Musical highlights of Korea...

One of the things that blows my mind about doing anything in Busan is the incessant thump of techno-pop that trumpets from every building. Mixed with the daily construction projects, it makes for an iPod-drowning audio experience. Still, I'm fascinated that even at a reasonably-decorated sit-down restaurant, I still am likely to hear Erasure or the drum-n-bass remix of that Four Non-Blondes song, as I did last night. Just like in the States, there are a few Korean pop music staples that have stabbed their way into my heart, and what's great about liking them is that you can't make fun of me like you did with the Kelly Clarkson single because odds are you'll never hear the songs.

There's one that I've only heard three times now that I'm anxious to find: a Korean pop-rap number which bases its repetitive melody off of the 80's instrumental highlight "Axel F". It's all in Korean except for the chorus, where a guy clearly basing his 'tude off of "Funky Bunch"-era Mark Wahlberg brags, "I'm a champion!" Deep in my heart, I hope that this is the Korean "Lose Yourself". Pretty sweet and memorable track.

Another tune that hasn't been that ubiquitous is a Korean remake of the Black Eyed Peas' controversial "Let's Get Retarted". In this case, they took a song from what's probably the most irritating group in America and turned it into something slightly less aggrandizing. This seems to be a general fact with Korean music stars; the self-importance and loudness reflected in their personalities is like a cat's whimper, where as those in America make me feel like I'm being yelled at nearly all of the time. I'm hoping to find more Korean reproductions of American pop songs, since this was one that I hated there and only mildly amuses me here.

Finally, the song that has stolen my heart, run away with it, and declared its vows is the only one that I can't describe. It is the ONLY song you ever hear here though; whether you're at a lowly soju bar or an electronics store, it's going to rear its lovely head... if anyone in Korea is reading this, please help me out here. I saw a live concert on television where a boy band performs it, but I've also heard a rendition that seems to have a female vocalist. From the sound of it, it could be an anime theme song, but somehow I doubt it. Every musical note is a fuckin' ray of sunshine, and even on days when I hate being here, if I hear it, I do a jumping heel-click. When I find it, I'll post it here immediately. I promise. And then you all can declare me gay because admittedly it's a pretty gay tune, but I won't fuckin' care.

School has been slow today. That's the only reason you're getting this pointless post. I'll be playing Starcraft and drinking at a PC room with Marie's soon-to-be-departing French-Canadian co-worker once it hits 8:55. Friday night in Busan!

Korean "Hedwig"

The MBC Busan Center, which operates both as a theater and a television/radio broadcast center... probably several other things as well, I'd bet.

The seats filled up nicely over time, but here's a shot from our row (i.e. way back) around 20 minutes before the show began

No photos were allowed until the band came out to perform an encore. Note the throng of Koreans, arms upraised, like a scene from "Live at Budokan".

The Korean Hedwig, sans wig.

It's hard to look this badass when seeing a musical about a hermaphrodite, but somehow I managed. I only managed to steal one poster, by the way, so please don't make any requests.

Shit... there's much about this day that I've forgotten at this point, and since this isn't the first time, I've decided to do something really pretentious and start carrying a notepad with me. It might be gay-ass, but if it means better and more vivid blog posts, then I'm all for it.

So I assume most of you are familiar with the John Cameron Mitchell musical/film "Hedwig and the Angry Inch"?

Within my first week here, I had been seeing posters and banners for what looked like a Korean production of said show, and immediately I felt like it would probably be incredibly surreal (and thus necessary) to attend. After weeks and weeks of anticipation, Marie and I took an extended taxi ride (drivers tend to go down a lot of longcuts when driving foreigners around) to the MBC Busan Center to get our tickets.

Unlike most every building in Korea, the Busan Center stands apart from the rest of the high-rises in its own decadent acreage, and it acts as a broadcasting mecca. In Busan, you can find MBC's television station on Channel 11, I believe, and they also own two different radio stations, along with a whole lot of other shit, I'm sure. There's some sort of Museum of Television Broadcasting there that we didn't bother with, although I suppose it's possible we could have found ourselves on one of the billion Korean dating/dance shows. (A post on Korean television might come eventually; I can tell you that the rumors of a channel dedicated to Starcraft are true, and that I've seen "Tango and Cash" on the Action Network twice)

I didn't know what the crowd would be like for "Hedwig", but I figured there'd be some Westerners there... wrong! Just Marie and I, unless I had my blinders on and missed a Waeguk
walking around. The Korean audience seemed mostly university-aged, with a greater number of girls than I would have thought; little did I know that the guy who plays Hedwig (in drag, of course) is actually some sort of pop idol, or at least that's how it seemed from the wails of adoration coming from the female crowd. Maybe I'm a little naive about the following that "Hedwig" has elsewhere...

The musical itself was excellent when the band was playing, pretty dull when we had to listen to the monologues being delivered in a foreign tongue. The guy who played Hedwig was a little more pleasant and less of a bitch than Mitchell's performance in the film, but then again, I didn't know what the fuck he was saying most of the time. "Wig in a Box" inspired a wild sing-a-long with the Korean audience, but I could only hum it. I remember thinking that the girl who played Yitzhak, even when dressed as a man, was pretty hot. So the play itself was lack-luster given the 40,000 won price tag, although I'm sure if I was Korean I'd heartily disagree.

