Jamsil Island was very, very wide. When the decision was made to carry out public water reclamation works to connect the island to land to its south, it would have made sense to have the Seoul Metropolitan government carry out works instead of tendering the job to private firms. Seoul Metropolitan submitted its application for a permit to carry out public water reclamation works on Jamsil Island to the Ministry of Construction on January 1, 1969. The Ministry of Construction rejected this application under the following pretext: "There is a concern that should the width of the river be narrowed, such a change to the surface water profile may weaken its resistance to floods. A further review will be undertaken following a report on the results of a hydraulic water experiment on the lower Han River basin in the Seoul Region."
Seoul Metropolitan submitted several more permit applications. They received no response to any of them. Then on August 26th, a reply to their permit application submitted on July 23, 1970, finally arrived. "As concerns the works at hand, a private contractor would be preferred to having Seoul Metropolitan directly carry out works." No reason was provided to the question of 'why exactly a private contractor was preferred' in the first place. However, behind the Construction Ministry's response lay a contentious back and forth regarding the collection of so-called political funds.
During Park Chung Hee's time - which is to say throughout the 3rd and 4th republics - political funds were regularly solicited. Korea's economic scale was much smaller then than it is today. I also happen to know first hand that significant excesses were committed during the political fund collections - all of which had their own long term repercussions. There was a striking feature in the way Park Chung Hee pooled political funds: he never once received anything from any business directly.
There were several channels, though. The first was to have the Deputy Prime Minister cum Economic Planning Board Minister collect the funds. The Chaebol and large corporations we see in Korea today were basically all formed during the 3rd and 4th Republics. Capital infusion and special interest rates, along with favorable tax schemes, were the three means by which the Chaebol developed under. All of these measures were under the direct control of the Deputy Prime Minister cum Economic Planning Minister. To give an example of customary practice, when large sums of capital were provided, a percentage of the funds would then be set aside to be sent up as political funds.
The second channel was to have the Chairman of the then ruling Republican Party's Finance Committee gather the funds. I'm not sure how things operate today, but during the 3rd and 4th Republics, nearly all of the large construction works let to market by the Central Government, government-owned enterprises, and the Seoul Metropolitan Government were awarded either through privately negotiated contracts or nominated competitive tenders. To say that there was no such thing as a normal competitive tender isn't an exaggeration. These nominations were at the sole discretion of the Republican Party's Finance Committee Chairman. So in practice, when a new project was ready to come to market, a percentage of political funds would be sent up. Then the size and scale of the works awarded to the various contractors would be distributed based on the amount of funds provided. The Finance Committee Chairman would take a portion of the political funds received and send them up to the Blue House with remaining funds used to cover Party operating expenses. Over the years, Kim Youngtae, Kim Seong-goen, Kim Jin-min and other notable figures would serve as the Finance Committee Chairman, occupying a more important role than either the Leader of the Floor or Secretary General. Kim Youngtae was a private citizen who was a central figure in the May 16 Coup d'tat, Kim Seong-nam was the founder of Ssangyong Group, and Kim Jin-min was the founder of Dongbu Group. Hence, it's no surprise that they were the Chief Financial Operators of their party and held outsized influence.
Annual 'Rice Cake Bonuses' (떡값) at Chuseok or the end of the year were the third channel. These 'bonuses' were facilitated by the Chief Presidential Secretary or Chief of Security.
Outside of these channels there were times when the Head of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency or Seoul Mayor would collect and send up funds. Of course, there was obvious competition behind the collecting and passing up of political funds in an effort to be seen as more loyal to the president. Demarcated lines were drawn between those in the ruling elite and those who they typically used their influence on to collect the political funds. The Economic Planning Minister would typically recieve funds from corporations, and the Republican Party Finance Committee Chairman would bring in funds from contractors. Large corporations at that time would typically have a full-time position manned by an individual responsible for sending up these political funds, which held a rank equivalent to that of the CEO. This person was the VP of Liquor (술 상무).
Then one day, in the second half of 1969, the Deputy Prime Minister cum Economic Planning Minister Kim Hak-legal contacted the managing directors (chairman or CEO level) of five major contractors. The managing directors of Hyundai Construction, Daelim Industries, Geukdong Construction, Sambu Civil Works, and Donga Construction. They were told to come to the office of the Economic Planning Minsters the next day at a certain time. Kim Hak-leol requested a rather large political contribution from each of the five individuals (Hyundai's Chung Joo-Young; Lee Jae-June from Daelim; Kim Yong-San of Geukdong; Cho Jung-Gu of Sambu, and Donga's Choi June-Moon).
On September 14, 1969 in the 3rd annex of the National Assembly, the constitutional revision allowing a third consecutive term for Park Chung Hee was passed, with the approving public referendum taking place shortly thereafter on October 17. In accordance with the constitutional revision, both the presidential as well as National Assembly elections were held on April 5, 1971. During this period between 1969 and 1971, there must have been quite a need for political funds, since that would explain the Deputy Prime Minister Kim's unusual request for politcal funds to this group of contractors who were outside of his normal corporate targets.
The contractors were all opposed to the Deputy Prime Ministers request. "We are already sending up political funds to the Republican Party Finance Committee Chairman every time we are awarded new projects. It just isn't reasonable for the Economic Planning Minister to now request that we send up political funds to him too." Hearing their objection, the Deputy Prime Minister proposed that in exchange for their politcal funds, they would receive the rights to the Jamsil public water reclamation works project. If they were to block the waterway to the south side of Jamsil island, connect it with the land adjacent to it, and build up a dike along its northern border, a massive section of reclaimed land would be formed. They would then have the right to that enormous amount of virgin land. The five manging directors all immediately accepted the proposal and promised to send up the political funds that the Deputy Prime Ministers had requested.
~ An original translation
from Volume III of Son Jung-mok's
'The Story of Seoul's City Planning'
Son Jung-mok: Former Director of Seoul City Planning Bureau, Internal Affairs Ministry, and Deputy Director of the National Assembly Budget Office for Planning and Management
2016년 10월 31일 월요일
Lead & Lag Indicators and the Podcast Industry
There have been some good discussions on the Hotpod paid members forum looking at all of the channels for revenue generation available to podcasters. Over the past year or so live shows seem to have really become a very interesting new mode and expression of fan engagement that also serves as a healthy and robust means of generating revenue for many shows. A fellow member @mijustin provided some great food for thought on high- and low-impact advertising
To this outsider it seems that advertising via podcasts (when done right of course) could also highlight a third potential categorization: hyper-purchase intent. I would define this sort of advertising as that which targets those high-intent listeners with products or services that are both relatively novel and obviously within the semiosphere of the subject or topic of the podcast (episode) at hand, but not something that was directly searched for ahead of time. Case in point, these days I've taken a keen interest in several podcasts like 'Epicenter Bitcoin' and 'The Bitcoin Show' that discuss cryptocurrencies (e.g. bitcoin, ethereum). People curious about cryptocurrencies will find these shows. And when they do they will hear ads hyper-directed towards them about digital wallets to put any funds they purchase in like the jaxx wallet (jaxx.io) or digital currency escrow services like escrowmybits.com and others that they may have not have thought about before, but upon hearing will be (more) apt to check out and maybe consume.
Over and above the discussion of advertising though, I was reminded of terms that are popular with Q-HSE experts in the construction industry and how they may be applied and used by podcasters. Of course - but of course - I am talking about lead and lag indicators. Lag indicators, when used on infrastructure projects, are things like manhours without an accident, or simply the number of fatalities or injuries. They are retrospective metrics that are important yesterday. Their assumed importance for tomorrow's decision making cannot be understated either, however, their actual predictive value is quite low. Thus if decision making is made based largely on such lag indicators things can get obfuscated pretty quickly. For example, after someone dies on a project there is usually a push to highlight every potential hazard on-site, so every single near-miss (incident) is recorded. As a result, from one day to the next you go from what looked like a relatively safe site to a death trap without any clarity on where "the real" trouble areas are. Rankings, CPM-rates and clarity on other podcast metrics that I and most others have been calling for fall into the lagging indicator category. Since these measurements are still in the process of being standardized as they relate to the audio on-demand sector, I think most of us have felt it sufficient to chase the rabbit down the fly trap so to speak as it relates to forecasting how we think things will settle for these indicators.
But don't we already know how things will turn out if we only focus on lag indicators? A few powers will settle (if they haven't settled already) on standardized metrics and we will have top-50 or top-100 list of shows that will take a large portion of the pie. The flip side of lag indicators are what's called 'lead indicators' or positive performance indicators. In construction these indicators manifest themselves in things like educations and trainings. Interestingly enough they also seem to have already appeared in podcasting in the form of live shows. A more developed - but still directly related - form is the traveling tour version of these live shows. Direct support via Patreon campaigns or simple fan to producer payments using bitcoin/ethereum are additional examples of lead indicators that are simply unaccounted for in traditional lag indicators. What is incredibly interesting is that lead indicators in podcasting, in addition to being great signals of a shows continued future success based on direct audience support, is that they clearly demonstrate a direct relation with bottom line growth.
Heading forward it would behoove those involved with producing on-demand audio to develop and standardize more leading indicators, sharing best practices along the way. This way content creators and owners of content can better understand that their active role is integral to the success of their work - their role simply doesn't stop after producing a show - while pulling on the availability of useful lag indicators to help keep everyone honest and on their toes while innovating forward, without being beholden to such metrics as the ultimate measure of what defines a shows success and profit or failure.
To this outsider it seems that advertising via podcasts (when done right of course) could also highlight a third potential categorization: hyper-purchase intent. I would define this sort of advertising as that which targets those high-intent listeners with products or services that are both relatively novel and obviously within the semiosphere of the subject or topic of the podcast (episode) at hand, but not something that was directly searched for ahead of time. Case in point, these days I've taken a keen interest in several podcasts like 'Epicenter Bitcoin' and 'The Bitcoin Show' that discuss cryptocurrencies (e.g. bitcoin, ethereum). People curious about cryptocurrencies will find these shows. And when they do they will hear ads hyper-directed towards them about digital wallets to put any funds they purchase in like the jaxx wallet (jaxx.io) or digital currency escrow services like escrowmybits.com and others that they may have not have thought about before, but upon hearing will be (more) apt to check out and maybe consume.
Over and above the discussion of advertising though, I was reminded of terms that are popular with Q-HSE experts in the construction industry and how they may be applied and used by podcasters. Of course - but of course - I am talking about lead and lag indicators. Lag indicators, when used on infrastructure projects, are things like manhours without an accident, or simply the number of fatalities or injuries. They are retrospective metrics that are important yesterday. Their assumed importance for tomorrow's decision making cannot be understated either, however, their actual predictive value is quite low. Thus if decision making is made based largely on such lag indicators things can get obfuscated pretty quickly. For example, after someone dies on a project there is usually a push to highlight every potential hazard on-site, so every single near-miss (incident) is recorded. As a result, from one day to the next you go from what looked like a relatively safe site to a death trap without any clarity on where "the real" trouble areas are. Rankings, CPM-rates and clarity on other podcast metrics that I and most others have been calling for fall into the lagging indicator category. Since these measurements are still in the process of being standardized as they relate to the audio on-demand sector, I think most of us have felt it sufficient to chase the rabbit down the fly trap so to speak as it relates to forecasting how we think things will settle for these indicators.
