarily or secondarily to blame, is not the point of this article.
The point is, simply, what does <st1:country-region>Korea</st1:country-region>
do now? How does it stop these things happening again? <br />
<br />
That said, it's well documented that the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p73E-bpEao4" target="_blank">captain and crew of the Sewol told passengers to stay in their cabins</a>. The same thing happened on the recent subway
train incident. </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27250961" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A witness said many passengers ignored an onboard announcement telling them to stay inside and forced the doors open, escaping on to the tracks.</span></a></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Many are saying this is a<a href="http://www.chinapost.com.tw/commentary/the-china-post/special-to-the-china-post/2014/04/27/406323/Did-S.htm" target="_blank"> cultural difference, one of obedience</a>.
It is a cultural difference, just not that one. The simple reason for both of
these errors ('everyone stay put!') is that no one in charge<i> knew</i> what
to do, because they'd never practiced it. Safety drills of any kind are simply
not carried out here, anywhere, anytime. As many have said, it's cultural, and
this is true, it's cultural alright, but not that 'culture of obedience' that
everyone is citing, but the cultural disregard, nay, an almost flamboyant 'look
at us, we don't need to' disregard of safety protocols that many Koreans simply do
not think apply to them. <br />
<br />
In <st1:country-region>Korea</st1:country-region>, the
older you are the more respect you get, and the older you are, <a href="http://southernerabroad.com/tag/ajumma/" target="_blank">the less you have to abide by the rules, it seem</a>s. Old people walk to the front of queues,
disregard traffic laws, even common sense ones like crossing the road, push
onto the train while you're trying to get off, and so on. They too often have a
general disregard for safety rules. It's a strangely Eastern thing. 'I'm old,
therefore I don't need to look when crossing the road, you should be looking
out for me'. I 'kind of' see the sense in it, but it also sets an example for
the next generation. Younger people can't wait to be old enough to be rebels!
In many ways it's the exact opposite of the West. <st1:country-region>Korea</st1:country-region>'s
elders are often setting, in terms of safety anyway, a very bad example.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
Safety Drills</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I've worked in Korean public schools for over five years, and not once has
there been a fire drill. I've heard the school fire alarm go off once or twice,
and have peeked out of my classroom to find that life is carrying on as normal.
This, bizarrely, is also true of the air-raid style alarms that they run now
and then, as a military drill, all across <st1:country-region>Korea</st1:country-region>.
No one cares; people just carry on shopping and pushing their strollers around
as if nothing is happening. Until the country starts to shed off its macho
posturing, for that's what it is, of 'safety issues are for stiffs and bores
and therefore don't apply to us', these incidents will continue to happen. <br />
<br />
This flaunting of safety issues is summed up perfectly in the Chison-Ilbo - a
Korean national newspaper:</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
<a href="http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2014/04/21/2014042101446.html">"In
Korea, people who insist on abiding by basic rules are often considered annoying or inflexible, while those who
are adept at dodging them are seen as smart.
But the country is full of such smart people, and the result has been</a> </span><a href="http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2014/04/21/2014042101446.html" style="font-family: inherit;">catastrophic."</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<st1:country-region style="font-family: inherit;">Korea</st1:country-region><span style="font-family: inherit;"> has to
swallow its pride, and take action, and the action it needs to take is safety
drills, and of course other safety checks, enforced by</span><a href="http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2013/12/03/51/0301000000AEN20131203002700315F.html" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank"> incorruptible</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> regulators. To enable this, it needs a wholesale attitude shift that takes </span><b style="font-family: inherit;">safety
practice seriously</b><span style="font-family: inherit;">. And it needs to do that now. I cannot understand why
not a single principal, or vice principal, at any school I've worked at
including the current one, has not instigated a fire drill. Do they not care
about the safety of their children? Of course they do. But they are too proud
to change, too proud because changing would admit that they've been doing it
wrong all along. 'I can't take action that may save the lives of hundreds of
children, because it might cause me some embarrassment.' Oh, it's cultural
alright. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
Another issue within Korean culture is hierarchy. For example, vice principals
most often run the day-to-day business of the school, and the principal is more
of a figurehead, or a kind of president, who deals with governments,
ministries, education authorities and so on. However, the VP could never
instigate such a policy change as having a fire drill without consulting the
principal as this 'going behind his back' would cause great offence. Embarrassment
and ease-of-offence are not simple traits to run together. I appreciate
cultures have different forms of politeness and therefore offence, but surely
children's safety comes first? You'd think so, but I'm still waiting for any
school in my district to instigate a fire drill, because to change would be to
admit imperfection. To change would be, somehow, somewhere, going behind a
superior's back. On top of that, to instigate fire drills would at once be 'stiff
and boring'. And so we reach a stalemate. A heads-in-the-sand stalemate. Until
the next 'Sewol', or '</span><a href="http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/seoul-department-store-collapses" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Sampoong</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">'. Koreans are waiting for the government to
instigate a policy shift on safety. They don't need that, they need to start
from the bottom up and meet the government half way. Sure, the government could
produce safety films, posters, and campaigns, and they definitely should do
those things, but until Koreans shed this pervasive macho posturing of 'rules
are for squares', then sadly, these things will continue to occur. Changing these
attitudes though, so that safety drills take place, is the biggest obstacle of
them all. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We have started a Facebook group,<a href="https://www.facebook.com/drillskorea" target="_blank"> 'Get Fire and Safety Drills into Korean Schools Now'.</a> Feel free to join. Let's pressure, gently, our
schools into instigating fire drills. It's one small step that could stop the
next 'Sewol' being your school.</div>
Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553589881189385291.post-29542873191040325542014-03-19T06:40:00.002+00:002014-03-19T06:40:56.797+00:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEv52l8M1T2SjBBqxu_uW7_ED9B_3M5fWNCJUC5HNqy4h0Fug8xrBBDuzaurhpMoRpPcdcmKa6oEpS-_FKVAL3qlR6L98hdGlrLnnyNvM6etCSXpPZy9RtHKIW8pEBzmoFaQageqZhQG0/s1600/milne893.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEv52l8M1T2SjBBqxu_uW7_ED9B_3M5fWNCJUC5HNqy4h0Fug8xrBBDuzaurhpMoRpPcdcmKa6oEpS-_FKVAL3qlR6L98hdGlrLnnyNvM6etCSXpPZy9RtHKIW8pEBzmoFaQageqZhQG0/s1600/milne893.png" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553589881189385291.post-81679501835993053172014-02-19T03:31:00.002+00:002014-03-19T06:39:52.737+00:00Get Funked! We Are Retiring!<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: inherit;">It is with a very heavy heart, but yet a wry smile,
that I announce that Get Funked! is coming to a close. <br />
<br />
The esteemed 70s Funk DJ, Matt Nunez, is leaving Korea; he’s going back home to
the States to marry his lovely fiancée Emily, herself a Get Funked! regular,
and then they are both going to teach English in Japan; a long-held dream for
both of them.<br />
<br />
Of course, I wish them all the luck and fun in the world, and knowing them –
they’ll be just fine – two nicer people you couldn’t meet anywhere. <br />
<br />
Doing 70s Funk (Matt) and Northern Soul (me) is no drink of water. That is, it’s
not easy. This is 2014, the entire oeuvres of hip-hop, electronic dance music
and various other genres have happened since our music even existed, so getting
people interested in it at all is always an uphill task. This music is fairly
obscure in the UK where I’m from, and in the USA, where it’s from, so you can
imagine trying to get Korean people interested in a music that they’ve never
heard of, don’t understand really (‘oh, you like <i>old</i> music?’), and couldn’t care less about because, frankly, hip hop,
K-Pop and R ‘n’ B and more current and relevant to them is difficult. I understand this. Of
course, but that’s not the point, the point is we’re soul and funk guys – it’s
what we do. As far as I’m aware, there is no one else in the entire country
doing what we do. I’m both proud of, and sad about, that. <br />
<br />
You may wonder why we even started it in the first place. <a href="http://paul-wynne.blogspot.kr/2012/08/long-have-i-grumbled.html" target="_blank">This article (contains much swearing!)</a>, written
at the outset in 2012, explains it better than I could now.<br />
<br />
It was never our intention to be famous. We have musical beliefs. You might
think this sounds grandiose, but honestly, we do. I can’t speak for Matt, but I
don’t want to DJ. I don’t want to be a DJ. I don’t want to have a DJ name. I don’t
want my name on a poster. It was just about getting a bit of soul and funk out
there. We’ve done that.<br />
<br />
On top of all this, a weekly gig is physically, not to mention spiritually,
making me ill. I just can’t do it anymore. I love Northern Soul, I love it, I’ve
spent years of my life giving people CDs, putting on nights, forcing people to
listen to songs, asking bar owners to ‘just play this off my phone mate’. I’ll
still be doing those things, but I’ve done what I set out to do, which was to
get some of that music that I’ve always loved, listened to by a wider audience.