But after the show was over, the entire audience left their seats and charged the stage, demanding an encore... or maybe this is how things were supposed to go. The Angry Inch Band triumphantly returned to the stage and all of a sudden made the hefty price tag (alright, I know $40 isn't that much, but it's a lot to spend in Korea) well worth it. Marie and I stayed back in our seats away from the horde of Korean girls pogo-ing and punching their arms to the beat, but it was still the closest thing to a rock concert that I've seen here. The girl who played Yitzhak ran out in a Tina Turner wig and now confirmed my suspicion that she was smokin', and without the dress and wig, it was easy to see how Hedwig could be a heart-throb for all of the girls in the audience. They ended up playing two short sets of music, some of which we recorded on Marie's top-of-the-line digital camera-- I'm hoping to find a way to post some footage on here. The only thing that left me disappointed with this part of the show was that the band only played music from the play; it would have knocked me on my ass if they had played something from one of the artists who influenced "Hedwig" (Bowie, Lou Reed, whoever). Still a great time and definitely something I won't forget.

Ok... I'll leave this post on that note. All of my condolences to you Cardinals fans... I'll tip a 40 oz. of Hite for Busch tonight.

More pictures of Korean arcades...

I shit you not: this game is called "Wonder Dunk", and as far as I know, it's the only prehistoric-themed basketball simulation on the market. Arcades in Korea are filled with row upon row of sit-down machines that normally feature either the elite fighting games (Tekken, Virtua Fighter, Soul Calibur, etc.) or generic side-scrolling shooters. Every now and then though, you'll run into a gem like "Wonder Dunk".

"Come On Baby" and its sequel are incredibly simple button-tapping exercises (no joysticks in sight) that pit six different babies against each other in olympic-style events. It kind of sucks, so I can see why it hasn't caught on in the States, but it's always one of the more prominent machines in Korean establishments.

Like "Wonder Dunk", this skirt-lifting simulation was another gem among the mass of fighting games. I didn't get the chance to play this one, only because I wasn't sure whether or not it would be kosher with my girlfriend. When she's not around, I plan on feeding a few thousand won into this baby though.

A turntable rhythm game... yeah, I know they're a dime-a-dozen in the States, but it's definitely a blast watching 11 year-old Korean kids with lightspeed reflexes man one of these things.

I know you weren't planning on seeing a picture of my ass today, but at least I spared you from the video footage of this intense race between myself and some out-matched Korean kid. Junior didn't stand a chance. Girls love horse-racing machines, by the way.

Another arcade story to share: after the movie let out the day I was at Special Fun Zone, I decided to check out the video arcade, operating under the philosophy that mall arcades are almost always head-and-shoulders above the ones you find on the street. It was a pretty solid place, with all four Time Crisis games (including the spin-off "Crisis Zone") costing only 300 won to play (that's 30 cents-- quite a deal). In general, you're not going to find any games that cost you more than this, and if you're only interested in playing the sit-down games, you could stay at the arcade for a few hours and only find yourself out ten dollars. Anyways, this arcade had a Pop-A-Shot game with what looked like an abnormally-forgiving rim, so I figured I'd give it a go. Once I started feeding 100 won pieces into the slots, a group of six Korean kids wandered up to my side to watch what was surely going to be a Bird-esque demonstration of shooting skills. The timer started and I threw up my first shot: clank. Second shot: clank. Third shot: missed the hoop entirely... and so on. After my first seven or eight shots, the kids scattered and my stomach tightened. I finished strong, making three baskets in a row, but if I remember correctly, I only sank six in sixty seconds. If they only had a "Hoop Jones" machine...

Also, I've mentioned "Kart Rider" several times now, but have never really explained what it is. It's a nation-wide phenomenon at the PC Bangs here, and if you can work this out in your mind, it's basically a MMOMK (Massively Multiplayer Online Mario Kart). Not only do you race with hundreds of thousands of other like-minded gamers, but you also get to upgrade and design your cart and character from the ground up. The sign-up process is a pain in the ass without a Korean's help, but it looks like it's well worth it. Even though I haven't played it, it has captured my fancy enough that I bought a "Kart Rider" alarm clock and briefly considered buying a pair of "Kart Rider" socks. Good times.

On wanting to have someone's baby...

Not only did Pujols just hit a three-run homer to give the Cards the lead in Game Five, but I just followed Mike Burns' advice and banged my Ipod against a table a couple of times... voila! It's fixed! All the music is still there!

Burns: Send me an email (get the address from Mata). I owe you big.

(By the way, I'm assuming that was Mike who left a comment on my previous post. If it was someone different, follow the advice above)

GLORIOUS FUCKIN' DAY!!!

On wanting to murder someone...

So not only do I have a broken digital camera (although it seems like it will be easily fixed), but now my Ipod is displaying this problem, met with the deflated sound of the hard drive: ch-ch-chug-crackle-crackle. As far as I can tell, I'm fucked... even if I choose to send it to the States to get it fixed, my hard drive is gone, and with it, roughly 18 GB of music that I lovingly gave to it. Concerning electronics, I've had a BAD fuckin' week.

Seriously, I would like to talk about Korean "Hedwig" and an awesome/awful hip hop/house band soul show put on by a mixture of Koreans and ex-pats, both of which I witnessed this past week, but my heart isn't in it right now. All I want to do is cradle my Ipod back to health, but I know its time has already passed.

I'll probably just buy a cheapie MP3 player here in Korea and live off of torrent downloads, then get my proper Ipod fixed when I get back to America. Still, if my camera fails to revive itself at the hands of whichever Korean photography shop I bring it to, you're talking $500 of electronics that have died on me within the first two months of me being here... and this is shit that I bought right before the trip, not two or three years ago.

Expressions of sympathy would be appreciated.