But don't we already know how things will turn out if we only focus on lag indicators? A few powers will settle (if they haven't settled already) on standardized metrics and we will have top-50 or top-100 list of shows that will take a large portion of the pie. The flip side of lag indicators are what's called 'lead indicators' or positive performance indicators. In construction these indicators manifest themselves in things like educations and trainings. Interestingly enough they also seem to have already appeared in podcasting in the form of live shows. A more developed - but still directly related - form is the traveling tour version of these live shows. Direct support via Patreon campaigns or simple fan to producer payments using bitcoin/ethereum are additional examples of lead indicators that are simply unaccounted for in traditional lag indicators. What is incredibly interesting is that lead indicators in podcasting, in addition to being great signals of a shows continued future success based on direct audience support, is that they clearly demonstrate a direct relation with bottom line growth.
Heading forward it would behoove those involved with producing on-demand audio to develop and standardize more leading indicators, sharing best practices along the way. This way content creators and owners of content can better understand that their active role is integral to the success of their work - their role simply doesn't stop after producing a show - while pulling on the availability of useful lag indicators to help keep everyone honest and on their toes while innovating forward, without being beholden to such metrics as the ultimate measure of what defines a shows success and profit or failure.
2016년 9월 30일 금요일
Seinfeld's 3 Steps for Creatives
1. Inspiration
2. Execution
3. Obsessive Attention to Detail
Source : "Awards Chatter" podcast
< https://audio.simplecast.com/45456.mp3 >
2. Execution
3. Obsessive Attention to Detail
Source : "Awards Chatter" podcast
< https://audio.simplecast.com/45456.mp3 >
2016년 8월 31일 수요일
How to Take Notes
Recently there have been a slew of articles that made me feel like a kid again. There was an article that taught me how to tie my shoes, one that showed me how to tie a scarf, and another on how to use toilet paper properly. I've re-learned so many things recently it'd be embarrassing to continue.
So here I am, an almost - but at the time I started writing this not quite - 30 year old (re)learning how to tie my shoes and live life. For a quick second I thought I was some oddball outlier. But then I started to take a look around - like really looked closely at everything again - and I was surprised (in a not so surprised way) to see so many people re-learning how to tie their shows, for reals.
When it comes to basic tasks and activites from eating to excersing and thinking, my bet is that most of us learned how to do these things by simply just following along. Following whom? Our parents, siblings, relatives, teachers, and friends of course. And that's generally good enough. We learn a small, but crucial aspect of a task, and as we get older we develop and build out our skill/know how of that task.
Let's take the example of note taking as a case-in-point. Most learn to take notes in elementary school or middle school. We were advised to keep seperate notebooks for each specific subject. As we matriculated through high school, university and beyond, this idea of 'seperation' probably continued. Maybe you now keep an array of different pens to identify different subjects, or use a specific filing technique when you save notes and documents electronically or perhaps you have different sized post-its to catagorize different thoughts. Or maybe you are "that person" who meticulously labels mini-tabs before you stick then on pages like bookmarks with medieval metadata.
With this hypothetical example at least, the guiding philosophy - that thought at the center of what note taking (as we learned it) is - has been 'seperation of different thoughts and ideas for some specific purpose.' And it works, up to a point. How many of you still have your notebooks from middle school, let alone from university or even your planner from last year? Trick question; it doesn't matter because even if you still have your old notebooks, or a hard drive full of documents, they have probably been left untouched. Everything written down or saved now remains lost and covered in that original seperation; such loss is built into and anticipated by the very way we learned to take notes.
Things are getting a little deep, no? I mean, I thought we were just talking about note taking right?! Well, we're about to get even deeper. We will now represent, symbolically, what note taking always has been but never thought of as being, what note taking has been to us, and what it could be in order to show a better way to take notes.
If you take a wide lens towards what note taking - or the recording of anything for that matter - has been throughout the history of humankind, it has simply been a long, running recording of thoughts & ideas. These recorded thoughts are all essentially functions: they are all linked to some specific thing (e.g. a passage in a book, a specifc topic, a particular lecture, an assignment, a to-do etc...). On top of that, over-arching relations run through these thoughts and ideas (e.g. time, place, a broad topic, a general thing, mood or behaviour). Much like a river, recorded notes pierce through time, are firmly connected with and touch their sorrounding environs and flow through space timelessly. This we can symbolize with the character '流'.
Now let's try to represent the essence of what note taking has been. The philosophy we etched out above should help. The driving force, the reason why we take notes is 'for some specific end' and thus we may re-present this idea with the symbol which has been used to convey acting for some things sake: '爲'.
Despite the shortcommings with taking notes focused solely on some specific end, it's hard to entirely refute the positive value or effect - however short lasting they may be - in our drive towards a better way. On the contrary, a synthesis should be what we strive for. Thus, for simplicity we can simply add a negation repesented with the symbol '無' to what we have thought note taking has been so that the resulting essence of the couplet is one where a specific end does not exist, but in the absence of such an end all ends are possible or '無爲'.
When all elements are combined we are left with '流無爲' or a flowing non-doing (i.e. not doing something for some specific end; doing something with all ends being possible without any any end being a direct impetus, focus nor a consideration of the original act). This is best exhibited in the 流無爲 note-taking app Diaro. Try it out. Use it. Carry it with you. Save it in the cloud. Add and update this flowing list across platforms and devices. Pay a little money to use it, forever. Give it to your children.
Basic tasks and how well we carry them out form the foundation of every other activity we engage in. If we can do basic things better, it would make sense that any unlocked efficiency could ripple through every other thing we do. Today, the best ways of doing things are readily available and shared through the internet. So, if we can learn the best way to do the basics, we no longer need to settle for what's simply been good enough.
So here I am, an almost - but at the time I started writing this not quite - 30 year old (re)learning how to tie my shoes and live life. For a quick second I thought I was some oddball outlier. But then I started to take a look around - like really looked closely at everything again - and I was surprised (in a not so surprised way) to see so many people re-learning how to tie their shows, for reals.
When it comes to basic tasks and activites from eating to excersing and thinking, my bet is that most of us learned how to do these things by simply just following along. Following whom? Our parents, siblings, relatives, teachers, and friends of course. And that's generally good enough. We learn a small, but crucial aspect of a task, and as we get older we develop and build out our skill/know how of that task.
Let's take the example of note taking as a case-in-point. Most learn to take notes in elementary school or middle school. We were advised to keep seperate notebooks for each specific subject. As we matriculated through high school, university and beyond, this idea of 'seperation' probably continued. Maybe you now keep an array of different pens to identify different subjects, or use a specific filing technique when you save notes and documents electronically or perhaps you have different sized post-its to catagorize different thoughts. Or maybe you are "that person" who meticulously labels mini-tabs before you stick then on pages like bookmarks with medieval metadata.
With this hypothetical example at least, the guiding philosophy - that thought at the center of what note taking (as we learned it) is - has been 'seperation of different thoughts and ideas for some specific purpose.' And it works, up to a point. How many of you still have your notebooks from middle school, let alone from university or even your planner from last year? Trick question; it doesn't matter because even if you still have your old notebooks, or a hard drive full of documents, they have probably been left untouched. Everything written down or saved now remains lost and covered in that original seperation; such loss is built into and anticipated by the very way we learned to take notes.
Things are getting a little deep, no? I mean, I thought we were just talking about note taking right?! Well, we're about to get even deeper. We will now represent, symbolically, what note taking always has been but never thought of as being, what note taking has been to us, and what it could be in order to show a better way to take notes.
If you take a wide lens towards what note taking - or the recording of anything for that matter - has been throughout the history of humankind, it has simply been a long, running recording of thoughts & ideas. These recorded thoughts are all essentially functions: they are all linked to some specific thing (e.g. a passage in a book, a specifc topic, a particular lecture, an assignment, a to-do etc...). On top of that, over-arching relations run through these thoughts and ideas (e.g. time, place, a broad topic, a general thing, mood or behaviour). Much like a river, recorded notes pierce through time, are firmly connected with and touch their sorrounding environs and flow through space timelessly. This we can symbolize with the character '流'.
Now let's try to represent the essence of what note taking has been. The philosophy we etched out above should help. The driving force, the reason why we take notes is 'for some specific end' and thus we may re-present this idea with the symbol which has been used to convey acting for some things sake: '爲'.
Despite the shortcommings with taking notes focused solely on some specific end, it's hard to entirely refute the positive value or effect - however short lasting they may be - in our drive towards a better way. On the contrary, a synthesis should be what we strive for. Thus, for simplicity we can simply add a negation repesented with the symbol '無' to what we have thought note taking has been so that the resulting essence of the couplet is one where a specific end does not exist, but in the absence of such an end all ends are possible or '無爲'.
When all elements are combined we are left with '流無爲' or a flowing non-doing (i.e. not doing something for some specific end; doing something with all ends being possible without any any end being a direct impetus, focus nor a consideration of the original act). This is best exhibited in the 流無爲 note-taking app Diaro. Try it out. Use it. Carry it with you. Save it in the cloud. Add and update this flowing list across platforms and devices. Pay a little money to use it, forever. Give it to your children.
Basic tasks and how well we carry them out form the foundation of every other activity we engage in. If we can do basic things better, it would make sense that any unlocked efficiency could ripple through every other thing we do. Today, the best ways of doing things are readily available and shared through the internet. So, if we can learn the best way to do the basics, we no longer need to settle for what's simply been good enough.
2016년 7월 31일 일요일
Biphasic Effect
An effect wherein, low and high doses of the same substance can produce opposite effects. For example, marijuana. Colloquially these opposite states are expressed by an individual when they say they are either 'high' or 'stoned', with the former state the result of a low dose, and the latter - of course - the result of too many hits to one's dome, or ingestion of a high dose edible.
2016년 6월 30일 목요일
Identity is the New Money
By David Birch. I'm about to pick it up in a Portland, Oregon Powell's. Blast off in 3-2-1...
2016년 5월 31일 화요일
Korean PC Game Rooms & Kakao Talk
What do a piece of parking lot management software, a former Samsung employee and Kakao all have in common?
A lot.
That former Samsung employee of course being Kim Bomsu. He of course - of course - was responsible for getting a former Seoul National University Graduate School buddy who later became a coworker at Samsung SDS to adapt a piece of software originally developed to manage paid parking lots to instead help PC Room managers keep track of individual users and how much time they spent using a machine and how much they owed. He then of course - of course - went on to market the hell out of that software (i.e. offering it for free, of course) to every other PC Room located on the Korean Peninsula until every PC Room on the peninsula had it installed and relied on it to an insane degree.
With that platform in place, Kim Bomsu and crew created Han Game, a gaming platform made up of simple, digitized card and board games, and embedded it in the PC Room management system. In half a year, Han Game amassed 10 million users, and it's server fees were about to bankrupt the team, but then the CEO of a fledgling web portal approached Bomsu and offered ㅇㅇㅇ won to acquire Han Game.
That CEO was ㅇㅇㅇ, also an alumnus of Seoul National University and Samsung SDS, and Naver was the web portal who at the time was fighting the twin giants of Yahoo Korea and Daum.
A lot.