I can do this current version no more. To carry on doing a weekly gig would
(and again, without wishing to sound grandiose) be poison to my soul. It really
would. It’s making me ill. It’s making me miserable. I have to stop. I need to
walk some hills, write some poems, read some books, talk to some girls, look at
some skylines, travel; live and breathe. To turn up any more and play songs
(that I love) would, honestly, if not literally, kill me. My insides feel
green. <br />
<br />
Thanks to everyone who came. Thanks to Min and his bar, The Lounge in Hongdae,
for letting us play there, and for letting us start. Thanks to Shia in Fix Bar
in HBC where we moved to last summer – a most gracious host and a lovely woman.
Thanks for those times when YOU came up and said ‘love this song buddy, what is
it?’. Just thanks – it’s been an awesome ride. I hope you heard some songs you
liked. I love soul, but now it’s time to take care of my own. I need it. <br />
<br />
There are two dates left, this Friday 21<sup>st</sup>, and next Friday 28<sup>th</sup>,
which will be our closing party. Both will start at 9. </span>Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553589881189385291.post-48113501332839568632014-02-17T01:00:00.000+00:002014-02-17T01:00:08.794+00:00So, What Really Happened at Bar Carmen?<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">A few weeks ago, I stumbled into this bar, and via conversation it emerged that
I DJ a little, and that it would be a good idea, for them and us, for us to
play there. It’s a nice bar, spacious, good décor, nice sound system,
attractive bar staff – and it’s a music place. Everyone seemed happy with the
arrangement, including us.<br />
<br />
We were booked to play on 15<sup>th</sup> February. All seemed good.<br />
<br />
Then, a few days before, I get a phone call saying that they are having a
singles night on the 15<sup>th</sup>, the same night.<br />
<br />
What do I think? I think they were delighted that someone (in this case me) proposed
bringing people to their bar. That’s normal. It’s a business. Businesses like
that actually revolve around people turning up. BUT, they’d had a better idea,
and I genuinely mean that, having a singles night the day after Valentine’s day
is a better idea than having a soul and funk night. That’s not sarcasm. It really
is a better idea. And the place was packed. Proof and pudding.<br />
<br />
Anyway. They’d booked us to play, so now they had a problem – a double booking.
They didn’t wanna piss us off, why would they? They don’t know us and as far as
they know, we’re nice people. So they come up with the idea – “Let’s have those
DJs DJ at the singles night”. What a great idea!<br />
<br />
They call me up and tell me this over the phone. <br />
<br />
Then a few days later – “actually, we wanna play our own stuff, can you play a
little later?”<br />
<br />
I’m getting the message. They don’t want us, really. <br />
<br />
Anyway, I agreed to play at 10pm. <br />
<br />
I turned up at 9.30 – a half hour early – and there was literally nowhere for a
DJ to play. No tables, no anything. I offered to play/set-up behind the bar (2
or 3 times I offered this) but they flat out turned me down. I ended up having
to drag a table that had people’s drinks on it (politely, I asked) across the
room just to have somewhere to set up. <br />
<br />
That done, I played for two whole hours without a single complaint (to me,
anyway) and the place was packed the entire time. People vote with their feet –
if they didn’t like it they would have left. Two hours in, they are still there.
Then they asked me to stop because ‘we wanna hear some dubstep’, their words,
not mine. That happened, and everyone left. <br />
<br />
I got angry at this point and (can’t remember exactly what transpired but)
essentially told them to go fuck themselves. Yes, I know, I was an asshole
here. But I’d had enough. After dragging tables around, playing for two hours
unrewarded, and then basically told ‘you’re done now’, I think I was justified
in being a little pissed off. Yeah I was angry. Yeah I said some things I shouldn’t
have. <br />
<br />
I was paid absolutely nothing. It was a tremendous hassle from start to finish.
I’ve had nothing but abuse since, including being threatened by some people at
the bar, and frankly, overall, the whole thing was a complete nightmare – I wish
I’d never done it. <br />
<br />
All I’ve gotten from this are enemies. <br />
<br />
I wish the bar all the luck in the world and the owner, Carmen, is, by all
accounts, a lovely lady. Good luck to her.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br />
But as sure as my feet are size nine, I wish I’d never done that gig. Nothing,
and I mean nothing, but hassle. <br />
<br />
I’m hurt. Devastated. Offended. I wish it had never happened. <br />
<br />
Thank God that there’s always a next week. <br />
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Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553589881189385291.post-33898333010110681212014-01-28T01:53:00.000+00:002019-06-13T08:22:25.220+01:00Why I Don’t Like Frank Sinatra <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.nndb.com/people/300/000026222/frank-sinatra-mugshot-nndb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.nndb.com/people/300/000026222/frank-sinatra-mugshot-nndb.jpg" height="244" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Many’s the time I’ve been sitting in my
favourite haunt, The Hungry Dog in Haebangcheon in Seoul, nursing beers, doing
crosswords, playing chess and chatting music to fellow customers and staff. One
tidbit I picked up there was told to me by Will, boyfriend of the owner. He’d
studied German, and was, moreso than me anyway, familiar with many aspects of
German culture. He told me that the song ‘Mack the Knife’, a huge hit in the
late 1950s for Bobby Darin, was originally a German song, written in the 1920s
called "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer" (The Ballad of Mack the
Knife). You can read about it at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mack_the_Knife" target="_blank">Wikipedia article here</a>. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">
<br />
This song was, originally, a sinister song, with a feel about it that would, if
you like, scare children. It was dark and moody, slow and chilling,
atmospheric, haunting. You can listen to it at this link. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QXJ3OXWaOY">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QXJ3OXWaOY</a>
It is not in any way to be considered a cheerful number. It is not, nor was it
intended to be, performed or received as a jaunty, peppy or upbeat song. It’s a
song about a rapist, arsonist and murderer. A song of warning.<br />
<br />
Now listen to the Bobby Darin version, the most famous and well known version
around. It has been translated into English, but that’s not why it’s different –
it’s different because now the Bobby Darin version has a jolly feel to it. You
can almost hear him smiling throughout his performance. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEllHMWkXEU">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEllHMWkXEU</a>
<br />
<br />
I’ve always liked a bit of Fats Waller, the guy was a genius. You’ve probably
heard his superlative version of ‘I’m Gonna Sit Write Down and Write Myself a Letter’,
which was the first time the song was a hit. If you haven’t, you can check it
out<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZZRAU3DeOo" target="_blank"> here</a> .
