Weekend + 1

Went to Seoul this weekend to meet up with some friends. Was meant to go to the International Car Show with K on Saturday at COEX, but it didn't work out (I think I didn't have his new number), so I just hung out in COEX, resisted buying some Apple stuff from the A# Shop. Then headed out to Children's Grand Park to meet up with GM, walk around, have a chat, have dinner together (the galbi was good, but a little pricey), and checked out Star City (a cinema and shopping place near 건국대입구), for some ice-cream and a bit of shopping. Then, while walking though e-mart, GM had the idea of "꽃민남 되자", and bought some skin care, and a "팩", walked through Konkuk Uni (건국대) to get to GM's place and had more of a chat, while becoming 민남들. ㅋㅋㅋ Talked about our lives recently, what we're gonna do after we leave Korea (i'm headed back to Australia, he wants to go to the U.S. to get his Masters) and a few other things. He's one of my best friends here in Korea, and I'll miss him a lot.


On Sunday, I met up with MH and went to Apgujeong had lunch and chatted. We wanted to see a Korean horror movie, 외툴이, but none of the cinemas we checked out were showing it. It was good to meet up with her, and talk about a lot of stuff we've experienced in Korea.

Since Apgujeong was closer to Yongsan than Yeongdeungpo, I decided to go to Yongsan and change my train ticket to get the train from Yongsan. I bought the ticket the day before, but at the time of change, the train was all booked out at the time. But, Yongsan to Yeongdeungpo is only one stop away. Then the confusion started, because she said all the trains for the rest of the day were booked out, and then she started to show me tickets for the next day. So then I asked her, is there really no space from Yongsan to Yeongdeungpo, and she just replied with the "sold out" line. It made me think, who has my seat from Yongsan to Yeongdeungpo? So, i asked, "are you sure that all trains are sold out?", because I saw the electronic billboard that said that KTX were available, and she said that KTX was available, so I just had to pay an extra 5,000 won to get KTX, which meant that I arrived in Jangseong at 7:55, rather than 8:40pm, which was okay.

Today, I found out that the boss told some of the kids that I'm leaving, so I started telling my classes today that I'm leaving in 19 days, and that October 17th is my last day. Feels good to actually tell the students. The main questions were "why?" and "what are you doing when you get back to Australia?". The boss asked me for my email, coz i think he's got a replacement lined up. I had the usual group of kids who wasted mine (and students) time in class, so I made them write some lines in Korean.

One student actually had the balls to say "yeah, i was wasting time, sorry", and started writing. The other was "you can't kick me out of class, because my parents paid money for it", so i just replied with "the other students' parents paid money, and because of your behaviour, their time is being wasted, because of you.". Like I give a shit about your parents money. Get a backbone and take some responsibility.


A t-shirt that I've designed before (the "Yes, I Know (dokdo belongs to korea) But, I don't Care!" t-shirt) had been printed up by Babo Shirts. Check it out.

Spiralling

Ever had one of those days, where a bad thing just sets of other bad things, and it just cascades until it frustrates you so much that it just builds up to a point where you know that the next thing is gonna set you off, and it's all this frustration is gonna burst out?

Had one of those days today. It was just over simple things as well. But, it involved one of those wonderful electronic devices that people are so accustomed to living with... yes, the mobile phone.

My phone decided to officially go nuts, after a bit of gentle persuasion. Maybe I was a bit too gentle this time. My argument has always been, that if you're gonna do something, do it properly. I don't think Korean electronic manufacturers have heard of this saying before. In my time in Korea, I have had 2 Korean phones, 1 Korean digital camera, and 1 Korean notebook computer, and all of these things have been to a service centre within the first 6 months of use.

I've only got 3 weekends left in Korea, so I am trying to organise things with my friends, about meeting up before I leave. The cancel/clear button on the phone has been a bitch for a while now, but today, it wasn't working at all. So, after a bit of gentle persuasion (which normally worked), didn't work, and made it worse. 3 of the major buttons were having an identity crisis: menu thought it was 3, call thought it was 9, and messages thought it was #. The only thing i could do with it, was turn it on and off, and I was able to access the contacts, so i wrote all of them down.