That former Samsung employee of course being Kim Bomsu. He of course - of course - was responsible for getting a former Seoul National University Graduate School buddy who later became a coworker at Samsung SDS to adapt a piece of software originally developed to manage paid parking lots to instead help PC Room managers keep track of individual users and how much time they spent using a machine and how much they owed. He then of course - of course - went on to market the hell out of that software (i.e. offering it for free, of course) to every other PC Room located on the Korean Peninsula until every PC Room on the peninsula had it installed and relied on it to an insane degree.
With that platform in place, Kim Bomsu and crew created Han Game, a gaming platform made up of simple, digitized card and board games, and embedded it in the PC Room management system. In half a year, Han Game amassed 10 million users, and it's server fees were about to bankrupt the team, but then the CEO of a fledgling web portal approached Bomsu and offered ㅇㅇㅇ won to acquire Han Game.
That CEO was ㅇㅇㅇ, also an alumnus of Seoul National University and Samsung SDS, and Naver was the web portal who at the time was fighting the twin giants of Yahoo Korea and Daum.
2016년 4월 15일 금요일
2016년 3월 28일 월요일
Justice (as defined on the TV drama 'Billions')
Justice:
Rooted in truth,
watered by tenacity and
flowering in wisdom.
Maybe the single most beautiful expression of man kind.
~ U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of NY Chuck Rhoades (Billions, s01e10)
Rooted in truth,
watered by tenacity and
flowering in wisdom.
Maybe the single most beautiful expression of man kind.
~ U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of NY Chuck Rhoades (Billions, s01e10)
2016년 2월 29일 월요일
Note Taking
**rough draft**
Recently there gave been a slew of articles that made me feel like a kid again. There was an article that taught me how to tie my shoes [link], one that showed me how to tie a scarf [link], and another about the best way to fold toilet paper [link]. I've re-learned so many things recently that it'd be almost embarrassing to continue.
How funny is that image? An almost - but not quite - 30 year old learning how to tie his shoes; I think anyone would laugh out loud if they saw that in real life. But, if you look around - and I mean really look closely - I think you may be surprised to find how many people are actually re-learning how to tie their shoes, metaphorically that is.
When it comes to basic tasks and activities like eating, excercising and thinking, all of us have a specific method we employ to carry out each activity. My bet is that for such '"basic" activities, most of us simply learned how to do those things (i.e. basic methods) by simply following along. Following whom? We learned by following parents, siblings, relatives, teachers and friends of course. And that's generally good enough. We learn a basic method based on a simple principle (e.g. ' Over, under, pull it tight;
make a bow, pull it through to do it right', chew before you swallow) and as we ger older we may stick to the basic method or build out more advanced techniques a top it.
Let's use the the example of note taking as a case-in-point. Most learn to take notes in elementary school or middle school. We were advised to keep seperate notebooks for each specific subject. As we matriculated through high school, university and beyong, this idea of 'seperation' probably continued. Maybe you now keep an array of different pens to identify notes on different subjects, or use a specific filing technique when you save notes and documents electronically or perhaps have different sized post-its to categorize different thoughts or mini-tabs you stick on pages to help you find what you read or wrote.
With this hypothetical example at least, the guiding philosophy - that thought at the center of what note taking as we learned it - has been 'seperation of different thoughts and ideas for some specific purpose'. And it works, up to a point. How many of you still have your notebooks from middle school let alone from university or even you Samsung planner from last year? My guess is not many. Even if some of you still have your old notebooks, or have a hard drive full of documents, they have probably been left untouched, if not lost. But is being left untouched just another kind of loss anyways? Thus it would seem that loss is either built into and anticipated in the method of note taking we learned that embraces 'seperation' at its core.
Things are getting a little deep, no? I thought we were talking about note taking right?! Well, we're about to get even deeper. we're about to represent the essence of what note taking has been as a symbol. If we think back to what we said is the philosophy of note taking is (the seperation of different thoughts and ideas for some specific purpose) it should be clear that the driving force, the reason why we have taken notes is 'for some specific end' and thus we may use the following symbol: '爲'.
So now that we have symbolized what note taking has been, let's think about what note taking is, broadly. To define note taking as bluntly as possible, I would say: note taking is simply a long, running recording of thoughts and ideas. Thought broadly, recorded thoughts and ideas are all essentially functions; they are all linked to some specific thing (e.g. a passage in a book, a specific topic, a particular lecture, an assignment, a to-do etc...). On top of that, there are over-arching relations that run through these thoughts and ideas (e.g. broad topics, general ideas).
Recently there gave been a slew of articles that made me feel like a kid again. There was an article that taught me how to tie my shoes [link], one that showed me how to tie a scarf [link], and another about the best way to fold toilet paper [link]. I've re-learned so many things recently that it'd be almost embarrassing to continue.
How funny is that image? An almost - but not quite - 30 year old learning how to tie his shoes; I think anyone would laugh out loud if they saw that in real life. But, if you look around - and I mean really look closely - I think you may be surprised to find how many people are actually re-learning how to tie their shoes, metaphorically that is.
When it comes to basic tasks and activities like eating, excercising and thinking, all of us have a specific method we employ to carry out each activity. My bet is that for such '"basic" activities, most of us simply learned how to do those things (i.e. basic methods) by simply following along. Following whom? We learned by following parents, siblings, relatives, teachers and friends of course. And that's generally good enough. We learn a basic method based on a simple principle (e.g. ' Over, under, pull it tight;
make a bow, pull it through to do it right', chew before you swallow) and as we ger older we may stick to the basic method or build out more advanced techniques a top it.
Let's use the the example of note taking as a case-in-point. Most learn to take notes in elementary school or middle school. We were advised to keep seperate notebooks for each specific subject. As we matriculated through high school, university and beyong, this idea of 'seperation' probably continued. Maybe you now keep an array of different pens to identify notes on different subjects, or use a specific filing technique when you save notes and documents electronically or perhaps have different sized post-its to categorize different thoughts or mini-tabs you stick on pages to help you find what you read or wrote.
With this hypothetical example at least, the guiding philosophy - that thought at the center of what note taking as we learned it - has been 'seperation of different thoughts and ideas for some specific purpose'. And it works, up to a point. How many of you still have your notebooks from middle school let alone from university or even you Samsung planner from last year? My guess is not many. Even if some of you still have your old notebooks, or have a hard drive full of documents, they have probably been left untouched, if not lost. But is being left untouched just another kind of loss anyways? Thus it would seem that loss is either built into and anticipated in the method of note taking we learned that embraces 'seperation' at its core.
Things are getting a little deep, no? I thought we were talking about note taking right?! Well, we're about to get even deeper. we're about to represent the essence of what note taking has been as a symbol. If we think back to what we said is the philosophy of note taking is (the seperation of different thoughts and ideas for some specific purpose) it should be clear that the driving force, the reason why we have taken notes is 'for some specific end' and thus we may use the following symbol: '爲'.
So now that we have symbolized what note taking has been, let's think about what note taking is, broadly. To define note taking as bluntly as possible, I would say: note taking is simply a long, running recording of thoughts and ideas. Thought broadly, recorded thoughts and ideas are all essentially functions; they are all linked to some specific thing (e.g. a passage in a book, a specific topic, a particular lecture, an assignment, a to-do etc...). On top of that, there are over-arching relations that run through these thoughts and ideas (e.g. broad topics, general ideas).
2016년 1월 31일 일요일
Mister Rodgers-style Advertising
Fact: The global audio/radio ad market is worth $65 billion.
Fact: CTRs (click through rates) for all ad banners in 2014 was 0.06% or less than 1 click through per 1,000 views.
Fact: CPMs (costs per 1,000 listeners) for some podcasts has reached $60~100 as is the case for Midroll media, whilst average rates of $20~45 for the rest of the industry, despite being lower, are much higher than ad rates in other sectors. Also, podcast listener response to ads has been highlighted as being "significant."
Takeaway: People seek out specific meaning from print media, not advertisements. Radio and podcast listeners develop relationships with the voices they hear. Imagine being in a relationship with Mister Rodgers over a podcast. Now imagine that after a segment that saw you cry, laugh and learn something new, he talks about product 'x' - a product he actually uses and loves and because of that he has decided that his listeners should also at least hear about how good it is - and personally vouches for the product. You would at least be curious about the product, right? I know I am, and this is an imaginary hypothetical. Relationships are valuable and are the conduit for meaningful advertisement.
Extra credit: If Mister Rodgers asked for his listeners' financial support so that he could produce better shows more often, do you think that in addition to buying a product he advertises to them do you think they would also be willing to support him? If you were his listener, and he simply asked that you send him $1 per month, would you?
Personal question: If you had a podcast about something that was interesting to both yourself and others, how much money would you need to be able to exclusively do the podcast for one year? $100,000 give or take?
Happy podcasting^^
Fact: CTRs (click through rates) for all ad banners in 2014 was 0.06% or less than 1 click through per 1,000 views.
Fact: CPMs (costs per 1,000 listeners) for some podcasts has reached $60~100 as is the case for Midroll media, whilst average rates of $20~45 for the rest of the industry, despite being lower, are much higher than ad rates in other sectors. Also, podcast listener response to ads has been highlighted as being "significant."
Takeaway: People seek out specific meaning from print media, not advertisements. Radio and podcast listeners develop relationships with the voices they hear. Imagine being in a relationship with Mister Rodgers over a podcast. Now imagine that after a segment that saw you cry, laugh and learn something new, he talks about product 'x' - a product he actually uses and loves and because of that he has decided that his listeners should also at least hear about how good it is - and personally vouches for the product. You would at least be curious about the product, right? I know I am, and this is an imaginary hypothetical. Relationships are valuable and are the conduit for meaningful advertisement.
Extra credit: If Mister Rodgers asked for his listeners' financial support so that he could produce better shows more often, do you think that in addition to buying a product he advertises to them do you think they would also be willing to support him? If you were his listener, and he simply asked that you send him $1 per month, would you?
Personal question: If you had a podcast about something that was interesting to both yourself and others, how much money would you need to be able to exclusively do the podcast for one year? $100,000 give or take?
Happy podcasting^^
2015년 12월 29일 화요일
Adaptive Versus Creative Powers
Below I will end the year and leave you dear reader with one important question. While you and I are surely on the train of the digital re-cognizing of life and the world - to use the word 'revolution' to describe what is happening is to not clearly see the possibility cresting over the horizon - many, many others are most definately not. But, unlike the past two major ages (i.e. the colonial and industrial ages) those most at risk to be "left behind" reside in the "advanced nations" and not those parts of the world that are fiscally disadvantaged (imho). So, is this really a problem? Or, simply Karma? Anyways, happy new years everybody!
The problem of valuing adaptive qualities/powers of an individual higher than creative powers.
The increase in the degree of information threatens the loss of identity of people today (contrary to the belief that it is strengthening social reason). Those who feel independent and helpless in the face of technically mediated forms are more likely to become incapable of establishing an identity.
Adaptive power refers to the ability to become a specialist or expert and thus at the same time a functionary. Functionaries by their very nature must be completely concentrated upon the administration of their function (e.g. scientific, technical, economic, monetary processes, administration and politics). Smooth funtioning of the apparatus is the ultimate aim of inserting an expert.
The problem: As ever fewer persons are making the important decisions and ever more are manning the apparatus, modern society is thus oppressed by imminent structural pressures. This in turn leads to the degeneration of practice into technique and - through no fault of the experts themselves - to a decline into social irrationality.