Again, this is poignant, emotional song. The listener is not quite sure if the
lover has left, died, is just absent, or even simply doesn’t like writing
letters! Whichever it is, Fats is sad. Fats ain’t happy. Now listen to Frank Sinatra’s version. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBvAL6zIst0">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBvAL6zIst0</a>
You can, again, hear the smile in his rendition, the jauntiness in the song,
the happiness, the ‘swing’. Sorry Frank, you’re getting it totally wrong. Can
you sing? Hell yes, you’re a great singer. Can you ‘sing’? No. It hurts my
brain listening to ‘Letter’ by Frank. The disparate mismatch between delivered
style, and the meaning of the song is enormously confusing. <br />
<br />
I subscribe to quite a few podcasts from back home, one of which is called ‘Soul
Music’ from BBC Radio 4. It’s a fairly pleasant show, and each show’s many guests
are invited to explain what that week’s piece of music means to them personally.
A few weeks ago the music was ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’ which I
was surprised to learn was originally a slightly melancholic song, with a
meaning something like ‘this year isn’t/hasn’t been great, but maybe next year
eh?’. Although it was changed slightly from its original by Judy Garland et al
as they thought it ‘depressing’, it was when Frank Sinatra got a hold of it
that any of its former meaning was lost. From the Wiki of the song “In 1957,
Frank Sinatra asked Martin to revise the line "Until then we'll have to
muddle through somehow." He told Martin, "The name of my album is A
Jolly Christmas. Do you think you could jolly up that line for me?" Martin's
new line was "Hang a shining star upon the highest bough."<br />
<br />
And there you go. That’s why I don’t like Frank Sinatra. He sucked the life,
and original meaning, but most importantly the ‘feel’ of so many songs, he and
many of his contemporaries. Songs are allowed to be sad. Songwriters are
entitled to have their work remain unpoisoned. </span></div>
Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553589881189385291.post-6583024741275991682014-01-07T12:38:00.005+00:002014-01-07T12:53:36.377+00:00Korea's Two-Dimensional Fashion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.handbago.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/525px-wide/handbags/jfp-hola-fashion-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.handbago.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/525px-wide/handbags/jfp-hola-fashion-3.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is something about Korean fashion and style that I
don’t quite understand. It is true that they are a fashionable and stylish set,
and wear nice clothes and no doubt take fashion quite seriously, but the effect
it has, its strength, potency, its expression, just doesn't seem right to me
somehow - it seems to lack power, it has no statement about itself. And I can't
quite put my finger on why. Perhaps it’s because I’m not that fashionable
myself? Or perhaps it’s the definition of the word ‘fashionable’? A middle-aged
man wearing a classic tweed jacket and a nice pair of brogues, for example,
would be defined as, by me anyway, as <i>stylish</i>, rather than fashionable.
Furthermore, said middle-aged man in tweed jacket would be saying many other
things like: I’m not a biker, I’m not a chav, I’m not a builder, and so on. Of
course, he might be saying none or any of these, but he’d certainly be giving
off the impression of, well, <i>something</i>. Wearing the jacket and brogues wouldn’t be an
empty statement. The simple fact is, in the West, it would be a statement,
about something. Wearing a biker’s leather jacket is a statement. Clothes are a
statement, even if the statement is ‘these are all I could wear today because
I’m doing my laundry’, ‘I’m getting married today’, ‘I’m going to a funeral’,
or ‘I ride a skateboard’. Fashion in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Korea</st1:place></st1:country-region> seems empty, devoid
of having anything to say, other than 'I've bought some clothes recently'.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.gentlemansgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Cogna-Brown-Derby-Full-Brogue-with-2-inch-cuff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.gentlemansgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Cogna-Brown-Derby-Full-Brogue-with-2-inch-cuff.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></div>
Fashion here smacks of a limited imagination, a reliance on 'being told what to
do', of conformism. Of getting your ideas from a magazine. But also importantly,
and often missed here is that if you wear the latest ‘magazine clothes’ you
hand over your <i>statement</i> about what you’re wearing to a magazine editor,
whose only statement on your behalf is ‘look at me I’m fashionable’. It's why
fashion here is fashionable, if fashionable means empty and vapid.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Dr_martens_boots.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Dr_martens_boots.jpg" height="165" width="200" /></a></div>
Maybe the problem is that there's no 'anti-fashion' in <st1:country-region>Korea</st1:country-region>,
and in turn that may be because of <st1:country-region>Korea</st1:country-region>’s
relatively recent entry into, if you like, the world of ‘Western fashion’. We
may have had punks and b-boys and so on in the '70s and '80s, but <st1:country-region>Korea</st1:country-region>
almost certainly didn’t, or if they did, they were so few in number as to have
little effect on mainstream culture. If I see, say, a pair of Dr Marten boots
in a store here, they will, for me, have many connotations, for example, work boots,
punk boots, skinheads, 1980s fashion and so on, but for a Korean they may just
look like 'boots'. That's not the man- or woman-on-the-street's fault, but it's
true nonetheless. We make decisions based on decades of previously traversed
fashion phases ("I'm not wearing that I'll look like a '90s raver"),
but countries newer to the forefront (and let's be honest that's Europe and the
USA) of fashion do not have that historical luxury. Everything is new, but
simultaneously, everything is meaningless. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That <st1:country-region>Korea</st1:country-region>
has little or no 'anti-fashion' doesn't necessarily mean it should adopt a
whole-hearted punk [or other alternative] ethos with safety pins through noses
or knee-high cyberpunk boots, it means <st1:country-region>Korea</st1:country-region>
doesn't have the guys down the pub who make a fashion statement by simply not
being fashionable. Deliberately. In <st1:country-region>Korea</st1:country-region>,
you're either in or out. Back home, the guys in jeans and bikers' leather are
saying 'we don't want to look like the inside of a fashion magazine'. 'That
would be uncool'. And suddenly you’re entering into an arena of
anti-capitalist, or anti-<i>something</i>, sentiment, of not wanting to shop in
Top Man, or wear Abercrombie and Fitch, or wear Gucci sunglasses. To me and
many others this wearing of current middle-to-upper high street brands would be
highly uncool – like popping the collar on your suit jacket, or holding a cigarette between your teeth – I’d never do
it – to me it looks like ‘trying too hard’, like ‘Top Gun’. Trying to be cool
isn't cool. Trying to be fashionable isn't necessarily fashionable. Clothes and
the way you wear them, including choosing not to wear something, is a statement
of attitude, a subscription to who you are and want to be. In many circles,
being 'magazine fashionable' is considered uncool. <br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Korean fashion lacks any statement outside of ‘I’m
fashionable’. Could you tell who likes jazz or hip-hop or rock from it?
Doubtful. Could you in <st1:city>London</st1:city> or <st1:city>San
Diego</st1:city> or <st1:city>Bruges</st1:city>?