Today, a friend was meant to come and stay over, so I called him from the public pay phone to make sure he was coming (which he said yes), then tried to call my parents to say that my phone is buggered (the line was busy) and then went to work. After work, i walked around town, looking for him at the two main bus stops that he might have got off at. Then I tried to call him... 3 times... no answer. So, I walked to my apartment, and decided to call him one more time from the payphone there, but some fuckstick little kid decided that it was a good idea to put paper into the coin slot. So, that pissed me off to the point of banging the handset on the cradle thing a couple of times.

I got up to my apartment, and checked my email. There was an email from him saying that he can't make it (with the sent time at 5:33) coz work changed his roster last minute. That's Korea - randomly last minute. At least he emailed me about it. So, i had to walk into town to call parents again, since some sprog bucket of a mistake little kid put the paper in the slot of the apartment payphone. Then after calling my parents, I decided to order pizza, for some comfort food.

Pizza is good. Except for the corn...

No phone! again!

Hey Everyone. My phone has died. Yep... doesn't surprise me. Another piece of shit Korean electronic thing that I have used, has decided to not work properly. So, for people who want to keep in contact with me, there are following options.

Here is my profile on Facebook. if you're not a member of facebook, get with the times, gramps, and join it.

Here is my Cyworld. Leave a message in the visitors section (방면록). Don't worry about the user name and password thing there, if you wanna write a message. You don't need a cyworld/nate id for that. Just type in anything.

You can leave a comment anywhere in this blog.

I also use MSN, Yahoo!, Skype and Nateon. You can ask me for my details there, if you want/need them.

Remind me to keep away from any/all korean electronics when I get home. Never had major problems with Apple or Sony stuff ^^

Weekend: 1 down, 3 to go

Saw two movies this weekend, Mirrors and 울학교 이티 (Our School's English Teacher). Both were pretty good. After watching Mirrors, i just went to eMart and did some shopping. On Sunday, before the movie, I went to Sejung outlet and had a quick look around, but nothing really to buy. Didn't like the "atmosphere" in the Adidas store, thanks to the sales staff, so took my money elsewhere. Bought a CD case, to hold my backups that I'm making this week of all my stuff.

Had some McDonalds before watching 울학교 이티. I'm glad it tastes the same as back home. 울학교 이티 wasn't too bad. A good test for my Korean, and a good tune out from the rest of the world. Had a bit of a chat with a guy who saw me leaving the theatre. He thought it was pretty amazing/surprising that a foreigner was watching a Korean movie. We had a bit of a chat about movies, how long I've been in Korea for, etc. Seemed like a decent guy, in his early 30's, but was getting dirtly looks from his wife and kid, who were telling him to hurry up. hehe

Stopped by the Apple Store in Geumho world to get a Mini-DVD to S-video/Composite Video connector, so I can connect the Mac to the TV when I get home. Had a decent chat with the guy that owns the store, and said thanks for putting up with me for three years. I've bought a bit of stuff from him, and he's a decent guy - always up for a chat. Also bought some blank dual-layer DVDs while I was there. 3,000 each. A bit steep, but not too bad.

On the cover of my CD case. Last time I checked, digital was a adjective, not a noun, therefore, you can't have digitals.


Also, something i saw on the cover of Samsung's Pleomax blank disc range. There's nothing wrong with it gramatically, it just made me laugh, and think, are blank discs the only sensible thing that Samsung make?

South Korea vs South Park (Part 2)

Just a bit more fun with the South Park Character Creator. This time, a parody of Big Bang.

Here are the two images I based the parody on:



And here's what I came up with. The boy band - Big Bark, with their 1st mini album "Sit Down":


The image is 1920 x 1200, so you can use it as a wallpaper *^^*

South Korea vs South Park

So, I had a bit of fun with the South Park Character Creator thing that I found today. I started to think, what would some Korean artists look like, if they were on South Park. Here's what I came up with.