It would be propitious at this juncture to emphasize the gravity of this last sentence - and to ultimately show that every word was thoughtfully chosen - by providing the meaning of 'practice' as defined by Heraclitus and re-cognized in the modern word by Gadamer: Practice is carrying and conducting oneself in solidarity; solidarity of course being the basis and foundation of social reason.
The problem of valuing adaptive qualities/powers of an individual higher than creative powers.
The increase in the degree of information threatens the loss of identity of people today (contrary to the belief that it is strengthening social reason). Those who feel independent and helpless in the face of technically mediated forms are more likely to become incapable of establishing an identity.
Adaptive power refers to the ability to become a specialist or expert and thus at the same time a functionary. Functionaries by their very nature must be completely concentrated upon the administration of their function (e.g. scientific, technical, economic, monetary processes, administration and politics). Smooth funtioning of the apparatus is the ultimate aim of inserting an expert.
The problem: As ever fewer persons are making the important decisions and ever more are manning the apparatus, modern society is thus oppressed by imminent structural pressures. This in turn leads to the degeneration of practice into technique and - through no fault of the experts themselves - to a decline into social irrationality.
It would be propitious at this juncture to emphasize the gravity of this last sentence - and to ultimately show that every word was thoughtfully chosen - by providing the meaning of 'practice' as defined by Heraclitus and re-cognized in the modern word by Gadamer: Practice is carrying and conducting oneself in solidarity; solidarity of course being the basis and foundation of social reason.
2015년 11월 30일 월요일
2015년 10월 9일 금요일
Iran
First of all, f*** Twitter.
Now, on to Iran, the beautifully mysterious country that (American) millenials found out about thanks to that Parts Unknown episode Anthony Bourdaine put together. While that episode did indeed plant a seed of interest in myself to visit Tehran, a Bloomberg article I read a fortnight ago had me booking a flight to Tehran and setting my itinerary. An itinerary, you should know, consisting of just one activity: get a seat at an Iranian negotiating table - any table with a negotiation going on around it - and hold on for re-lax-muthatrucking-ation. You see, for any of you who end your news search at sites written by ESL-ers for ESL-ers like the HuffPost, Bloomberg tends not to simply write articles as much as they use lusciously descriptive and evocative visual imagery to paint the news for their readership. Case in point (and the reason why I'm now waiting to board Ayatollah Aire): "What's happening around the Iranian negotiating table? Tea, coffee, cake, fruit, maybe some kebab before another coffee." Could I have a side of bureaucratic inefficiency with that? Boom.
Check out the Bloomberg article for yourself, or don't, whatever: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-05/investing-in-iran-you-d-better-like-tea-cake-and-bureaucracy
Now, on to Iran, the beautifully mysterious country that (American) millenials found out about thanks to that Parts Unknown episode Anthony Bourdaine put together. While that episode did indeed plant a seed of interest in myself to visit Tehran, a Bloomberg article I read a fortnight ago had me booking a flight to Tehran and setting my itinerary. An itinerary, you should know, consisting of just one activity: get a seat at an Iranian negotiating table - any table with a negotiation going on around it - and hold on for re-lax-muthatrucking-ation. You see, for any of you who end your news search at sites written by ESL-ers for ESL-ers like the HuffPost, Bloomberg tends not to simply write articles as much as they use lusciously descriptive and evocative visual imagery to paint the news for their readership. Case in point (and the reason why I'm now waiting to board Ayatollah Aire): "What's happening around the Iranian negotiating table? Tea, coffee, cake, fruit, maybe some kebab before another coffee." Could I have a side of bureaucratic inefficiency with that? Boom.
Check out the Bloomberg article for yourself, or don't, whatever: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-05/investing-in-iran-you-d-better-like-tea-cake-and-bureaucracy
2015년 9월 30일 수요일
Žižek
The other day I stumbled upon an interview Der Spiegel had conducted with Slavoj Žižek a few months back that has provided me food for thought over the last few days. Below are some choice excerpts from the article that will hopefully provide a couple others with mental sustenance as well.
Žižek: The European leading culture is the universality of Enlightenment within which individuals view themselves through this universality. That means you have to be capable of dispensing with your characteristics and to ignore your particular social, religious or ethnic positions. It's not sufficient to tolerate each other. We need to have the ability to experience our own cultural identity as something contingent, something coincidental, something that can be changed.
Žižek: The universal individual is very much a reality in our life. Apart from apples, pears and grapes, there should be a place for fruits as such. I love the beauty of this platonic idea. People belong to a specific group, but at the same time they are part of a universal dimension. I don't remain the same throughout the course of my life, but I do remain me. A community is not closed either. A person can leave one and join another. Our identity is made up of several identities that can exist successively and in parallel.
SPIEGEL: Is unbridled individual hedonism the only thing we have with which to oppose this fundamentalism?
Žižek: No, for two reasons. The first is that our opponent isn't really religion. Zivko Kusti, a Croatian Catholic nationalist priest, declared Catholicism to be a symbol of the fact that people aren't prepared to renounce their national and cultural legacy -- "the whole Croatianness." This statement makes clear that it is no longer an issue of faith and its truth, but rather a political-cultural project. Religion here is just an instrument, an indicator of our collective identity. It's about how much public one's own side controls, the amount of hegemony "our" side exerts. That's why Kusti approvingly quotes an Italian communist who claims, "I am an atheist Catholic." That's also why Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, who himself is not very religious, referenced the Christian legacy as a foundation of European identity. The second reason, which is even more decisive, is that the unbridled personal freedom of choice fits in excellently with today's capitalism in the sense that the global social and economic process is becoming more and more impenetrable. Individual hedonism and fundamentalism are mutually driving each other. You can only effectively combat fundamentalism with a new collective project of radical change. And there is nothing trivially hedonistic about that.
SPIEGEL: Who determines what is contingent and what is substantial? For an orthodox Muslim, the headscarf is not contingent, it is substantial.
Žižek: Therein lays the explosive problem. The girl, the woman must decide on that in a self-determined manner. In order for her to be able to do that, she must be freed of the pressure of the family and community. And this is where the emancipatory violence applies: The only possibility for autonomy is uprooting, tearing one's self out of the community's pressure to conform. That's why one of my heroes is Malcolm X. The "X" stands for uprooting. It didn't drive him to search for his African roots. On the contrary, he saw it as a chance to attain a new universal freedom.
SPIEGEL: You welcome this violence?
Žižek: I accept this violence because it's the price for true contingency and the liberation of the self. It's like a sadomasochistic sex game. Those involved can participate in all the perversions. At any time, though, everyone has the right to say, "Stop, that's it, I'm stopping and leaving." Progress in Western democracy consists of constantly expanding the scope of universality and, by doing so, also diversifying the freedom of choice between contingent decisions. But contingency does not mean triviality. Our most valuable collective achievements are contingent -- they come out of nowhere and break with our substantial identities.
Link: <http://m.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/a-1023506.html#spRedirectedFrom=www&referrrer= >
Žižek: The European leading culture is the universality of Enlightenment within which individuals view themselves through this universality. That means you have to be capable of dispensing with your characteristics and to ignore your particular social, religious or ethnic positions. It's not sufficient to tolerate each other. We need to have the ability to experience our own cultural identity as something contingent, something coincidental, something that can be changed.
Žižek: The universal individual is very much a reality in our life. Apart from apples, pears and grapes, there should be a place for fruits as such. I love the beauty of this platonic idea. People belong to a specific group, but at the same time they are part of a universal dimension. I don't remain the same throughout the course of my life, but I do remain me. A community is not closed either. A person can leave one and join another. Our identity is made up of several identities that can exist successively and in parallel.
SPIEGEL: Is unbridled individual hedonism the only thing we have with which to oppose this fundamentalism?
Žižek: No, for two reasons. The first is that our opponent isn't really religion. Zivko Kusti, a Croatian Catholic nationalist priest, declared Catholicism to be a symbol of the fact that people aren't prepared to renounce their national and cultural legacy -- "the whole Croatianness." This statement makes clear that it is no longer an issue of faith and its truth, but rather a political-cultural project. Religion here is just an instrument, an indicator of our collective identity. It's about how much public one's own side controls, the amount of hegemony "our" side exerts. That's why Kusti approvingly quotes an Italian communist who claims, "I am an atheist Catholic." That's also why Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, who himself is not very religious, referenced the Christian legacy as a foundation of European identity. The second reason, which is even more decisive, is that the unbridled personal freedom of choice fits in excellently with today's capitalism in the sense that the global social and economic process is becoming more and more impenetrable. Individual hedonism and fundamentalism are mutually driving each other. You can only effectively combat fundamentalism with a new collective project of radical change. And there is nothing trivially hedonistic about that.
SPIEGEL: Who determines what is contingent and what is substantial? For an orthodox Muslim, the headscarf is not contingent, it is substantial.
Žižek: Therein lays the explosive problem. The girl, the woman must decide on that in a self-determined manner. In order for her to be able to do that, she must be freed of the pressure of the family and community. And this is where the emancipatory violence applies: The only possibility for autonomy is uprooting, tearing one's self out of the community's pressure to conform. That's why one of my heroes is Malcolm X. The "X" stands for uprooting. It didn't drive him to search for his African roots. On the contrary, he saw it as a chance to attain a new universal freedom.
SPIEGEL: You welcome this violence?
Žižek: I accept this violence because it's the price for true contingency and the liberation of the self. It's like a sadomasochistic sex game. Those involved can participate in all the perversions. At any time, though, everyone has the right to say, "Stop, that's it, I'm stopping and leaving." Progress in Western democracy consists of constantly expanding the scope of universality and, by doing so, also diversifying the freedom of choice between contingent decisions. But contingency does not mean triviality. Our most valuable collective achievements are contingent -- they come out of nowhere and break with our substantial identities.
Link: <http://m.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/a-1023506.html#spRedirectedFrom=www&referrrer= >
2015년 8월 9일 일요일
Egyptian Women, and the World Really
"As long as they lack a basic desire to escape the familiar, it's unlikely they will change anything fundamental about their lives."
This fucking statement.
In a long, long article written by the New Yorker's always engaging Peter Hassler, this statement is just one of a grip of concise and candid observations quoted from one Chinese expat concerning the fundamental challenge of making a living in Northern Egypt, selling lingerie.
This statement was directed towards Eqyptian women - specifically regarding the lack of a multi-shift female workforce due to local (religous) customs - but the reason why it was uttered in the first place is a universally relatable one. Anyone who has envisioned a better way of doing things or has thought that they could solve a really big problem IF only one seemingly simple thing were different, but lack the means to readily rectify that one thing should absolutely be able to relate to the speaker of the above statement.
What's really thought provoking about the above statement for me though is this: as frequently as we confront limits to progress or barriers to implementing better ways of living, the probability that the 'they' in the above statement could refer to oneself or one's specific in-group must be equally as likely. The riddle of progress is a constantly shape shifting gate keeper that keeps the future seperate from the status quo. Before trying to solve the riddle, we need to ask ourselves which problems we too are complicit with and/or a part of.
If you have a few minutes and appreciate good fucking writing about interesting fucking topics check out Hassler's New Yorker piece here : http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/08/10/learning-to-speak-lingerie.
This fucking statement.
In a long, long article written by the New Yorker's always engaging Peter Hassler, this statement is just one of a grip of concise and candid observations quoted from one Chinese expat concerning the fundamental challenge of making a living in Northern Egypt, selling lingerie.