Probably. Clothes are an expression, of who you are, of what you believe. Even
if you believe fashion is a fat waste of time your non-conformist, conformist jeans
and t-shirt (or whatever) are saying so.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I think it will take a decade or two for <st1:country-region>Korea</st1:country-region>
to realise its full potential in fashion. Many here think it's made it now, but
I disagree. Fashion here says nothing, and until it does, it doesn't. It's not
cool to try and be cool. It's a kind of
Catch 22 that I think fashionistas in <st1:country-region>Korea</st1:country-region>
often don't understand. It's simply not that fashionable to be fashionable.</div>
Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553589881189385291.post-20155167201470258442014-01-01T11:07:00.002+00:002014-01-14T10:34:21.866+00:002013, A Year in Clover. <div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">From Hamlet
- "When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions."<br />
<br />
Very true, William, very true. <br />
<br />
It wasn't all bad. It never is. But the landmark occasions this year were all
pretty terrible. <br />
<br />
Jobs: My current job is, in fact all my jobs in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">Korea</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US"> have been, very nice - no
complaints there. But when I first started this one, it was a disaster. The
previous teacher wouldn't move out my apartment for a week. When he finally did
the school was late delivering any furniture so I had to sleep on the floor.
The heating broke down, the washing machine wasn't plumbed in, and the hot
water stopped being hot. On top of all that, my co-teacher had a nervous
breakdown when my vice-principal jokingly accused her of having an affair with
me! I'd been in the job three days at this point. She was furious with him, her
husband called the school and everything. It was a right shit-storm. She was
never the same with me after that (distant, abrupt) and I was honestly happy
when she got pregnant again and quit. My new co-teacher is a lovely woman. So
all's well that ends well, I guess. <br />
<br />
Dating: been on several dates this year, all of which either ended
disastrously, or got cancelled, or didn't lead to a second date when I wanted
them to. All in all, dating wise, this year was a total fucking disaster. I've
ended the year as I started it. Except I'm a year older.<br />
<br />
Friends: Made some great new friends this year, especially up in Haebangcheon
in </span><st1:city><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">Seoul</span></st1:place></st1:city><span lang="EN-US">, but lost a few too. A couple of
fall-outs lead to some unhealable rifts with one or two long-standing friends,
which is never good, but c'est la vie. The biggest news, friend-wise, for me
and many others this year was undoubtedly the loss, due to a climbing accident,
of the dear, lovable, funny, surreal, hilarious and warm Kevin Andresen. Never
in all my life have I heard so many people cry, so loudly and for so long. And
I never want to hear that again. <br />
<br />
Holidays: Went to </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">Cambodia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US">. Fell down some stairs. Got sick,
including passing out, throwing up, going blind (twice) and for the first time
in my entire life, shitting the bed, due to the muscle relaxants the hospital
gave me. Cost me a fucking fortune in
hospital fees when I got back to </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">Korea</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US"> too. Holidays this year? Meh.<br />
<br />
And finally, the biggest news of all for me was the loss of my mother, after a
two year battle with cancer. It came as no surprise in the end, as she was
given just a few days, but lasted three weeks. My Mum had her faults like all
of us, but she was always there on the end of the phone if you needed a
shoulder to lean on. I miss my Mum.<br />
<br />
I'm a realist. I'm not one to mope about going 'life is terrible', despite
laying it all out, above. Like most, I'll get morose occasionally, but I tend
to laugh at it all in the end. And anyway, it wasn't all bad this year. I
finished my Masters Degree before my Mum went, and I know she would have been
proud of that, not to mention the personal sense of achievement. As I said
above, my job is great, I have some amazing, wonderful and funny friends, and
generally, I'm pretty happy with my lot. I hope, though, that the landmarks of
2014 are less harrowing and upsetting than this year's were, and that there are
a lot less tears and a lot more smiles. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553589881189385291.post-20718337861445734792013-09-30T13:06:00.002+01:002013-09-30T13:08:54.410+01:00Why Seoul Taxi Drivers Are C*nts<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I shall relate to you some of my experiences with Seoul’s least upstanding
citizens, the utter cunts that drive the cabs around here, but before I start,
let me state in no uncertain terms that these cretins in no way reflect the
general behaviour or attitudes of the general population of South Korea.<br />
<br />
Episode 1: Getting charged the equivalent of a 20 mile journey for a 2 minute
ride. So, it’s late, I’m drunk, I hail a cab. “Please take me to a cheap motel
you know, thanks”. He says “OK, 20 000 won” (about a tenner </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-size: 12pt;">UK</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-size: 12pt;">). I’m thinking
‘that’s cheap for a motel, they are usually around 30 000’, and proceed. He
takes me about half a mile down the road, and asks for the money. Suddenly it
dawns on me in my drunken state that it was some kind of finder’s fee! Fuck
this guy. A large argument ensued, during which, let me say, I negotiated a
substantial discount. The hotel was 100 000! I went home. Cunt.<br />
<br />
Episode 2: Given the runaround. <br />
<br />
I exit Yongsan station, one of </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Seoul</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’s biggest, and go to
the taxi rank. I get in and say, ‘take me to Itaewon please’. He says ‘you need
to go from the other side of the road’. So I do. What do the taxis on the other
side of the road say? You’ve guessed it, ‘you need to go from the other side of
the road’. They laughed at me at both sides. Names were called. <br />
<br />
Episoide 3: Actually being robbed. <br />
<br />
I took a long taxi ride home – about 30 minutes and got charged the usual,
about 35 000 won, which is about 18 quid. I handed the guy a fifty (about 25
quid) and I’m waiting for my change. He leaned back and said ‘you only gave me
a five’. Cunt. I knew I hadn’t as I’d only just withdrawn the banknote, and
also knew, immediately, that I’d been stung good and proper. On knowing this,
when I got out of the cab, I snapped a photo of the back of it, and reported
this guy to the authorities. They got back to me a few weeks later saying that
he’d been fined. Fuck you, you robbing cunt. <br />
<br />
Sidenote: A friend of mine had a similar experience with a taxi driver and
ended up fighting, which cost my friend a very hefty fine. This had only
happened a few weeks before, so I was very careful not to just thump the dude. <br />
<br />
Episode 4: Crazy bastard.<br />
<br />
I’m with a couple of friends, taking a short ride, and the driver is weaving
all over the place, doing handbrake turns and jumps over the speed-bumps. We
were all fucking terrified. When we arrived at our destination, he tried to
charge us extra for the ‘thrills’. Fuck. Off. You lunatic.<br />
<br />
Taxi drivers in </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Seoul</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> are complete dicks. Not all of them, but a disproportionate amount. Outside
of </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Seoul</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> they tend to be much nicer, and more honest. In </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Seoul</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, they’re a bunch of
cunts, frankly. </span>Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553589881189385291.post-74318248065046051212013-04-02T09:02:00.001+01:002014-02-07T00:42:06.851+00:00The Holocaust Pt IIIt’s been a while, so my apologies for
that.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8q8bWDUnkPfT8ZwWlVDYVHZFdJxgSaMBx_tAJPTXGNiJoYm9A3nf0qh3pEXvbF4FWjb0GY7yPmmLmpzSK3Xa4OjVyTuBxfd9ebDxDclAXtGSeqs06KJnmmLabTSsXZ1Gg8CbWuRnwnEc/s1600/Gang-Rim-Jin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Gang Rim Jin" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8q8bWDUnkPfT8ZwWlVDYVHZFdJxgSaMBx_tAJPTXGNiJoYm9A3nf0qh3pEXvbF4FWjb0GY7yPmmLmpzSK3Xa4OjVyTuBxfd9ebDxDclAXtGSeqs06KJnmmLabTSsXZ1Gg8CbWuRnwnEc/s200/Gang-Rim-Jin.jpg" height="137" title="" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
