Weekly Banality Update 7-6-2014

Work - they owe me something like $300 books from June...get on that...

my watch broke (may be the battery but it also won't wind properly), my fitbit flex won't charge (it's died less than 2 months after purchase 139,000 won)...bought a new watch from a clock store in the neighborhood at 9pm on a sunday after finding out my local Emart (think Target or Walmart type store) doesn't have watches...


went kayaking saturday, met a cute Korean girl...got sun-burnt the hell up...was suppose to go on another trip sunday but skipped it...only out $5 bucks...

I'm totally on board with Almond milk and Soy milk (chocolate)


present obsessions:

music: Akdong Musician

video game: NFS Rivals (PS3)



looking forward to my summer vacation last week of July and AIA Now festival Aug 15th...

I think have a problem with Craigslist...

I have become shopping addicted to Craigslist...

The general nature of being and ESL teacher in South Korea is you're in for a year or two, then you go home.

This means people with a decent bit of disposable income buy a bunch of stuff. Then when they move, have to then sell that stuff they don't take back with them or chuck it...

Here's my present list of stuff bought (a won is about $0.85) :

• electric water kettle 5000 won
• 2 ps3 games 25000 won (Trivial Pursuit and Uncharted, seller asked for 20000 for both but I offered and extra 5000 if he'd meet me closer to Suwon)
• toaster 10000 won and a router 15000 won
• Wacom graphics tablet 30000 won 

The list of things I asked about and didn't get is even bigger

• video game stuff
• big ass shoes
• medication (you can't get over the counter drugs here, and my nearest pharmacy closes at like 7pm, also no asprin) I'm also very glad I didn't get this...I would of been too paranoid to use any of it...
• all in one printers

Cragslist has an Iphone app which I find myself using as much as Facebook or Twitter, if not more...

To friends and the stuff they leave behind...Craigslist - Seoul

Secrets to Life...(in no particular order)

#1 Garlic

and #2 (lots of) butter

.... if you don't cook with it or add it to stuff, then I don't know what's wrong with you...

Obsession: Let the Right One In and Let Me In

I'm not a fan of horror films. I am adult enough to admit I'm a scaredy cat. But I'd heard good things about Let The Right One In. I'd never gotten around to seeing it when it first came out and now the Americanized remake Let Me In has been released now was as good a time as any to see both.

I don't like being scared, but I love a good story. And this is an amazing one. I won't go into plot details. You can find that at any movie site. But of the two, I'll be that bad guy and say I like the remake just a hair better. Maybe it's the actors (Chloe Moretz, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Richard Jenkins, Elias Koteas). It may be the plot tweeking from the original which I think makes it more suspenseful.

My obsession has caused me to buy the book and the soundtrack. The soundtrack is perfect if you want to turn off the lights and listen to fear. It is scary. The book of course is more extensive in plot and much more darker.

Obsession: Red Dead Redemption

I now have proof Roger Ebert was wrong about video games.

I finished Red Dead Redemption a couple of hrs ago. I actually teared up at one point. If you played the game, you can probably guess where.

This game moved me the same way American Beauty moved me. It was just powerful, raw, with an amazing story.

Rockstar made a powerful, yet edgy game. There's swearing, nudity, sex, and a whole lot of violence. But it's all tied in to a story worthy of the silver screen.

Video games are art. Not all are as artistic as some, but video games create an emotional response. Joy, anguish, saddness, rage. It's all there.

When I beat it and the credits began to scroll across the screen, i had to read all the names out of respect for what they all had a part in creating.

To use Ebert's definition of art : Red Dead Redemption meets it. I was left shaken, moved and saddened it was over.