The first one. She's Hyroish - Hyori Lee (이효리):



Second. Seven (세븐). This one required a couple of minutes of work, to get the clothes right:




The last one, I'm really happy with the way it turned out. Epik High (에픽 하이). With their lovely white album cover from their third album (which has the songs Fly and Paris), Swan Songs.



I thought this one turned out so well, i made it into a 1920 x 1200 wallpaper ^^

Do you know? Gimchi is Korean Pride!

Brian over at Brian (obviously) in Jeollanam-do found this in one of his school text books the other day. (Brian's original article here).


Which made me think... with all the issues around Dokdo bringing up the over the top, wanna make you puke, wish they'd all shut up, get over it and find some individual identity usual nationalism stuff, it's good to see that Dokdo is getting a rest for a while... But, where is the "Did you know? Gimchi" shirt?

For people how like gimchi:


For people who like kimchi:

The 2 Souths...

Where are you going?

On the back of one of my student's t-shirs:


The simple L/R mistake.

Apple... The New Microsoft?

Yeah... it sounds harsh. Way harsh! But, hey, if they're gonna fuck up my OS with a simple, routine, run-of-the-mill, "we recommend installing" update, and then fuck up the basic features of the computer (the main one being my Mac not recognising external monitors), then I am seriously not impressed.

In my opinion, Apple has been piss farting around with the iPhone and iPods way too much in the past year and a half. The Apple hardware line is in need of an update/upgrade (The Mac Mini is still very shitful). The iPod line, especially the Nano and the Classic, is at the end of it's updateability line. The new Nano's Shake to Shuffle feature is (in my opinion) evidence of that. They've also gone back to the tall and thin design of the 2nd gen Nano, except with a long screen, in which it is rotated on 90 degrees to watch movies in widescreen.

Let's face it. Apple made a good iPod for the 3rd gen. People wanted a bigger screen, but the didn't want the bulkiness. But, they fucked up with the colors. People loved the over the top, painfully bright colours of the 2nd gen.

So, anyway, today, I noticed that the 10.5.5 update was available, and downloaded it. After the restart, my external monitor was not working. I checked System Profiler, and it said that there was no monitor detected. I'm not the only person who is having the same problem. There are a few people with Macbooks who have had a similar problem with built-in/external monitor problems. Other problems including hangs while/just after updating, Bluetooth missing, and a strange desktop rendering problem around the icons.

So, after reinstalling Mac OS 10.5.2 from the DVD, i decided to download the Combo update to 10.5.5, and still had the same problem. So, after installing 10.5.2 again (No external monitor problem while booting from the DVD or fresh 10.5.2 install), i updated back to 10.5.4.

So much for progress, huh?

Got Rocks?

Some Dokdo t-shirt ideas that might be worth printing.




Yeah, I know... the last one doesn't really make much sense... but the idea of naming your rocks... lol

Gotta Love Free/Unprotected Wifi

No idea where it's coming from, but with the the weather being good during the day and night, there's nothing wrong with a change of scenery and taking your girlfriend/notebook with you :p



The connection is stable enough. But, I haven't tried other spots within the large circular area with a water feature in the middle, before the steps that go up to the memorial with all the vertical pipes. But, if you enter from the street, I'm sitting on the left, 5 seats down from the drink machines *^^*

T-shirt time!

Made these a while ago:
I'm fine, and you?


Korean Beginner:
Please speak slowly.

Movie Spoofs/Ideas/Parodies

Where's Wally/Waldo?

(He was called Wally in Australia.)

Tetris - The Movie


Matrix Reloaded

From the 2003 MTV Movie Awards.
Will Farrell as the Architect ^^

Dark Knight

Weekend, Part 1

Long weekend here in Korea, due to Chuseok. No major travelling for me, would have been a nightmare. On Saturday, I went to Gwangju, to buy some Korean language textbooks, and then to see Bangkok Dangerous at the cinema. On the way, when I was waiting for the bus as Jangseong, a bus from Seoul arrived.