I’ve been busy, finishing a course of study, so forgive my delay in writing
anything in here.<br />
<br />
I’m ill today too, with a bout of ‘flu (well I was when I originally started to
write this, a couple of weeks ago). Hence, I’m sitting at home today with time
on my hands.<br />
<br />
I've wanted to blog about this particular subject for a few weeks, but due to
the studying mentioned above, I really haven’t had time. Add to that that the
subject matter for today’s entry is rather depressing and therefore I have had
some doubts about actually posting it at all.<br />
<br />
It concerns <st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-GB">North Korea</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-GB">. I currently live and teach English in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-GB">South Korea</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-GB">, so maybe more than many back home I take an interest in what goes
on north of the Korean border. <br />
<br /><u>
A Little Background</u><br />
<br />
About fifteen years ago I took it upon myself to read The Diary of Anne Frank,
because I happened to see it in a book
shop, had never read it, and I’d heard that it’s one of those books that everyone
should read. So I read it. Of the book,
I was very surprised at how posh their family was. Otto Frank, Anne’s
father was a banker, and their family was very upper-middle class, and this
shines through in the text. They could afford to build their ‘secret annex’
and fund themselves to live there – many everyday Jews in </span><st1:place><span lang="EN-GB">Europe</span></st1:place><span lang="EN-GB"> at that time would not
have been able to afford such things. <br />
<br />
Here is a sweet little girl, full of the chirpiness of youth; and with every
revelation of her persona, in every page, you know that she will eventually die
a horrible death in a concentration camp. It’s a heartbreaking read for anyone
with even the slightest smattering of human compassion. Anne was a very high-spirited
girl, not shy of an argument or a bit of back-chat. She was pretty and full of
life - cheeky and cheerful. This is, of course, what makes the book so
heart-rending, the effervescence of youthful life, contrasted with the
knowledge of her death. You would have had to have been in a coma for the last
seventy years to not know Anne Frank’s fate, so all the while, with every
bubbling page of the typical trials and travails of a teenage girl, you’re
confronted with horror. It’s like watching children die. At once she is brought
vividly to life, and simultaneously starved to death. It’s what makes the book
so powerful.<br />
<br />
I was very moved by this book. I researched endlessly about the holocaust
afterwards, found out everything there is to know about Anne Frank, watched
every documentary, read every book, listened to and read every witness statement.
To this day, there is something I do almost daily to remember it, and what it
meant, and how moved I was by its words.<br />
<br />
You may be wondering what this has to do with </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-GB">North Korea</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-GB">. Well I think </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-GB">North Korea</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-GB"> now has its own Anne Frank. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh4CtTGAzKw" target="_blank">This girl.</a> I don’t know too much about
her other than like Anne, she’s dead
before the story starts. But just watch this video and tell me your heart doesn't break at her condition, her small voice, the desperation and hunger in
her eyes. Her name was Gang Rim Jin. And she’s DEAD. <br />
<br />
I had few feelings for the North Korean government before this. But I positively
loathe them now. How can a country starve its own people? A quick scout around
the internet will reveal all manner of human rights abuses taking place up
there. It’s akin to the holocaust – millions have died through torture,
starvation and overwork in concentration camps. There are Anne Franks dying
all over the country. We know it’s happening. And we should do something to
stop it. </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Anne Frank’s diary, and countless other
testimonies, have taught us and reminded us what we as a race are capable of,
that we should never forget the past, and that if we have the power to stop
these things happening in the future, then we most certainly should. <br />
<br />
</span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-GB">North Korea</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-GB"> enslaves, tortures and starves thousands of its own people every
year. If we’d have known (and some say that we did know) what was happening in </span><st1:place><span lang="EN-GB">Auschwitz</span></st1:place><span lang="EN-GB"> in the 1940s, we’d
have stopped it. Well we know what is going on in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-GB">North Korea</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-GB">, and it’s very similar to what happened in </span><st1:place><span lang="EN-GB">Auschwitz</span></st1:place><span lang="EN-GB"> and other camps. A
great many people are starved, tortured, murdered. People are killed because of
who they are, who they are related to, or what they believe. <br />
<br />
I had high hopes the change of North Korea leadership a couple of years would herald a change
akin to that in Russia or China over the last few decades, but he seems as bad
as the previous leaders – far more concerned about playing political games than
feeding his own people. <br />
<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh4CtTGAzKw" target="_blank">Look at this girl’s face.</a> This needs to end. </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-GB">North Korea</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-GB"> could easily be as prosperous as its neighbours, with a well-fed
and happy populace. War definitely is not the answer here, that country needs a
sea-change in its outlook – a huge change in the alignment of its priorities.
Feed your people and stop making bombs. It really is that simple. <br />
<br />
If you want to do something, send a link of this video to your local MP, or
representative in your country. Ask them to ask questions. Thousands and
thousands of Anne Franks are dying every year, and we’re letting it happen. <br />
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Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553589881189385291.post-38764619383627985782012-08-22T13:34:00.000+01:002012-08-22T13:41:39.869+01:00Long have I grumbled…<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji6KsH56Bg3vp8c6nYjjYricpF5-YiAb0jAYsdnm6qcOshgRDgXNVzDJngRwMX8Z4tAtiFaossvZ4RDo1CQ4hAbZm79mN_3udt_-nJC4PSUGD4MJWBQYZwNvPkVKyLfY7bl5qQJnTLp70/s1600/get-funked2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji6KsH56Bg3vp8c6nYjjYricpF5-YiAb0jAYsdnm6qcOshgRDgXNVzDJngRwMX8Z4tAtiFaossvZ4RDo1CQ4hAbZm79mN_3udt_-nJC4PSUGD4MJWBQYZwNvPkVKyLfY7bl5qQJnTLp70/s400/get-funked2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br />
…about the quality of the music in Korean bars and clubs. You can read a
previous post about it <a href="http://paul-wynne.blogspot.kr/2011/04/hongdae-is-for-suckers-and-douchebags.html" target="_blank">here</a>. I’ve also written my views on music before, <a href="http://paul-wynne.blogspot.kr/2012/02/suicide-lyrics-might-be-just-what-you.html" target="_blank">here</a>
and <a href="http://paul-wynne.blogspot.kr/2010/04/old-music-is-better-than-new-music-and.html" target="_blank">here</a>. I especially loathe, and really mean loathe, despise, abhor with all
my heart and soul, the types of songs mentioned <a href="http://paul-wynne.blogspot.kr/2011/07/if-you-dance-to-these-you-are-stupid.html" target="_blank">here</a>. I went to a club the
other day and still had to put up with all that shit, along with “let’s hear it
for Nooooooooo Yawwwwwwwwwwwwwwk” etc and all that utter fucking garbage, with
people swaying along and singing like it’s the best thing they ever heard.
Music for people who don’t like music, is all it is. Fucking garbage. Utter.
Fucking. Garbage. All of it.<br />
<br />
Oh, and fuck Gangnam Style while we’re at it. I’m happy for </span><span lang="EN-GB">Korea</span><span lang="EN-GB">,
because it is perhaps one of their very first true global songs, so that’s
great for them. But honestly. Fuck that shit. It’s a comedy record for fuck’s
sake. <br />
<br />
During one of my many drunken rants around a bar table here, my good friend Ben
said to me, ‘Paul, let’s do a Northern Soul night in </span><span lang="EN-GB">Korea</span><span lang="EN-GB">!’.