This statement was directed towards Eqyptian women - specifically regarding the lack of a multi-shift female workforce due to local (religous) customs - but the reason why it was uttered in the first place is a universally relatable one. Anyone who has envisioned a better way of doing things or has thought that they could solve a really big problem IF only one seemingly simple thing were different, but lack the means to readily rectify that one thing should absolutely be able to relate to the speaker of the above statement.
What's really thought provoking about the above statement for me though is this: as frequently as we confront limits to progress or barriers to implementing better ways of living, the probability that the 'they' in the above statement could refer to oneself or one's specific in-group must be equally as likely. The riddle of progress is a constantly shape shifting gate keeper that keeps the future seperate from the status quo. Before trying to solve the riddle, we need to ask ourselves which problems we too are complicit with and/or a part of.
If you have a few minutes and appreciate good fucking writing about interesting fucking topics check out Hassler's New Yorker piece here : http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/08/10/learning-to-speak-lingerie.
2015년 8월 4일 화요일
Hoverboards and stuff
Arrived at work here in muggy downtown Seoul abnormally early (even for me) this morning so I booted up my pc and opened up Bloomberg, AVC.com, TheStartupBible.com, longform.org and a couple other go-to sites to catch any new updates as per-usual.
Luckily I had time to get used to the new changes made to the layout and fucking font on Bloomberg (they made it super small and fine; younger demo?) so could spot this impossibly alluring piece of copy: Here's How the Lexus Hoverboard Actually Works, Buckle up: History is gonna change. Journalistic boner right?
Anyways, what struck me - and I think this point nails very concisely both the opportunity and the challenge that anyone who is alive today faces when trying to go solo in search of fame and/or fortune - was the answer the piece provided to the question of 'Why would Lexus spend all that time and money to create something so one-off (at least for now) in the first place?'
Answer: It's never been as challenging as it is today to rise above the rest and turn heads.
Read the full article on Bloomberg.com here : http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-04/here-s-how-the-lexus-hoverboard-actually-works
Luckily I had time to get used to the new changes made to the layout and fucking font on Bloomberg (they made it super small and fine; younger demo?) so could spot this impossibly alluring piece of copy: Here's How the Lexus Hoverboard Actually Works, Buckle up: History is gonna change. Journalistic boner right?
Anyways, what struck me - and I think this point nails very concisely both the opportunity and the challenge that anyone who is alive today faces when trying to go solo in search of fame and/or fortune - was the answer the piece provided to the question of 'Why would Lexus spend all that time and money to create something so one-off (at least for now) in the first place?'
Answer: It's never been as challenging as it is today to rise above the rest and turn heads.
Read the full article on Bloomberg.com here : http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-04/here-s-how-the-lexus-hoverboard-actually-works
2015년 8월 3일 월요일
Leading Vs. Managing
Read a brilliantly concise comparison that explains the nuanced differences between leading and managing on Fred Wilson's blog a few weeks back that has stuck with me. Hope it is sticky enough for those of you who cast thoughts in to the big pond of business theory from time to time.
Leading is charisma, strength, communication, vision, listening, calm, connecting, trust, faith and belief.
Management is recruiting, retaining, delegating, deciding, communicating and above all executing.
(Read the full post here: http://avc.com/2015/07/leaders-and-executives/)
Leading is charisma, strength, communication, vision, listening, calm, connecting, trust, faith and belief.
Management is recruiting, retaining, delegating, deciding, communicating and above all executing.
(Read the full post here: http://avc.com/2015/07/leaders-and-executives/)
2015년 7월 30일 목요일
Peaches & Roses
Tread lightly all ye whose lives claim be nothing but peaches and roses.
Remember that you can die choking on a pit and get cut to hell by any of those thorns.
Remember that you can die choking on a pit and get cut to hell by any of those thorns.
2015년 6월 30일 화요일
Seoul City
The city I reside in has 10 million inhabitants and thus has earned the designation of 'Mega City'. Every city is unique, but broadly speaking there seems to be two seperate species: Inclusive Cities like those found in many Western countries (i.e. melting pots) and Exclusive Cities like those found in North East & South Eastern Asia where the dominant-historic inhabitants or the 'Locals' generally do not readily absorb 'Others'. My city represents the latter. As I myself am an 'Other', it is interesting to note that there are a quarter of a million other Others of which 77% or a little over 200,000 are Chinese or ethnic Korean-Chinese; 11,000 are from the USA with another 4,000 hailing from Canada, Australian or Western European countries. There is a sizable Eastern Bloc/Central Asian/Russian contingent in addition to significant numbers of Others from India and South East Asia.
As an Exclusive City, there are a few noteworthy phenomena worth pointing out. Firstly, there are the multiple diasporic groupings of each Other group that pocket the city. There are unofficial (i.e. real) China Towns situated adjacent to the Konkuk University and Sinlim Metros; ethnic Korean-Chinese and Joseon (i.e. North Koreans) occupy a significant area around Sinlim Metro Station; long-term American expats - mainly Korean-Americans, other US citizens and Military but also not a small contingent of Canadians not to mention the ever increasing diverse group of Muslims and Africans - reside within the Yongsan District of Central Seoul south of Namsan especially concentrated within the neighborhoods of Itaewon and Noksapyeong; Russians and Russian speaking Central Asians can be found in large numbers around the West End of Dongdaemun Market; more ethnic Korean-Chinese Joseon as well as SE Asians in particular also gather en masse on the weekends up around Hyehwa Metro Station. What these clusters of diasporic groupings result in are restaurants, bakeries, lodging, miscelaneous services and a myriad of shops catering specifically towards each specific Other group. As a last note, a massive influx of Chinese tourists has resulted in sections of Seoul - specifically nearby the metros of Hongik University and Chungmuro (Seoul's Old Hollywood) - becomming short-term Chinese diasporas of sorts.
The other point that I can't stress enough is the dynamic amalgamation inherent within Exclusive cities exhibited by the fact that these Other clusters are largely ignored by Koreans - until they aren't. They are self-contained and largely - if unconsciously - self-supporting groupings containing elements of key specialized and unique marketplaces; yet they lack any formal unity and are essentially composed of individuals whose only commonality resides in the fact that they share the same Otherness. In the case of Itaewon and Noksapyeong, the unique food scene and culture on offer have ignited an explosion of interest from Koreans. This example highlights the under-recognized potential of all the diasporic groupings within the city. At the same time it must be stressed again - and despite being a common human phenomenon it seems to be overlooked more often than not - that the tastes, wants and needs of Koreans very rarely all line-up with Others, and vice versa. This aspect in particular musn't be viewed as a short-comming, but instead should be thought of as a key piece of strategic intelligence that any group - Korean or Other - must always be cognizant of. For example, a foreign dish or food item like the churro is traditionally enjoyed in certain countries in very specific contexts - contexts that may not be easily translated within Seoul or Korea - but by creating a familiar context for the Korean consumer, as the recent explosive success garnished by the Street Churro brand has with it's up-scale-lite cafe concept, the curiosity that a foreign idea or concept naturally arouses can be augmented by an order of magnitude.
If I may however, I would like to delve back down to those groups of Others residing within this City of Ours, focusing particularly on the neighborhoods of Itaewon and Noksapyeong. It is supremely interesting to note that when it comes to the success of Street Churro in Korea - the most conspicuous evidence of which can be gleamed at the beginning of of an alleyway within Noksapyeong on any given day, night or weekend - is the antipathy it arouses from the Other residents. Why this is noteworthy is simple: This very traditional ex-pat and US military personnel haunt had been for years neglected by typical Koreans for the most part - owing to various reasons - and most importantly within the last 10 years as a result of comparatively low rent and a large population of Others it has been a place where overseas Koreans and long-term expats have been able to safely and openly experiment with various entrepreneurial ventures centering mainly around eateries and brew-pub-style bars. Very simply, a conspicuous community of Others seemed to be taking root and with that a pride began to form - a pride not unlike that which citizens have when it comes to their home towns and countries. The success of places similar to Street Churro - lightning rods of Local attention and new traffic - while of course presenting new oppurtunities in the form of ever larger swarms of consumers, also brings with it the con-joined threats of sky-high rent and thus the inescapable demand to bring in higher and higher sales; this last point of course implying the need to cater to the Local consumer more which inevitably leads to the alienation of the original group of Others and (re?)amalgamation into the Local reality.
This is the current state of affairs as it concerns the continued development of both Noksapyeong and Itaewon neighborhoods. Of course, differences and similarities there are many even between these two halves of the same whole. For instance, the back alleys of Itaewon behind Yongsan District Office, well off of the main thoroughfares, are experiencing a renaissance of sorts as a large number of small shops are setting up business bringing with them totally new foods and attitudes to what was before just a desolate path leading to the Hill of Homo and Hooker. That said, the bearing of both neighborhoods is identical and is inclining towards a shared conclusion. The best example of what that inclined bearing portends can be readily seen through the neighborhood of Sinsa and specifically Garusu Street; put simply a culturally hollow yet still - owing to the images and perceptions still held by many stemming from the long-forgotten original neighborhood that first earned it notoriety and attention in the first place - self-sustaining commercial wasteland with rents that only the largest companies or wealthiest patrons can afford. This phenomenon, that is, Korean-style gentrification if you will, appears to be an unassailable fact of life for those residing within Seoul. While to many this fact will present itself as an impending doomsday when they too will be forced out of their life-long residences or small shops to make way for a new Angel-in-us coffee shop, to me at least this is yet another key piece of strategic urban intelligence that one must always have in the back of their mind.
Across this verbose - if not convoluted - overview laid out above, a very important distinction should have been noted by any reader who has made it to this point; in contra-distinction to a typically unified diasporic community of Others, the Itaewon and Noksapyeong neighborhoods - specifically the diasporic community residing therein - experienced the beginnings of a unification underpinned by the formation of a mutually shared pride based in large part on the contrastingly different - dare I say rebellious flouting of Local tastes and norms associated with the Local - food scene and attitude toward living and working. To make it clear and re-emphasize the point, a tangible thread has been strung through this hitherto simple collection of individual actors thus earning it the graduated character of a community!
As an Exclusive City, there are a few noteworthy phenomena worth pointing out. Firstly, there are the multiple diasporic groupings of each Other group that pocket the city. There are unofficial (i.e. real) China Towns situated adjacent to the Konkuk University and Sinlim Metros; ethnic Korean-Chinese and Joseon (i.e. North Koreans) occupy a significant area around Sinlim Metro Station; long-term American expats - mainly Korean-Americans, other US citizens and Military but also not a small contingent of Canadians not to mention the ever increasing diverse group of Muslims and Africans - reside within the Yongsan District of Central Seoul south of Namsan especially concentrated within the neighborhoods of Itaewon and Noksapyeong; Russians and Russian speaking Central Asians can be found in large numbers around the West End of Dongdaemun Market; more ethnic Korean-Chinese Joseon as well as SE Asians in particular also gather en masse on the weekends up around Hyehwa Metro Station. What these clusters of diasporic groupings result in are restaurants, bakeries, lodging, miscelaneous services and a myriad of shops catering specifically towards each specific Other group. As a last note, a massive influx of Chinese tourists has resulted in sections of Seoul - specifically nearby the metros of Hongik University and Chungmuro (Seoul's Old Hollywood) - becomming short-term Chinese diasporas of sorts.