Just to give you an idea of the traffic. A direct bus from Seoul to Jangseong takes 3 hours and 15 minutes. So, if the bus left at 8:00 am from Seoul, it should have arrived in Jangseong at 11:15. Not this weekend. The 8:00 am bus arrived at Jangseong at 3:20. That's an 8 hour 20 minute bus ride!

That is why I don't travel during Chuseok!


So, like I said, went to watch Bangkok Dangerous at the cinema. Just as the number came around to go to the box office to buy the ticket, the staff had a laugh at the girl behind the counter who was going to have to serve the foreigner. All I had to do was say "안녕하세요" (hello) to get the usual 한국말 잘하시네요 (you speak Korean well comment). Must have totally blew her mind when I told her which seat I wanted, and told her that I prefer to sit close to the screen. Then I went to buy the popcorn. The guy that served me didn't do the usual quick bow, he did the "if the counter wasn't in the way i'd be on my knees" bow. After I bought some popcorn and some cider, he said to the other guys behind the counter "I haven't bowed like this since I was in school" (that's what I thought he said anyway). He was being overly respectful.

After that, i found a Holly's Coffee cafe, and sat down with a Iced Green Latte, in which the next morning, didn't agree with me. I brought my computer with me so that I could chill in a coffee shop before the movie, but with going to downtown, and then going to Sangmu, it was just easier to wait at the cinema and play Spore on my iPod. It's the first time an Iced Greet Tea Latte has disagreed with me.

Sunday - just hung out at home. Decided to go though a bit of my stuff, and throw a few things in the direction of my suitcase, since they will be going in the suitcase in 34 days time. For about 20 mins in the morning, I was thinking to myself, did I take my blood pressure meds or not, and I seriously had no idea. I decided not to take them, just incase I had already taken them. But, just incase i didn't i decided to keep up the water intake (that helps) and just take it easy. Eventually, it got boring, so I went out to find some dinner. What was open in my town: A restaurant. The Family Mart. 3 bars. The 3 PC bangs. The billards halls. The bakery. That was about it. So, not many options. Decided to get Dolsotbibimbap, which made be very full, and on the way home, I checked out the mini festival that was at the middle/high school in town.


A couple of ex-students (now in high school) saw me, and said hi. I saw the Hapkido teacher there too, and said hi. I was there for about 5 minutes, but it was a bit boring.

It still baffles me. I'm in a country that is one seventy-sixth of the size of Australia, but with a population that is over 2 times the amount of Australia, and I feel lonely. So, I just left. One thing that did cheer me up was a surprise call from HP. You know you've got good friends when they check up on you because they think you're lonely.

I'm thinking about going into Gwangju tomorrow again, since staying home for a 2nd day in a row would turn me in-fucking-sane! Might go and see 울학교 이티. I'm not 100% sure on the plot, but I think a ganster has to infiltrate a high school, by impersonating as an English Teacher, to find out some shit about some kids doing bad shit, or something or rather.

Like I said, it will get me out of the house ^^

Konglish

A few highlights from the I love Konglish group on Facebook:

Fuck Chuseok! (aka, I'm Angry!)

There... I said it. Fuck Chuseok. Chuseok, especially this year (because two of it's days are on the weekend), is yet another waste of a holiday. Koreans can't organise anything, but when it comes to holidays (and fucking foreigners over), they actually plan and do something about it. Yes, I had "Koreans" and "plan" in the same sentence!

Holidays in lieu, people!

Now that that's out of the system, I just wanna say a few things.

Koreans normally want foreigners to have a good impression about their country. If they don't know by now, when foreigners go back home (and become normal people again), they talk to other people and tell them about their experiences - good and bad. Most likely, they will talk about how someone at their work fucked them over in some way shape or form. I'm not sure of the stats, but I would think that "enough" foreign English Teachers here have been fucked over by their boss or fellow employees at some stage. This week, the week before Chuseok, I have had a few friends receive some serious fucked overage from their boss.