Well, frankly, that’s the best idea in the entire history of ever. Fact. He’s
done a bit of DJing before, and I have too, so the idea bubbled for a few days,
and we still thought it was a good one, so went decided to go find a bar in </span><span lang="EN-GB">Seoul</span><span lang="EN-GB"> that would
have us. And we did. It’s called The Lounge in Hongdae.<br />
<br />
Sometimes you’ve got to put your money where your mouth is. Whilst I can’t take
credit for coming up with the idea, it was Ben’s, I certainly feel that it’s
time to stop grumbling, and in the words of, well, everyone. <br />
<br />
Do something about it.<br />
<br />
Long story short. Short tempered Brit is inspired by friend to put money in
cakehole. <br />
<br />
We will be DJing soulful, funky, jazzy, dancey, swinging, cool, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and hopefully fucking GOOD music at:<br />
<br />
THE LOUNGE, HONGDAE, <br />
<br />
OPENING NIGHT: SATURDAY 8<sup>th</sup> SEPTEMBER. </span><span lang="EN-GB">9pm</span><span lang="EN-GB"> till </span><span lang="EN-GB">1am</span><span lang="EN-GB">. <br />
<br />
Then weekly Saturdays. <br />
<br />
Gangnam Style will not be getting played. <br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553589881189385291.post-63803708711691701752012-08-01T04:41:00.002+01:002012-08-01T04:42:24.690+01:00Why I Despise Boy-Bands and Girl-Bands, and ‘Teen-Pop’ in General<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">What’s wrong with ‘teen pop’? I could say
that they don’t write their own songs. But hey, some do, don’t they? Most of
them don’t though, so there’s that to begin with. Most don’t even choose their
songs, they are decided by record executives. And on what basis are songs
selected? Positive message? Rebellious spirit? Something to say? A message? Nope.
Sales. And the market for this type of music is? Impressionable youngsters. I
see boy- and girl-bands as factory produced shit designed to fleece money from
school children. To me, it’s as bad as putting junk food machines in schools.
It is cultural and financial robbery. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">It could be argued that they don’t play
their own instruments, beyond that, I doubt whether these singers and terrible (I’ll
come to this shortly) dancers have any input into either song selection, or
musical arrangement. Puppets on a corporate string. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">There aren’t any ugly ones either. Appearance
has always played a part in pop music. I doubt Elvis Presley or the Beatles would
have been as successful if they looked like me. Today though, looks are a
prerequisite for any budding pop star. You may get a token ugly one in a ‘band’
like the ginger one in Girls Aloud, but that’s beside the point. Knowing a
female who’s a mechanic doesn’t alter that statistic that most mechanics are
males. Having a male friend who’s kindergarten teacher doesn’t….you get the
picture. We used to get ugly pop stars purely because they were talented. Not
now. Now you look at the ‘music’, not listen to it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Dancing. What is good dancing? Now I like
dancing, I am hugely impressed by amazing dancing. I want to see dancing that
makes me go “Wow! I couldn’t learn that dance if I practiced for a decade.”
Anyone who knows me well knows that I have spent some considerable time on dance
floors. I like dancing, I’m not great at it, but I’m not one of those stiffs
who looks totally out of place on a dancefloor either. Dancing has been a big
part of my life for a long time. I’ve been a big Northern Soul fan for longer
than I care to remember, I wore out my bedroom carpet as a teenager practicing
moves, I’ve DJ’d various genres of dance music, in short, I know a bit about
it. I’m quite old now, and times and styles have changed since my heyday, but I
still think I know good dancing when I see it. And I DO NOT see it in these
boy- and girl-bands. What they are doing is synchronised, and I stress the word
‘synchronised’, rubbish. The next time you see one of these ‘bands’ perform
their dance routine, look at just ONE of them and imagine them doing it alone,
and compare it to a break dancer from the 80s, or a lindy Hopper from the 40s. They
look pathetic. Also, I firmly believe that any semi-competent dancer could
learn any of those faux-dance moves in a day. IN A DAY! There has been
fantastic dancing in and around pop music since the 40s. Now we are spoon fed
crap and told it’s steak by suits in factory-offices. Better not make it too
complicated, they say. If the kids can’t do it, they won’t buy it. If we took
this attitude to sport, we’d lose. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Music, or at least youth culture oriented
music has always been about change. A voice, an ethic, a stance, something to
say. Hippies wanted peace and sang about it, punks wanted change and screamed
about it. Now we have this abomination. It actually doesn’t matter if the songs
are any good – no doubt a few of them are – that’s not the point. We have been
silenced by corporations. Punk happened because they were sick of shitty disco
(not all disco is shitty) and shitty prog rock noodling. But punk also only
happened because they captured an underlying spirit – the people themselves
were pissed off with the same things. Who are those people today? The life has
been sucked clean out of the popular music industry, and we’ve just stood by
and let it happen. Granted not everyone – I know several musicians from back
home who have spent years honing their crafts, they have certainly not stood
idly by, but where is that underlying zeitgeist of rebellion? Of change? Of
creative expression? Not all music has to be furiously rebellious like punk,
look at the hippies, they did it with flowers. Music and cultural movements
like hippy and punk felt like they were government toppling behemoths, changing
the world. These boy and girl bands, teen pop in general do nothing, and say
nothing. They are, nothing. Shitty dancers with auto-tuned voices and pretty
faces, sucking the culture out of the world. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br />
You may think I’m taking this too seriously, that I should lighten up. It’s
only pop music right? And everyone has different tastes. That’s true, and
despite my stance laid out above, I have certainly, over the years, succumbed
to a cheesy pop song. Many times in fact. But there is no rebellion. The teenagers seem
to have given up. <br />
<br />
Maybe I’m just old and don’t get it any more. But this is how it seems to me. Teenagers
today seem like a homogenous culture vacuum. When I was young, ‘cool’ mattered.
I wasn’t that cool, but I admired and looked up to those I thought were cooler
than me. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">It’s about time suits in offices stopped
deciding what young people listened to. It’s about time something changed. <br />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553589881189385291.post-88001082882949353862012-07-02T02:01:00.002+01:002012-07-02T02:02:17.529+01:00Simple Things[This is an article I wrote for the school newspaper. Please bear in mind that it is aimed at young teenagers, whose first language is not English.]<br />
<br />
There are several things I miss about being at
home in England. The first is something English people drink a lot of.
In fact it’s been the most popular drink in England for over two hundred
years. 98% of people drink it with milk, and around 30% of people,
including me, drink it with sugar. Can you guess what it is? Did you
guess coffee? You guessed wrong! The most popular drink in England is
tea! Not green tea, but black tea, which in England, we simply call
‘tea’.<br />
<br />
In England, when you take a break at work, it is often
called a ‘tea break’; this is because when most people take a break,
they drink some tea.<br />
<br />
This is the thing I miss most about England
because tea, or black tea as it is called in Korea, is very difficult
to find here. One time, I was in a store and I noticed that they had
some black tea, and I bought all the black tea they had in the store,
about six months’ worth of tea. I was very happy to have some tea.<br />
<br />
In
England, the average person drinks about 2.2 kilograms of tea per year.