The other point that I can't stress enough is the dynamic amalgamation inherent within Exclusive cities exhibited by the fact that these Other clusters are largely ignored by Koreans - until they aren't. They are self-contained and largely - if unconsciously - self-supporting groupings containing elements of key specialized and unique marketplaces; yet they lack any formal unity and are essentially composed of individuals whose only commonality resides in the fact that they share the same Otherness. In the case of Itaewon and Noksapyeong, the unique food scene and culture on offer have ignited an explosion of interest from Koreans. This example highlights the under-recognized potential of all the diasporic groupings within the city. At the same time it must be stressed again - and despite being a common human phenomenon it seems to be overlooked more often than not - that the tastes, wants and needs of Koreans very rarely all line-up with Others, and vice versa. This aspect in particular musn't be viewed as a short-comming, but instead should be thought of as a key piece of strategic intelligence that any group - Korean or Other - must always be cognizant of. For example, a foreign dish or food item like the churro is traditionally enjoyed in certain countries in very specific contexts - contexts that may not be easily translated within Seoul or Korea - but by creating a familiar context for the Korean consumer, as the recent explosive success garnished by the Street Churro brand has with it's up-scale-lite cafe concept, the curiosity that a foreign idea or concept naturally arouses can be augmented by an order of magnitude.
If I may however, I would like to delve back down to those groups of Others residing within this City of Ours, focusing particularly on the neighborhoods of Itaewon and Noksapyeong. It is supremely interesting to note that when it comes to the success of Street Churro in Korea - the most conspicuous evidence of which can be gleamed at the beginning of of an alleyway within Noksapyeong on any given day, night or weekend - is the antipathy it arouses from the Other residents. Why this is noteworthy is simple: This very traditional ex-pat and US military personnel haunt had been for years neglected by typical Koreans for the most part - owing to various reasons - and most importantly within the last 10 years as a result of comparatively low rent and a large population of Others it has been a place where overseas Koreans and long-term expats have been able to safely and openly experiment with various entrepreneurial ventures centering mainly around eateries and brew-pub-style bars. Very simply, a conspicuous community of Others seemed to be taking root and with that a pride began to form - a pride not unlike that which citizens have when it comes to their home towns and countries. The success of places similar to Street Churro - lightning rods of Local attention and new traffic - while of course presenting new oppurtunities in the form of ever larger swarms of consumers, also brings with it the con-joined threats of sky-high rent and thus the inescapable demand to bring in higher and higher sales; this last point of course implying the need to cater to the Local consumer more which inevitably leads to the alienation of the original group of Others and (re?)amalgamation into the Local reality.
This is the current state of affairs as it concerns the continued development of both Noksapyeong and Itaewon neighborhoods. Of course, differences and similarities there are many even between these two halves of the same whole. For instance, the back alleys of Itaewon behind Yongsan District Office, well off of the main thoroughfares, are experiencing a renaissance of sorts as a large number of small shops are setting up business bringing with them totally new foods and attitudes to what was before just a desolate path leading to the Hill of Homo and Hooker. That said, the bearing of both neighborhoods is identical and is inclining towards a shared conclusion. The best example of what that inclined bearing portends can be readily seen through the neighborhood of Sinsa and specifically Garusu Street; put simply a culturally hollow yet still - owing to the images and perceptions still held by many stemming from the long-forgotten original neighborhood that first earned it notoriety and attention in the first place - self-sustaining commercial wasteland with rents that only the largest companies or wealthiest patrons can afford. This phenomenon, that is, Korean-style gentrification if you will, appears to be an unassailable fact of life for those residing within Seoul. While to many this fact will present itself as an impending doomsday when they too will be forced out of their life-long residences or small shops to make way for a new Angel-in-us coffee shop, to me at least this is yet another key piece of strategic urban intelligence that one must always have in the back of their mind.
Across this verbose - if not convoluted - overview laid out above, a very important distinction should have been noted by any reader who has made it to this point; in contra-distinction to a typically unified diasporic community of Others, the Itaewon and Noksapyeong neighborhoods - specifically the diasporic community residing therein - experienced the beginnings of a unification underpinned by the formation of a mutually shared pride based in large part on the contrastingly different - dare I say rebellious flouting of Local tastes and norms associated with the Local - food scene and attitude toward living and working. To make it clear and re-emphasize the point, a tangible thread has been strung through this hitherto simple collection of individual actors thus earning it the graduated character of a community!
2015년 5월 20일 수요일
2015년 4월 28일 화요일
2015년 4월 26일 일요일
We Are Astro Travellers
It's a joyous day!
Let us find the sprit in man, and travel; to the unknown.
To think because we are here in the present, it hasn't just started; this is comming - reality - out of the unknown, out of the nothingness. And we are going to go on into the infamous; into the celestial.
We are what you call Astro Travellers. So we are travelling from dimension to dimension.
If one man die, all men dead; and one man live, all men live.
Tell the ranks!
One dog, one cat, one goat, one fowl, one moon, one sun; it had to be multi purpose in order to sustain energy and life. So you have black, blue, green, pink, yellow, river, sea, mountain, birds, dogs - Man.
Everything is travelling on such. Everything is relative.
The car, the money.
Everything is connected to the universe.
So whether you are one person that does not realize how vulnerable we are within the changes of time, the earth will not disappear my brethren.
Because I and I!
~ Parts Unknown, Jamaica
Let us find the sprit in man, and travel; to the unknown.
To think because we are here in the present, it hasn't just started; this is comming - reality - out of the unknown, out of the nothingness. And we are going to go on into the infamous; into the celestial.
We are what you call Astro Travellers. So we are travelling from dimension to dimension.
If one man die, all men dead; and one man live, all men live.
Tell the ranks!
One dog, one cat, one goat, one fowl, one moon, one sun; it had to be multi purpose in order to sustain energy and life. So you have black, blue, green, pink, yellow, river, sea, mountain, birds, dogs - Man.
Everything is travelling on such. Everything is relative.
The car, the money.
Everything is connected to the universe.
So whether you are one person that does not realize how vulnerable we are within the changes of time, the earth will not disappear my brethren.
Because I and I!
~ Parts Unknown, Jamaica
2015년 4월 19일 일요일
Re-do
Walking across once well worn floors,
now brittle and frail, their creaks shriek for
time to leave them be,
and so I leave.
In dark basement, beer in hand, words on tap,
I channel my 李白, illuminating the shared gap
between τέχνη and ροίησις,
whilst violence rages beyond the borders that keep us.
Pittering late afternoon rain patters the city,
blanketed in mist amidst the howl of all things windy
from whence
time has slipped past since.
The last gasps of breath escape persed lips, vision fading before
brothers of other shores
destroy and claim amore;
waves crashing, stealing fore.
Swirling silent it spins, blackness blanketing its evermore,
nothing to be heard for nothing is forevermore;
time sleeps, no stir, no beat,
and so I leave.
李白 : Li Bai
τέχνη : Techne
ροίησις : Poïesis
now brittle and frail, their creaks shriek for
time to leave them be,
and so I leave.
In dark basement, beer in hand, words on tap,
I channel my 李白, illuminating the shared gap
between τέχνη and ροίησις,
whilst violence rages beyond the borders that keep us.
Pittering late afternoon rain patters the city,
blanketed in mist amidst the howl of all things windy
from whence
time has slipped past since.
The last gasps of breath escape persed lips, vision fading before
brothers of other shores
destroy and claim amore;
waves crashing, stealing fore.
Swirling silent it spins, blackness blanketing its evermore,
nothing to be heard for nothing is forevermore;
time sleeps, no stir, no beat,
and so I leave.
李白 : Li Bai
τέχνη : Techne
ροίησις : Poïesis
2015년 4월 18일 토요일
Standing Out
Logos is common to all; but most live as if they each have a private reason. Does this have to remain so?
Perceiving and re-cognizing both what is, along with where the 'what is' has come from and everything that the 'what is' has left behind in time is standing out of Logic.
Living and acting as if being alive as woman or man in time - the 'what is' - is the result of a series of random events is standing in Logic.
Most fritter away their time floating within the all pervasive current of Logos. It is only the few who stand out of it that can make the attempt to divert the flow hither or thither by reflecting their hearts. Do things still have to remain this way?
Perceiving and re-cognizing both what is, along with where the 'what is' has come from and everything that the 'what is' has left behind in time is standing out of Logic.
Living and acting as if being alive as woman or man in time - the 'what is' - is the result of a series of random events is standing in Logic.
Most fritter away their time floating within the all pervasive current of Logos. It is only the few who stand out of it that can make the attempt to divert the flow hither or thither by reflecting their hearts. Do things still have to remain this way?
2015년 3월 7일 토요일
ex hupothesoeos anankaion
"All power exists only in its expression."
Ontologically, power is "inwardness." Freedom is combined with power. For power that is more than its expression is always freedom.
"Beside freedom stands necessity."
Necessity is the resistance that free power encounters. The resistance that free power encounters is itself freedom. The necessity is the power of what has been transmitted and of those who are acting against one. By excluding many things as impossible, it limits action to the possible.
Ontologically, power is "inwardness." Freedom is combined with power. For power that is more than its expression is always freedom.
"Beside freedom stands necessity."
Necessity is the resistance that free power encounters. The resistance that free power encounters is itself freedom. The necessity is the power of what has been transmitted and of those who are acting against one. By excluding many things as impossible, it limits action to the possible.
2015년 2월 28일 토요일
2015년 1월 2일 금요일
2014년 11월 16일 일요일
That Laugh
That laugh, oh man~~ that laugh.
Crisp autumn afternoons, relaxed hand-clasped walks through Jeong-dong and that laugh!
Caught in a Dali-esque golden frame of wind blown leaves on Nam-san and man~~ that smile!
Quixotic scene of old and new Jung-gu apartments with us just loungin' above, staring boy~~ at those eyes!
Carried to the altar in our loves warm embrace, we stand and hold hands, I love you and oh~~ that laugh!
Crisp autumn afternoons, relaxed hand-clasped walks through Jeong-dong and that laugh!
Caught in a Dali-esque golden frame of wind blown leaves on Nam-san and man~~ that smile!
Quixotic scene of old and new Jung-gu apartments with us just loungin' above, staring boy~~ at those eyes!
Carried to the altar in our loves warm embrace, we stand and hold hands, I love you and oh~~ that laugh!
2014년 11월 10일 월요일
2014년 10월 29일 수요일
2014년 10월 27일 월요일
Semantic Satiation
The cross-roads of epistimeological history lay not in the re-thinking of every-thing - a particularly blockheaded Brockman-esque thought - but in what may very well be considered the ultimate bellicose act conceivable; the forgetting of everything to namelessness.
2014년 9월 11일 목요일
2014년 9월 9일 화요일
Home
I hope, that anyone who feels that they are alone in any crowd, can find brethren and sisters within this little world we have right here.
I hope every mother fucker that visits this space aspires to be a FM member. Because you will be able to create the content that expresses who you are, and as such speak to others who share such likes and change their lives accordingly.
More 'yous' than you think exist.
I hope that what you create changes more than what I wrote; you will change more than the world.
The future: be you.
Welcome home.
I hope every mother fucker that visits this space aspires to be a FM member. Because you will be able to create the content that expresses who you are, and as such speak to others who share such likes and change their lives accordingly.