Sure, not everyone is like this. Just enough of the people here to make me paranoid about finding a person's ulterior motive, when I meet a Korean person. It's been hard for me to make decent Korean friends here (maybe my standards are too high, but I'm not going to lower my standards), but I have made some, and when I leave Korea, I will miss them a lot. They're the ones that made Korea an enjoyable and decent place for me. The ones who didn't, they can get fucked too.

So, my (rhetorical) question is: How are foreign workers meant to have a good impression about Korea, when, eventually, your boss is gonna fuck you over?

Chuseok also has the nickname of "Korean Thanksgiving". I know that some of my friends, including me (I've had a shit week too, but nothing compared to what some of my friends have had to deal with) have had a shit week, so they won't be doing much thanking regarding Korea.

There are times when I think of one scene in Red Planet which really describes my feelings about Korea sometimes. Just before Gallagher (played by Val Kilmer) blasts off from the surface of Mars, and says:


"Fuck this planet!"

36 days to go.

39 to go

I find that as my last day of work gets closer, my tolerance levels are getting lower. I just hate people doing stupid things. Here's a few examples.


The air conditioner is on, but the door is wide open.


I always seem to be the only person who refills the photocopier.


Being so lazy so that you can't pick up your own rubbish, and not having respect for the people who use/own the building and have to clean it up.


Putting tape over buttons will stop children from pressing them. Not!


Having to explain to students that the Korean made text book has errors, and therefore using more time than planned, so that it slows everything down.

40 to go...

Went to Daegu and Busan, to catch up with a few friends before I go. I can't meet up with everyone... If I don't meet up with you before I leave... well (sorry to he harsh), but deal with it *^^*

Here's a couple of photos from the weekend:




I have mixed feelings about why I'm leaving. I'll be honest - all things said and done, I like Korea, and I will miss it. I just really hate my job, and stuff to do with "English". I'd be happy working in a restaurant waiting tables in a 갈비집 for 6-12 months, coz it's something different. Lol

Meh... as long as I get home safe, it'll be all good ^^

Catch the Mouse! Eat the Dog! Go the Gull!

몇마리?! ㅋㅋㅋ

After seeing the "My favourite animal is steak" sign at Little Brown Blog, I decided to make this:


It says "My favourite animal is Boshintang". Borrowed the silhouette from here. It's after 1am, and i'm tired. Like I'm gonna draw a dog at this crazy time!


Yes, Lee Hyori likes "dateu det det det gull!" She wants to "bring it bek bek bek, gull!". Original image is from here.

Phone numbers, Management and Catching Mice

Today, in one of the new, randomly put together classes, a student says to me: "Andy teacher! Your 전화번호 있어" (rough translation "I have your phone number") and points to his phone. I... was... amazed (in a bad way). I never give out my phone number to students, unless they are damn decent students, and never elementary school students. So then I ask who he got it from. He got it from the boss' wife, who teaches maths in the hagwon. So, I grabbed his phone, and deleted it.

WHO THE FUCK GIVES OUT A PHONE NUMBER OF AN EMPLOYEE TO A 9 YEAR OLD STUDENT?

My boss' wife, apparently.

It's not her number to give out. Why would I want random students calling me? How the fuck would she like it if I gave out her number to random students?

Why would I want to talk to a 9 year old, outside of work? Even if he calls, what is he gonna do? Say my name, say some random shit in Korean, have a bit of a laugh, waste my time. No FUCKING thanks. I work at work. Once I leave work, I leave it all behind. My work life and social life have a large wall between them, with a very small gate being the only way though. There are very rare instances where I let people though from the work side, to the social side. The boss' sons being an example, since i see them in class every day, and if they're not busy on the weekends, I'll take them to Gwangju to see a movie. Another student, who has recently moved to Gangwon-do, has made the transition, coz I saw him every day at Geomdo. So, basically, these three students, are more like little brothers than students.

It was very difficult for me to look at her today, because if we did make eye contact, I would have said a few things that I probably would have regretted. I think, from tomorrow, I will be checking other students' phones to see if they have my number. If they do, I'll be asking a few questions. I don't mind giving out my cyworld address to students, which then leads to Nateon (a Korean IM), but I don't add them to my list. Previous students who were once in my middle school classes, who have now moved on to high school, I have no problem with.