If you compare this with the USA, they only drink about 0.2 kg per
person per year, as Americans prefer to drink coffee. They are missing
the benefits of a relaxing cup of tea.<br />
<br />
As you can see, the
English like their tea! In fact, England is the seventh biggest consumer
of tea in the world. We had tea shops over one hundred years ago, which
are much like today’s coffee shops, except they sold only tea and
snacks. It is customary to have a sandwich or a scone (a type of heavy
cake) with your tea in a tea shop. Tea shops are very polite places, and
it is normal to see ladies sitting alone drinking tea in a tea shop,
but they would not go to a coffee shop or restaurant alone.<br />
<br />
The
other thing I miss most about England is chips. Chips in England are
like what you would call French fries, except they are much bigger and
softer, and made from real potatoes. The potatoes are peeled, and cut
very thickly, then cooked in oil or fat. Fat makes the chips taste
better, but you can cook them in vegetable oil too. The most famous food
in England is fish and chips, but it is not ‘haut cuisine’, it is very
ordinary food, which English people love, maybe like kimchi and rice in
Korea – that is, it is everyday ordinary food, nothing special or
exciting. Some days I wish I could just go to the ‘chippy’ (slang for a
shop that sells cooked fish and chips) then go home and eat them with a
nice cup of tea, with milk and sugar of course!<br />
<br />
I like Korean food, but I really miss some simple English things like chips and tea.Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553589881189385291.post-21022270256147220932012-06-05T02:46:00.001+01:002012-06-05T02:48:32.286+01:00Is Christianity the Biggest Threat to Korean Culture?<br />
<span lang="EN-US">A simple
conversation with my co-teacher got me thinking. He said that at Chuseok, he
and his wife do not </span><span lang="EN-GB">honour</span><span lang="EN-US"> the spirits of their ancestors in the
traditional Korean way (see below), and when asked why, he said it’s because
they are Christian. I found this both shocking and sad. <br /><br />Chuseok, a
kind of autumnal harvest festival, is the biggest holiday event of the year in
Korea, equivalent in magnitude, to Thanksgiving in the States, or Christmas
(not an especially religious Christmas!) in the UK. In Korea families flock
home to perform traditional ancestral worship rituals, be with their relatives,
visit the graves of the recently deceased to tidy them and offer gifts of
thanks (food etc.). </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span lang="EN-US">Currently
around 30% of Koreans are Christian, a number that is growing year on year
since the ‘conversion boom’ of the 1980s. It’s an actively expansive religion,
and if you don’t think so, ask yourself how many times someone has handed you a
leaflet in the street, or knocked on your door, asking you to convert to Christianity.
Atheists don’t do that nor, for that matter, do Confucianists. Confucianism,
like Buddhism, is as much a way of life as it is a religion, a peaceful way of
life that is embedded in Korean society and culture, even the everyday greeting
‘hello’ (ahn-yeong-ha-seh-yo) is literally translated as ‘are you in peace?’. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The land of
the morning calm does not need the ‘wrath of god’. Korea should stick to its
own traditions and culture, which, frankly, are considerably superior to
anything Christianity has to offer. Christianity is not ‘bad’ per se, good
things may come out of it like charitable donations – let’s be clear, most charities
are not religious - but Korea has its own, beautiful, peaceful way of life
already, steeped in Confucian tradition and wisdom. That they would even dream
of swapping that for flawed (look what the USA is doing with it) Christianity
is heartbreaking. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">To adopt a
spurious, faltering and flawed religion from another world will bring nothing
but conflict and irreparable damage to Korea’s identity and culture. If you’re
a Christian, you should think twice before attempting to convert anyone else to
your belief system. You may think you are doing something awesome, but you
might only be damaging centuries of culture. </span></div>Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553589881189385291.post-64754909221536421052012-05-09T03:34:00.003+01:002012-05-09T03:35:38.229+01:00This Gay Marriage Thing<br />
<span lang="EN-US"> </span>
<span lang="EN-US">Just to
settle the nerves of any family members who might be reading, I’m not gay. I
may as well be with amount of action I get, but I’m actually not. I know some
gay people though, and have at least one good friend who is gay, (Hi Doctor!)
and quite frankly, I don’t give a fuck what sexuality anyone is (with the
obvious exception of child molesters, who should seek help). However, I just
can’t understand why people need to protest and demonstrate about gay people
and gay marriages. What the hell are they doing?</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"> </span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Let’s get
one thing straight right now. Sexuality, that is, what we are sexually
attracted to, is NOT a choice. Some people like fucking cars, that’s up to
them. Really, they do, it’s called mechanophilia (piss off spellcheck that is a
real word). My point is, they didn’t CHOOSE to be attracted to cars, any more
than you or I ‘chose’ what we are attracted to. If you disagree with this, you
are a fucking moron. Really, a fucking moron. Go take a big flying fuck to
yourself, because, as I already iterated, you’re a fucking moron if you think
you ‘chose’ your sexuality or if anyone does. Sure, you can choose whether to
act on it, but that’s different. Anyway, some people just like fucking cars. Can’t
see the attraction myself. I love cars, but have never seen one I wanted to
bone. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">“God Hates
Fags”</span><br />
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">There’s no
doubt that there’s a strong element of religiosity amongst homo-haters. “The
bible says this” etc. etc. Honestly. Fuck off. The bible says a lot of things. I
saw a story online today where one guy is arguing that gay people will go to
hell but fat (straight) people won’t, because they’re straight. I’m no
theologist, but I am 100% fucking certain that gluttony is considered a sin. Fat
fuckers. OBESITY is a fucking choice by the way. Get some exercise. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">So, gay
marriage then? Admittedly, it does seem culturally a little strange – but remember
we have had thousands of years of ‘normality’ and that’s gonna take some
undoing, but I personally am all in favour of it. If two people love each
other, and remember that marriage has legal consequences too - such as
inheritance and tax - then they should be able to do whatever they want. Remember,
gay people have no choice about being gay (if don’t think is true you are a
moron, see above), and should be afforded equality, just the same as anyone
else.<br />
<br />
In short, if you are an overly religious gay-hater who thinks all homosexuals
are going to hell, then you’re a fucking idiot. kthxbi. </span></div>Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553589881189385291.post-45800130408900520082012-05-09T02:35:00.001+01:002012-05-09T03:47:47.210+01:00Which Accent Should You Teach?<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">A few
thoughts on accents and other things...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">In Korea,
Korean teachers use an American English accent and vocabulary. However, I will
contest that in some cases, the British English variations, especially the
accent, makes more sense as some vowel sounds are more neutral. I would also
like to make very clear that I’m suggesting that a blend of both accents is
more beneficial when learning and/or using English, that is, take the best bits
from either, and disregard the rest. Indeed, in most cases, the accents overlap
anyway. Also, I am aware that there are other ‘varieties’ of accent, e.g.
Australian, South African etc., but as these countries are entirely
insignificant and have accents that sound like you’re gargling frogs, I won’t
bother with any of them. One last thing, there’s no such thing as a “British’
or ‘American’ accent of course – so here I’m talking about the typical
variations – the RP (BBC) English accent (Harry Potter’s or Kate Winslet’s, for
example), and the ‘standard’ American (e.g. President Obama). Also, I am
attempting to disregard patriotism here; trying to be objective. British
English is far from perfect. Indeed, in my own classes, I often use American
counterparts because they make more sense. Incidentally, though I’m using ‘colourful’
British spellings here, I only really bother with American ones in class.</span><br />
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">OK, on with
the show. Which parts of the American accent or lexis should be replaced by British
counterparts, or vice versa? And why? <br />
<br />
I’ll start with a couple that the Americans get right. Firstly, saying ‘zee’
for the letter ‘z’. Why do British people say ‘zed’? Many other letters rhyme
with ‘key’ - b, c, d, g, p, and t. Also, the alphabet song doesn’t work if you
say ‘zed’. We should really change this and use/teach the American variant in
Korea. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">In British
English, the following sentence doesn’t make sense “I forgot my wallet at
home”. It should. We should use this, even back in the UK. It’s easy,
convenient, and useful. </span><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Here’s one
I think the Americans get wrong, and in my opinion, is actually getting worse.