More 'yous' than you think exist.
I hope that what you create changes more than what I wrote; you will change more than the world.
The future: be you.
Welcome home.
2014년 8월 31일 일요일
Opened Door
Wow. You didn't think you would see her again. After that night.
That night. You could hear her breathing grow heavier; almost gasping. Your lips on her scented neck. Her long, silky hair tickling the nape of yours, whilst her hips thrust against your searching hand. And then, then the frightened click click click of her heels on loose asphalt is all you are left with. Running, she rounds the corner onto Forbes, and disappears.
Now, she is standing in your doorway for a first time. Office hours last another 45 minutes, but you order her to her knees, with the door left open.
That night. You could hear her breathing grow heavier; almost gasping. Your lips on her scented neck. Her long, silky hair tickling the nape of yours, whilst her hips thrust against your searching hand. And then, then the frightened click click click of her heels on loose asphalt is all you are left with. Running, she rounds the corner onto Forbes, and disappears.
Now, she is standing in your doorway for a first time. Office hours last another 45 minutes, but you order her to her knees, with the door left open.
2014년 7월 28일 월요일
Fuckin' Isotopes
The sky is full of smoke
And fuckin' isotopes.
Do I sit back and toke
Because I haven't hope?
Now: so dope, so dope.
And fuckin' isotopes.
Do I sit back and toke
Because I haven't hope?
Now: so dope, so dope.
2014년 6월 15일 일요일
Something
On a mild, mid-summer's morning, awakening in the penthouse suite to a panoramic view of the morning calm, he feels a cold sweat begin to spread up his body and nip at the nape of his neck.
--------------------
"Sir, shall I take your order?" Snapping out from the velvety fog of distraction he briefly glances at the menu cover, and rotely rattles off the same combination of dishes he always has: A++ Hanwoo tartare to start followed by a sardine sashimi, light on the pepper. Shaking his head softly as the waitress sprints back to the pass, he raises his arm, platinum watch scraping lovely against the wooden beads of his Buddhist bracelet, and begins to massage his temples, eyes closed tight. Aside from his beating Swiss heart, the world fades from view and again he falls into that warm gray sphere of nothingness. The clatter of the first course being laid out snaps him back to reality; and then he sees her.
--------------------
"Sir, shall I take your order?" Snapping out from the velvety fog of distraction he briefly glances at the menu cover, and rotely rattles off the same combination of dishes he always has: A++ Hanwoo tartare to start followed by a sardine sashimi, light on the pepper. Shaking his head softly as the waitress sprints back to the pass, he raises his arm, platinum watch scraping lovely against the wooden beads of his Buddhist bracelet, and begins to massage his temples, eyes closed tight. Aside from his beating Swiss heart, the world fades from view and again he falls into that warm gray sphere of nothingness. The clatter of the first course being laid out snaps him back to reality; and then he sees her.
2014년 6월 9일 월요일
2014년 6월 1일 일요일
Novel Idea
They say that the Industrial Revolution began in the first mines. Today, all that could be mined is ours. But now all the mines are in our skies. The year is 2033. Technological advancements dealing with mineral extraction and the capture and resolidification of spent combustible fuels that began some 10 years or so ago coalesced early last year. Following the United Nations admonitions, each individual nation signed up for energy independence. Due to the beneficent 'G' Corporation, the first and last supra-national corporate entity, every country has received it's very own A.I.R. PP a.k.a. Atmospheric Impurity Re-uptake Processing Plant (or Air Purifying Plants as they are sold to the masses) and with that the guarantee that through hard work any dream can become reality.
2014년 5월 15일 목요일
Words on tap
What are you doing? Or, what are you really doing? And, what do you really want to be doing?
Walking across once well worn floors, now brittle and frail, their creaks shriek for time to leave them be, and so I leave.
In dark basement, beer in hand, words on tap, I channel my 李白 and illuminate the secret affinity between τέχνη and ροίησις, all the while violence rages outside and past the borders beyond...
What are we doing? Or, what are we really doing? And, what will we be (really) doing?
Walking across once well worn floors, now brittle and frail, their creaks shriek for time to leave them be, and so I leave.
In dark basement, beer in hand, words on tap, I channel my 李白 and illuminate the secret affinity between τέχνη and ροίησις, all the while violence rages outside and past the borders beyond...
What are we doing? Or, what are we really doing? And, what will we be (really) doing?
2014년 4월 29일 화요일
2014년 4월 17일 목요일
2014년 4월 16일 수요일
Fuckwitedness
A day with dangerous levels of air pollution is like a tornado heading your way. While you can't really avoid it, you're better off staying indoors (in the basement or preferably a storm cellar in the event of a tornado) as opposed to walking outside into it.
2014년 4월 13일 일요일
명동 불금의 어느 외국인 관광객 이야기
불금이 끝나갈 새벽 12시 무렵 그들의 눈빛이 우연히 마주친다.
3명, 모두 중동이나 어디 아세안 나라 출신으로 보이는 미인들.
근데 이거 뭐지?
외국인 관광객 중심인 명동거리 입구 앞에서 택시를 잡으려고 하는 그들은 택시를 못잡고 헤매고 있다.
헐.
이미 몇번이나 잡으려 했나 본데. 택시 하나가 속도를 늦추며 태워줄 듯 한데 마지막 순간에 (왠지) 승객의 낯선 외모에 엔진을 심하게 밟아 빨리 도망가버린다.
승객이 없었는데도 말이다. 아휴 답답하다.
이러니 그들은 얼마나 더 답답할까.
다음에 더 용기(?) 있는 택시가 다가서더니 한국말로 어디까지 가느냐라고 기본적인 질문을 던진다.
처음 한국을 방문한 그녀들 (국빈이라고 하자) 에게는 아무 말도 없이 무시하고 지나가는것이나 다름 없는 말이지 않는가.
양쪽은 잠잠히 침묵하며 서로가 서로를 그냥 쳐다보고 있었다.
이 순간에 내가 나섰다. 그들이 가려는 목적지를 파악하고 기사한테 우리말로(한국말로) 당당하지만 실망섞인 말투로 이렇게 말했다.
'아저씨, 여기서 유턴해서 남산 1호 터널으로 가시고 한남대교 건너시면 신사사거리에서 우회전하시고 한 300미터 이후 오른쪽에 ㅇㅇㅇ관광객호텔에서 세워 주십시오. 아저씨, 잠시 교류 중인 저희 나라 국빈들을 잘 부탁드립니다.'
아 아~예 알겠습니다라는 말이 당황한 기사 입 밖으로 나오자마자 난 앞으로 우리 나라를 방문한 국빈을 더 잘 챙겨달라는 의미를 실어 내가 뒷문을 세게 닫았다.
몇분 뒤에 인천공항으로 향하는 공항버스를 타고 이 나라를 영원히 떠났다.
3명, 모두 중동이나 어디 아세안 나라 출신으로 보이는 미인들.
근데 이거 뭐지?
외국인 관광객 중심인 명동거리 입구 앞에서 택시를 잡으려고 하는 그들은 택시를 못잡고 헤매고 있다.
헐.
이미 몇번이나 잡으려 했나 본데. 택시 하나가 속도를 늦추며 태워줄 듯 한데 마지막 순간에 (왠지) 승객의 낯선 외모에 엔진을 심하게 밟아 빨리 도망가버린다.
승객이 없었는데도 말이다. 아휴 답답하다.
이러니 그들은 얼마나 더 답답할까.
다음에 더 용기(?) 있는 택시가 다가서더니 한국말로 어디까지 가느냐라고 기본적인 질문을 던진다.
처음 한국을 방문한 그녀들 (국빈이라고 하자) 에게는 아무 말도 없이 무시하고 지나가는것이나 다름 없는 말이지 않는가.
양쪽은 잠잠히 침묵하며 서로가 서로를 그냥 쳐다보고 있었다.
이 순간에 내가 나섰다. 그들이 가려는 목적지를 파악하고 기사한테 우리말로(한국말로) 당당하지만 실망섞인 말투로 이렇게 말했다.
'아저씨, 여기서 유턴해서 남산 1호 터널으로 가시고 한남대교 건너시면 신사사거리에서 우회전하시고 한 300미터 이후 오른쪽에 ㅇㅇㅇ관광객호텔에서 세워 주십시오. 아저씨, 잠시 교류 중인 저희 나라 국빈들을 잘 부탁드립니다.'
아 아~예 알겠습니다라는 말이 당황한 기사 입 밖으로 나오자마자 난 앞으로 우리 나라를 방문한 국빈을 더 잘 챙겨달라는 의미를 실어 내가 뒷문을 세게 닫았다.
몇분 뒤에 인천공항으로 향하는 공항버스를 타고 이 나라를 영원히 떠났다.
2014년 4월 1일 화요일
Cherry Blossoms
Cherry Blossoms seem to engender a near mythical appreciation. They are the definitive message bearer to the masses that the long, hard Winter has fallen to the sudden, surprise, early thrust spear of Spring. The blossoms themselves will lead any casual observer to those memories - or fantasies for those as-yet-uninitiated - of youth when one first becomes aware of the opposite sexes surfeit of supple, unblemished smoothness. This in turn is also, apart from being the place of their actual origin, probably what leads many to associate the blossoms with Japan and its culture.
That said, many other countries as well, including South Korea and the United States, have unofficial periods wherein the blooming of these trees is announced, celebrated and enjoyed by its citizenry. These celebrations are more natural in that they are informal and lacking governmental or organizational auspices - which is to say that they do not take place within a conspicuous human enframing. It is nature itself that calls to man as it were, to come hither to catch a glimpse of perfection, which if the blossom itself is any indication only occurs in youth. Those so lucky to actually witness that moment, and it really is The Moment when the blossoms are in full bloom - and by full bloom I am not talking about the early, awkward stages of blooming when their skinny, pointed limbs are all too clearly visible and I am especially not talking about the later stage when the ugly, green leaves, the body hair if you will, poke through the perfect skin of blossoms that just form a complete, seemingly impenetrable orb of angelic whiteness around those awkward limbs - is to be bestowed with and at the same time burdened by Truth. And it is probably for this reason why many will simply pay it no mind and miss it altogether.
We lateborn, unfortunately, are no longer able to readily receive Truth let alone begin to comprehend it. Just try asking yourself what you believe Truth is or means. A few mental stuttering starts heading nowhere, probably followed by an anecdote of modern usage that goes something like the following: truth is something agreed upon, ideally based on fact, and that upon hearing or reading usually elicits a "Yeah, (I think) that is true" or something to that effect. Or maybe those of you who hail from institutions with latinate mottos (full disclosure: the motto of my alma mater, Korea University, is 'Libertas, Justitia, Veritas') will pay heed to the fact that Truth as spoken today in most romantic languages at least, derives from the Latin 'Veritas'. (The etymological origins of 'truth' as spoken in English, it should be noted, shares a closer affinity than we would like to admit with 'faith' and even 'loyalty', which is food enough for thought itself). That said, I don't know of anyone who actually knows let alone can indicate how exactly Veritas was thought of when it was still part of a living vernacular.