But, my personal phone number? No fucking way.

Other shit at work is the boss changing classes at random. Here's the deal. One school in the area decided to start up a bit later than the other schools. The boss knew this. Did he plan for it, so that he could tell me a few days (or even one day) in advance, so I know what kids would be in which class? FUCK NO. My first class, everyone sits downs, I start to hand out books, and just as we start the lesson, he comes in, takes a few kids away, and dumps a few others in my class, and explains what's going on. Luckily, on Friday, he told me that this one school was starting late, so there would be a re-shuffle of classes. Fair enough. Luckily, I also know my boss' style of management, which seems to be no management (can a lack of management be a style of management.. or is that like saying a lack of pregnancy is just a different style of being pregnant?). So, luckily, i had a back up plan, and just stuck with that.

It's one thing, even though I'm used to it now, still shits me. The randomness of being in Korea. Kids will come late, and the boss just dumps them in my class, even though the work I would do in that class, would be way too hard for them. Sure, I use Korean in class sometimes - according to their level (for general behaviour management, i use Korean - the students respond a lot more to that than English), but a lot of the work I do, they need to know what we've worked on before, etc, shit like that.

So, my normal plan of boss randomly doing stuff, is games, sometimes in Korean. On monday, in one class, I played 쥐를 잡다. If you're not sure, here's a vid of it:



I'm not a fan of Tablo's English used... but I used my own way before I saw this.

First, you sing the cute little song.

쥐를 잡지! 쥐를 잡지! 찍! 찍! 찍!
(Catch the Mouse! Catch the Mouse! Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!)
x2
(Only just found out that it's called 쥐를 잡자! not 쥐를 잡다! 자 at the end of the verb means "let's". No one corrected me until I saw a few episodes of it on Youtube and noticed

Then everyone shouts 몇마리?! (How many?!)

The first person then chooses how many mice that people need to catch. You can choose from 0 to 5, inclusive:
0마리: no mice
1마리: one mouse
2마리: two mice
3마리: three mice
4마리: four mice
5마리: five mice

After that, the next person can choose to say 잡았다 (caught it!) or 놓쳤다 (missed it). if you say "caught it", you should put your arms out in front, and make a "catching" movement with your hands. If you say "missed it", you have to move your palm towards your head while saying it. If there are mice remaining, the next person says "caught it" or "missed it", and does the action, and this keeps going until all the mice have been caught.

Once all the mice have been caught, of if someone says "no mice", everyone should put their arms in the air and say "만세!" (Wow! or Yeah!), and then it starts again, with the next person (the person after the person who caught the last mouse, or who said "no mice" will say how many mice there are to catch.

The game stops when someone fucks up. If someone takes too long to chose an action, or if they do something else than what they're meant to (like saying "caught it" or "missed it" when everyone should be saying "yeah!").

For the students who enjoy English games, they like this game. It's good for using singular and plural words. I've played it with other animals as well. "Catch the Pig!" and "Catch the Elephant!" are always good for the sounds the animals make during the opening song.

For the Korean word nerds:

마리 is the counting word that accompanies the number (it's the 개 for animals. 컴퓨터 1개, 쥐 1마리 - one computer, one mouse). 몇마라 in a question is asking how many animals are there. For example: "동물원에서 사자 몇마리 있어요?" would mean "How many lions are there in the zoo?". Also, in a regular sentence "몇" before a counting word, can mean "several". The 사육사 (zoo keeper) might reply: "글세... 잘 모르겠는데 몇마리 있어요", meaning, "Well, i don't really know, however, there are several".

P.S. If my Korean is wrong, please say so in the comments. *^^*

Make a t-shirt... I dare ya!

Simple, yet effective! *^^*


For those who know, but don't care (obviously)! *^^*

Is there a Vulcan in the midst?