In the USA it’s quite common to misspell or misuse <a href="http://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling" target="_blank">‘than’ as ‘then</a>’ because
they are expressed so similarly, yet these vowels are disparate sounds in
British English. We shouldn’t be teaching these as being so similar that they
become interchangeable and inseverable. In British English the word ‘can’, for
example, is pronounced very differently to ‘Ken’. In Korea, they have two
letters very similar to the British pronunciations of ‘a’ and ‘e’, that is “ah”
and “eh”, but I have actually heard Koreans pronounce ‘last’ as ‘rest’. Here
the disparity, and consequent ease of separation, favours using the British. In
New Zealand, it’s quite common for the ‘eh’ sound in words like ‘bench’ to
sound like ‘binch’. This is the kind of thing I’m talking about, that is, we
should use as close to the standard, universal sounds as possible, and the ‘a’
in ‘can’ is pronounced globally as ‘ah’ in every language or accent. It is, if
you like, neutral. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">It’s a
similar story with ‘o’ pronounced more like “ah”, and I’ve seen a poster here
spelling Bobby has “Bah-Bi” (in Korean). Again, I think we should not encourage
this, as the differences are too subtle, and foreign speakers of English will
just default to the (phonetically) nearest letter/phoneme. Here, we should
use/teach the neutral variations of ‘o’ and ‘a’, as they are closer to how
these letters are pronounced in all other languages using this alphabet (or any
alphabet where one grapheme/symbol equals one sound, like Korean, Russian or
Greek). Occasionally I modify my heavy Northern English accent to be more apprehensible
to Korean students, and I’m sure (and I hope I don’t come over as arrogant for
saying so) but I’m sure some of us could look at our accents and adapt them a
little for the classroom. One last point on this – I have not covered here the
British use of long ‘ah’ in words like ‘grass’/’<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">grahss</i>’. No British English teacher should be teaching this,
period. I mean full stop!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Not that
there’s anything wrong with the American variation, but word-final ‘r’ sound in
words like ‘butter’ or ‘older’ should be taught using the British variant. Word-initial
or -medial r-sounds like ‘ran’ or ‘orange’ are the same in either variety, but
the British English (perhaps wrongly) doesn’t really pronounce the word-final
‘r, ‘butter’ becoming ‘buttuh’’. However, as Asian students struggle with r/l
differentiation, anything to ease this difficulty is a bonus. There’s nothing
wrong with saying ‘but-uh’. It would be understood by anyone. This makes even
more sense when using word pairs like loyal/lawyer. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Spelling</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Personally,
I tend not to bother with British spellings of things when teaching. I am not
on some personal crusade to promote Anglo Saxon heritage – the American will do
just fine thank you, though it’s worth pointing out that whilst the USA thinks
it’s so amazing for spelling ‘organize’ with a zed, I mean zee, because that’s
how it’s pronounced. Well, why not change wise to ‘wize’, eyes to eyez’, etc? Just
a small point! In sum, I don’t bother with British spellings in the classroom
unless to point out differences or if talking about the UK etc. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">To
summarise then, I think American spelling is fine in the classroom, and really
the British is not worth pushing, certainly not because of some political
crusade anyway – it’s the students who are important in this situation, and
anything that makes their learning easier is a bonus. However, I feel the
American ‘o’ is too similar to a globally (Italian, Spanish, German etc.)
recognized ‘ah’ (grapheme ‘a’) sound in some words and we should if possible
use the common or garden ‘oh’ sound in words like ‘olive’, not ‘ah-live’. We
should also, as English teachers, in my opinion, not lean too heavily towards
‘eh’ for the letter ‘a’ (ah) in words like ‘bank’, as Korean students will
simply mistake this for ‘e’. A student saying ‘bank’ in the British or neutral
(ah) vernacular will not be misunderstood anywhere in the world including the
USA, a Korean student saying ‘rest’ for ‘last’ most certainly will. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I hope this
has come across as reasonably balanced. It’s not my intention and I’ve gone to
some pains to point out that this isn’t me being pro-British – in many cases it
makes more sense to use American English, or parts of it, in a Korean
classroom, but we must be careful. Language is about understanding and
communication, and anything that leads to a more central and universal
comprehensibility should, in my opinion, be adopted – an Esperanto of accents,
if you will. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553589881189385291.post-21194274431498415402012-03-25T07:15:00.001+01:002012-03-25T07:15:17.575+01:00Scottish Independence<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<span lang="EN-GB"></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">I’m English, but I know </span><span lang="EN-GB">Scotland</span><span lang="EN-GB">
better than most Englishmen do. I grew up there on account of my dad’s job, and
to this day I support a Scottish football team, Dundee United. This means I
still have many, especially online, Scottish friends, both from my childhood,
and from the world of football. Whilst I’m not Scottish myself, I certainly
have a bit of a handle on the place, including the abounding ‘arrogant English
bastards’ mentality.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">Everyone has their prejudices, the English
hate the French, the French hate the English, the Canadians hate </span><span lang="EN-GB">America</span><span lang="EN-GB">,
The Mancs hate the Scousers, the South hates the North, and on it goes, but
this Scottish independence thing is bugging me right now. Not because I don’t
want them to be independent, frankly I couldn’t give a flying fuck one way or
the other, what’s bugging me is that </span><span lang="EN-GB">Scotland</span><span lang="EN-GB">
seems to think that we (English) are shitting ourselves somehow about them
breaking away. I can tell you as a proud Englishmen that a) no-one here gives a
fuck if you do or don’t and b) no one here thinks it would be bad, good or
indifferent for </span><span lang="EN-GB">England</span><span lang="EN-GB">. <span> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">I’m from the north of </span><span lang="EN-GB">England</span><span lang="EN-GB">, </span><span lang="EN-GB">Hull</span><span lang="EN-GB"> to be precise,
and London/Whitehall has been fucking us just as much as them since time
immemorial. Do Scots think your average Scouser, Yorkshireman or Geordie has
much time for the goings on in </span><span lang="EN-GB">London</span><span lang="EN-GB">? Do you think they’d tell the lot of them to ‘get to fuck’ at the
first opportunity? The English government is London-and-the-South-centric.
Thatcher is hated in </span><span lang="EN-GB">Scotland</span><span lang="EN-GB">, well, take a walk around </span><span lang="EN-GB">Liverpool</span><span lang="EN-GB">, or </span><span lang="EN-GB">Newcastle</span><span lang="EN-GB">, or </span><span lang="EN-GB">Leeds</span><span lang="EN-GB"> and ask about the old fucking witch. The answers will be the same.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">I’ve got a Scottish pal, who shall remain
nameless here, who when England are playing football, against anyone, starts
banging on about the ‘English bastards’, and Highland clearances, and William
Wallace and all that stuff. <br />
<br />
Anyway, the upshot is this. No-one really cares other than the Scots, who are
doing a massive ‘fuck you’ to England, so they think, but us English, we don’t
give a fuck if you stay or go, it’s that simple.<br />
<br />
Just to confirm, I’m not anti-Scottish, quite the opposite, but as for this ‘</span><span lang="EN-GB">England</span><span lang="EN-GB">
is shitting itself at the prospect’ thing? Not a fucking chance. We simply
don’t care. </span></span></div>Paul Wynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09846708654784198546noreply@blogger.com0