Veritas was not an original, thoughtful construct in Roman times, however, it was the translation of the Greek 'Aletheia' into Roman thought and as a result this thoughtful Greek Word has been brought into our modern language in an equally violent manner being called 'Truth'. To put it simply, the Greek word speaks of an "unconcealedness" or literally "the state of not being hidden". Moving fore, treading closer to the danger, and not for the mere purpose of highlighting etymological similarities, although such similarities cannot be said to not exist, I would like to briefly touch upon 眞理 or Zhenli or 진리. There are probably many ways to think through this word, or set of characters, and the argument could probably be made as to whether one should even try to think through the couplet or instead focus on one character at a time or even if such an attempt should be made at all!
Shall we not at least try to take a leap, perhaps even a leap of faith towards what may be true? A good place to start along a way to thinking, generally, is through the thoughts of an actual thinker. Regarding '眞', Zhuangzi (莊子) has already thought this character through as meaning 'Every-thing as it is' or '있는 그대로' in Korean. The second character, a compound of the radicals 玉 + 里, that when taken in isolation respectively indicate a precious gem and a village. Together, nowadays, when combined the resulting '理 ' is translated as either 'control' or 'logic', but these translations, especially the former, are ex post facto derivations. Derived from what? In both cases, the original gem and village denote the 'explicit implicitness' or the concealed nature of both objects. In the case of a precious gem, actually what is emphasized and always apparent first is the rough stone with the gem itself being unseen and only revealed later. A village is always only a village, and an area only comes to be called a village by virtue of the inhabitants that often exist in obscurity, or concealedness therein. So to be clear, the aspect of control that the above character has come to embody happened after, and only after the rough exerior of the gem or the nameless inhabitants of a village were forgotten in the sense that it became so simple to control the attaining of the gem itself or the groups of contained people.
The above attempt at beginning to think through '眞理', which now that it is safe to say is an approximation of Truth in both Chinese, Japanese and Korean, was given solely as food for thought. In this moment the matter at hand, however, is Cherry Blossoms. Cherry Blossoms, as mentioned at the outset, tend to evoke associations of Japan and its culture. As a matter of fact, the Japanese have for centuries made it a practice to picnic or sojourn under blooming Cherry Blossoms. In their traditional poetry, Cherry Blossoms were expressed reverentially by the single character denoting all flowers '花' for more than a millennia and some centuries. Why? Well, I guess, since '花' is composed of '艹' a radical simply demarcating something as a plant and '化' symbolizing man becoming man from man, then the Japanese must therefore have had an original, intimate experience wherein the Cherry Blossoms, and particularly Cherry Blossoms in full bloom came to represent not just plants that become unconcealed from out of the concealement that exists and is protected within plants which they in turn again appear within, but also that opening into what is concealed in man that allows man to become unconcealed as such. Or were you asking why Japanese picnicked beneath Cherry Blossoms in full bloom? Or did I answer that question too?
Unconcealedness needs concealedness. What is concealed is therefore no less true than what is unconcealed. The long, hard Winter that is now forgotten, out of sight and mind, has allowed the Beauty of Unconcealment to shine forth in full bloom by concealing itself. Does the poetry of the Japanese mean as much when they employ '花' to represent Cherry Blossoms? Who can say? Some light may befall our blind struggles fore if we remember poetry has always been Song. Laudes is the Latin name for songs. Laudare is a eulogy or praise. Maybe the ancient Greek myths were just long poems that were singing, praising, eulogizing, remembering what has been and thus what could be again and Japanese Poems are myths along the Same vein. If so, and even if not, I like to think of Cherry Blossoms as our Myth of Life, a life that may oft be forgotten, but will always be remembered, if not knowingly.
P.S. The Japanese call and know 'word' as 言葉 or petal(s) of saying...
That said, many other countries as well, including South Korea and the United States, have unofficial periods wherein the blooming of these trees is announced, celebrated and enjoyed by its citizenry. These celebrations are more natural in that they are informal and lacking governmental or organizational auspices - which is to say that they do not take place within a conspicuous human enframing. It is nature itself that calls to man as it were, to come hither to catch a glimpse of perfection, which if the blossom itself is any indication only occurs in youth. Those so lucky to actually witness that moment, and it really is The Moment when the blossoms are in full bloom - and by full bloom I am not talking about the early, awkward stages of blooming when their skinny, pointed limbs are all too clearly visible and I am especially not talking about the later stage when the ugly, green leaves, the body hair if you will, poke through the perfect skin of blossoms that just form a complete, seemingly impenetrable orb of angelic whiteness around those awkward limbs - is to be bestowed with and at the same time burdened by Truth. And it is probably for this reason why many will simply pay it no mind and miss it altogether.
We lateborn, unfortunately, are no longer able to readily receive Truth let alone begin to comprehend it. Just try asking yourself what you believe Truth is or means. A few mental stuttering starts heading nowhere, probably followed by an anecdote of modern usage that goes something like the following: truth is something agreed upon, ideally based on fact, and that upon hearing or reading usually elicits a "Yeah, (I think) that is true" or something to that effect. Or maybe those of you who hail from institutions with latinate mottos (full disclosure: the motto of my alma mater, Korea University, is 'Libertas, Justitia, Veritas') will pay heed to the fact that Truth as spoken today in most romantic languages at least, derives from the Latin 'Veritas'. (The etymological origins of 'truth' as spoken in English, it should be noted, shares a closer affinity than we would like to admit with 'faith' and even 'loyalty', which is food enough for thought itself). That said, I don't know of anyone who actually knows let alone can indicate how exactly Veritas was thought of when it was still part of a living vernacular.
Veritas was not an original, thoughtful construct in Roman times, however, it was the translation of the Greek 'Aletheia' into Roman thought and as a result this thoughtful Greek Word has been brought into our modern language in an equally violent manner being called 'Truth'. To put it simply, the Greek word speaks of an "unconcealedness" or literally "the state of not being hidden". Moving fore, treading closer to the danger, and not for the mere purpose of highlighting etymological similarities, although such similarities cannot be said to not exist, I would like to briefly touch upon 眞理 or Zhenli or 진리. There are probably many ways to think through this word, or set of characters, and the argument could probably be made as to whether one should even try to think through the couplet or instead focus on one character at a time or even if such an attempt should be made at all!
Shall we not at least try to take a leap, perhaps even a leap of faith towards what may be true? A good place to start along a way to thinking, generally, is through the thoughts of an actual thinker. Regarding '眞', Zhuangzi (莊子) has already thought this character through as meaning 'Every-thing as it is' or '있는 그대로' in Korean. The second character, a compound of the radicals 玉 + 里, that when taken in isolation respectively indicate a precious gem and a village. Together, nowadays, when combined the resulting '理 ' is translated as either 'control' or 'logic', but these translations, especially the former, are ex post facto derivations. Derived from what? In both cases, the original gem and village denote the 'explicit implicitness' or the concealed nature of both objects. In the case of a precious gem, actually what is emphasized and always apparent first is the rough stone with the gem itself being unseen and only revealed later. A village is always only a village, and an area only comes to be called a village by virtue of the inhabitants that often exist in obscurity, or concealedness therein. So to be clear, the aspect of control that the above character has come to embody happened after, and only after the rough exerior of the gem or the nameless inhabitants of a village were forgotten in the sense that it became so simple to control the attaining of the gem itself or the groups of contained people.
The above attempt at beginning to think through '眞理', which now that it is safe to say is an approximation of Truth in both Chinese, Japanese and Korean, was given solely as food for thought. In this moment the matter at hand, however, is Cherry Blossoms. Cherry Blossoms, as mentioned at the outset, tend to evoke associations of Japan and its culture. As a matter of fact, the Japanese have for centuries made it a practice to picnic or sojourn under blooming Cherry Blossoms. In their traditional poetry, Cherry Blossoms were expressed reverentially by the single character denoting all flowers '花' for more than a millennia and some centuries. Why? Well, I guess, since '花' is composed of '艹' a radical simply demarcating something as a plant and '化' symbolizing man becoming man from man, then the Japanese must therefore have had an original, intimate experience wherein the Cherry Blossoms, and particularly Cherry Blossoms in full bloom came to represent not just plants that become unconcealed from out of the concealement that exists and is protected within plants which they in turn again appear within, but also that opening into what is concealed in man that allows man to become unconcealed as such. Or were you asking why Japanese picnicked beneath Cherry Blossoms in full bloom? Or did I answer that question too?
Unconcealedness needs concealedness. What is concealed is therefore no less true than what is unconcealed. The long, hard Winter that is now forgotten, out of sight and mind, has allowed the Beauty of Unconcealment to shine forth in full bloom by concealing itself. Does the poetry of the Japanese mean as much when they employ '花' to represent Cherry Blossoms? Who can say? Some light may befall our blind struggles fore if we remember poetry has always been Song. Laudes is the Latin name for songs. Laudare is a eulogy or praise. Maybe the ancient Greek myths were just long poems that were singing, praising, eulogizing, remembering what has been and thus what could be again and Japanese Poems are myths along the Same vein. If so, and even if not, I like to think of Cherry Blossoms as our Myth of Life, a life that may oft be forgotten, but will always be remembered, if not knowingly.
P.S. The Japanese call and know 'word' as 言葉 or petal(s) of saying...
2014년 3월 27일 목요일
Blinding Effluvium
Blind:
All this motherfucking pollution,
Effluvium:
All wants, desires; E Pluribus Unon.
All this motherfucking pollution,
Effluvium:
All wants, desires; E Pluribus Unon.
2014년 3월 25일 화요일
2014년 3월 23일 일요일
An Old Man and his Old Dog
As we came to a stop in front of Embassy Row, enjoying a shallow respite before crossing the Han, I glanced over to my left and saw them. They were about to walk over the crosswalk, but wavered as if they were waiting for something, or someone. Despondently, resigned to being alone for yet another day, they took off as only an Old Man and Old Dog can do. Slowly. The Old Man took the lead early and never relinquished it. Behind, gingerly the Old Dog struggled valiantly to keep up, pushing his creaky limbs harder than he had in years through the leg holes in his brand new red pleated, nylon jacket. Looking ahead, towards something, the Old Man's eyes sat staidly, sunk within sockets entombed by two coke bottle lenses. As we began to lurch forward, I craned my neck to watch the Old Man and Old Dog fade from view. They were continuing fore; slowly, shakily, but surely.
2014년 3월 20일 목요일
Lewis Mumford
In society man faces himself and realizes himself; and in a free society...each citizen has an oppurtunity to plumb all his potentialities: the specialized fragments are re-united in the whole man.
사회에서는 인간 자체가 타인이랑 생활하면서 자기 자신을 마주볼 수도 있고 자기 자신을 인식할 수도 있다. 개방사회 (free society)는 시민들에게 각자 본인의 가능성을 그들의 한계까지 시도할 수 있는 기회를 제공한다. 그러므로 개방사회에 이제까지 전문화된 혼재되어있는 개인 각자는 시간이 지남에따라 완전한 하나의 인간으로 재성장할 수 있는것이다.
사회에서는 인간 자체가 타인이랑 생활하면서 자기 자신을 마주볼 수도 있고 자기 자신을 인식할 수도 있다. 개방사회 (free society)는 시민들에게 각자 본인의 가능성을 그들의 한계까지 시도할 수 있는 기회를 제공한다. 그러므로 개방사회에 이제까지 전문화된 혼재되어있는 개인 각자는 시간이 지남에따라 완전한 하나의 인간으로 재성장할 수 있는것이다.
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