If you have been living under a rock for the past year or two, then you won't know who these five lads are. They're Korean Pop Boy band sensation, Big Bang. If you're not sure, and you've been in Korea for a while, you're teenage middle school female students would be all crazy over them, and you would have heard a line from one of their songs "I'm so sorry but I love you, 다거짓말 (it's all lies)" and million and one times. If you're interested, you can check out their latest song, 하루하루, 거짓말, 마지막 인사, and the only Big Bang song I like, Always.

I don't mind the occasional well-produced Korean Pop song, and well, for me, I'll be honest, Big Bang only make a good song occasionally (in my opinion, Always is their occasional good song). But, every time I see them, I always always reminded of this segment from John Safran's Music Jamboree:


Anyway, (as if I was writing for a Korean Children's newspaper), Let's meet the members of BigBang.

Taeyang (태양)
To keep with the N-sync analogy from the Joey Fatone Experiment, Taeyang is the Justin Timberlake of the group, meaning, he's the one with potential that when the whole boy-band thing wears off, and he thinks he's better than all the others, he's the one that will have the best solo career out of the five (which he might be trying already, with the release of his first mini-album). Within the band (and the five different personalities they have), he's the guy with the tough exterior, but is a real softie on the inside. He's also done the very fashionable thing of late in Korea of going to the gym and bulking up a little. It suits him, in my opinion.

G-Dragon (지용 / 지-드레곤)
He's the troublemaker. I mean, just look at him. He's fashionably rebelling. Such a rebel. He even (most likely by not paying attention to what he was told to wear) wore a shirt with some bad English language on it on a recent performance. Anyway, I've heard him sing. He did 나만 바라봐 part two, a sequel to Taeyang's 나말 바라봐. Personally, I don't like his voice. When I first heard 나만 바라봐 part two, I was not a fan at all. I think i said to my Korean friends "그의 목소리가 똥처럼 울려" (my direct from English translation of "His voice sounds like shit."). My Korean friends try to convince me that it's just his style.

Daeseong (대성)
Look at him... Just look at him. If your a Korean mum, and your daughter brought this guy home, she'd pinch the hell out of his cheeks (and would probably have a quick feel of the other cheeks as well) until she ripped off his face. He's the cute guy in the group. You know the friend that you had in high school that was cute, and all the girls liked him, but at the end of the day, he was always single, and was still a virgin until his last year of uni. Yep, that's him.

Seungri (승리)
If you watched the John Safran's Music Jamboree clip above, this guy seems like the Joey Fatone of the group. Enough said.

Then there's one member remaining. He goes by the name of T.O.P. His real name is Seunghyeon (승현). Now, for me. This guy is the anomaly (and also the reason for the title of this blog post) of the band. I'm just trying to figure out which personality of the group he's meant to be, but then it hit me.

He's the vulcan.


It's probably the eyebrows that do it, and how well he does the blank look. But every time I see him, I can't but think "Vulcan".

Here's some other pics of Vulcans.

We'll start with the most famous Vulcan of all - Spock (Leonard Nimoy). In this photo, Spock is sporting the hairstyle that I call the "Formal Vulcan". The rounded fringe/bangs, then the pointy bits on the sides in front of the ears. Now, if you compare Spock's hair to T.O.P's hair, there are similarities. T.O.P has what I like to call the "Casual Vulcan". Let's face it. The Formal Vulcan is outdated. T.O.P is just keeping it real. If you walk around Korea, you'll see so many young guys (and even a few girls) sporting the Casual Vulcan. Next time you check out a busy area with young Korean adults (if you're living in Korea, or a K-town somewhere), you are bound to see a lot of Casual Vulcans.

This is Zachary Quinto... You know, Syler from Heroes. He's playing Spock in the upcoming (yet another) Star Trek movie which is due sometime in 2009. He has a bit of T.O.P about him. Maybe it's the eyebrows again. But, you can see the Formal Vulcan hair style on Zach's head. He sports it well.

You see what I'm getting at. Here's a group of photos that I found when I did a search for T.O.P on nate.com:


I rest my case.

Like I said above, next time you're out, see how many Casual Vulcans you can spot. Would be a nice change from the "dodge the 아저씨's spit and phlegm on the sidewalk" game.