In Korean Cinema: it’s “Busan vs. Seoul for film crown”

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Two Korean cities compete for productions

Original: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117980539.html?categoryId=2894&cs=1

By DARCY PAQUET

SEOUL — Many Westerners may only have heard of one city in South Korea: the bustling metropolis Seoul, home to 11 million people (19 million, including the suburbs of Gyeonggi Province). But those with an interest in Korea’s robust film industry are likely to be familiar with the nation’s second city, Busan, a seaside port that is home to 5 million and which hosts Asia’s premier film festival. Seoul may be the undisputed financial, cultural and political center of the country, but nonetheless every year a high percentage of Korean films — including such classics as “Oldboy” — are shot in Busan.

WiBro Blankets Seoul, SOUTH KOREA With High-Speed Internet

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Wireless Heaven: WiBro Blankets Seoul With High-Speed Internet

ORIGINAL: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/02/133_18482.html

By Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporter

Koreans have very high expectations on the quality and the speed of telecommunication systems, whether they are mobile phones or broadband Internet lines or a mobile TV. And that standard is being raised even higher this year with the introduction of Mobile WiMax (WiBro) network in major cities this year.

“elmo death threat” surges to the top of searches online

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I don’t check all the time, but I get a list of top keywords that are sent to me from a website that keeps track of the online behavior of consumers. The typical suspects for the list are your typical sexually related terms or popular websites that are entered into Google or other top search engines throughout the world. However, once in a while, a phrase or word throws the list off.

Persistence and consistency = two keys to almost any success

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The past few weeks, I’ve been overwhelmed with a bunch of things in my personal and work life that I’ve neglected the blog a bit. As a result, the views have decreased consistently. I was consistently breaking 300+ views a day before I started to decrease the posts by quite a bit. Now, I get a post in once a week if I’m lucky. Whereas, more than 3 weeks ago and before that, I was posting almost on a daily basis for a good 2+ months.

Supporting my earlier warning that Obama may want to keep a decent security team with him…

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Just read this to support my earlier claim here: https://therealsouthkorea.wordpress.com/2008/01/05/obama-may-need-to-worrynot-about-clinton-but/ :

Many blacks worry about Obama’s safety

By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer Fri Feb 22, 5:18 PM ET

NEW YORK – For many black Americans, it’s a conversation they find hard to avoid, revisiting old fears in the light of bright new hopes.

They watch with wonder as Barack Obama moves ever closer to becoming America’s first black president. And they ask themselves, their family, their friends: Is he at risk? Will he be safe?

Kimchi goes to space, along with first Korean astronaut

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By Choe Sang-Hun

Published: February 22, 2008

SEOUL: Koreans say they must eat kimchi wherever they are. When South Korea dispatched troops to the Vietnam War in the 1960s, tearful mothers sent off their sons with clay pots containing homemade kimchi. Soon troopships were filled with the pungent smell of the fermenting cabbage slathered with pepper and garlic.

Google’s Adsense Customer Support Contact Page

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It’s so funny how much we applaud Google or Amazon for being such pioneers in the online space, but the two companies like many online companies do EVERYTHING THEY POSSIBLY CAN to prevent consumers from contacting them. Buried in their customer service FAQ’s and other pages that they expect customers to be so intelligent to navigate to their answers is finally a page that you can supposedly contact them when they have problems and need to fix. I finally found the page that Google’s Adsense customers can contact Google directly about issues like mine.

Inspiration when you’re down: Randy Pausch Lecture’s “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”

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English teachers likely to be drug users?

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English teachers take drug rap February 13, 2008

One out of 10 people caught bringing illegal drugs into Korea last year taught English, double the number in 2006. The Korea Customs Service said yesterday in a release that 22 of 225 people importing illegal drugs in 2007 were English teachers. Of the 22, eight were American, eight Canadian, four British, one Australian and one Korean.

Response to a comment about certified teachers in Korea

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A nice gentleman commented on the post about “Will Foreign Teachers Become Civil Servants?”  His comment was:

“Hello, not sure how I came across your blog, but found this to be interesting. Also, what are your thoughts on people that are certified teachers in their own country but are here in Korea teaching English? My fiancee and I are both certified teachers(Canada and US). I have not seen the information you wrote about, but was anyting ever mentioned about foreign teachers with those qualifications? I might have to add this to my list of things to read every week. Thanks.”

My reply:

More balanced or more confusion due to the growth of information sources

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In the past, we would gather much of our information from a limited number of resources. For example, the main networks on television like ABC, NBC and CBS were largely watched by many people and our perspectives were much more skewed towards what was said by the main broadcasters. However, with the advent of the internet, we now have blogs, many more video sources and just a plethora of other sources of information that we are potentially getting different perspectives on incidents and issues throughout the world.

It’s pretty sad when you can’t pass legislation because it helps the elderly, disabled veterans, and the unemployed

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An excerpt from an article published here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080207/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/economy_stimulus;_ylt=AqVKh3LY8SU6tjm.BenJ46hh24cA

Republicans block stimulus bill

WASHINGTON – The fate of $600-$1,200 rebate checks for more than 100 million Americans is in limbo after Senate Republicans blocked a bid by Democrats to add $44 billion in help for the elderly, disabled veterans, the unemployed and businesses to the House-passed economic aid package.

Secrets of the European English Teaching Method

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By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter

President-elect Lee Myung-bak’s transition team has announced a series of measures to improve the nation’s English ability such as getting teachers to teach English in English not in Korean in primary schools and above.

Search Engine Friendly URLs for your WordPress Blog

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Oh my gosh, I didn’t know it was this easy. 

For more than a year, I’ve created several websites using the WordPress engine for my sites, but one thing that always annoyed me was the URL structure of new posts.  I would create a post and the url would look like this:

http://almostfreephone.com/?p=14 

AMERICAN CITIZEN SERVICES NEWSLETTER for South Korea – FEBRUARY 2008

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U.S. State Department, U.S. Embassy Seoul
Consular Section, American Citizen Services (ACS) Newsletter
February 2008

The U.S. Embassy is transmitting the following monthly newsletter via its warden system as a public service to U.S. citizens in the Republic of Korea.  Please feel free to disseminate this message to U.S. citizens in your organizations or to other Americans you know.

In this issue:

1. Increases to U.S. Passport Fees and New Parental Signature Requirements for U.S. Minors
2. Visa Rules for Foreign Instructors
3. English-Language Resources for Americans in Seoul
4. Ten Ways to Help Ensure That Your Absentee Vote Is Counted
5. Overseas Vote Foundation
6. Recent Travel Warnings and Announcements
7. Upcoming Holidays: February 6-8, February 18
8. Embassy Contact Information