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Archive for the 'Korean Culture' Category

화이트데이 – reverse Valentine’s Day in Korea (White Day)

화이트데이. I'm not entirely comfortable with the name of this holiday. I mean, I'm probably absolutely looking too far into the name of White Day as something bad, but I digress. Actually, in a different ranting vein, seems that all the holidays on the 14th of each month are kind of like Love Day. White day is another one of these holidays seemingly made by the chocolate companies in order to entice people to buy sweets and candies. On this particular demi-holiday, men give chocolate sweets to their girlfriends to let them know nothing has changed and you're still just as cute as you were the day we met although now that i think about it you don't try as much anymore, you make me feel bad for hanging out with my drinking buddies, and... Show more

Dear Cloud

I recently heard 디어클라우드, or Dear Cloud, after a friend of mine posted the group's Lip MV on her LJ. I had never heard them, or even of them, before this so I thought I would share them today. Dear Cloud are a rock group made up of 5 members: 나인 on vocals, 용린 on guitar, 이랑 on bass, 정아 on keyboard and 광석 on drums. They debuted in 2007 with a self-titled album, and released their second album, Grey, in October last year. The single from Grey was Lip, which was the MV that my friend posted. Check it out: (Anyone recognise creepy chin dude? He was in 박효신 & Hwang Project's The Castle of Zoltar. I have no idea what his name is. He can just be Creepy Chin Dude.) Dear Cloud reminds me of a female-vocal version of Nell. Very laid... Show more

March First Movement – 삼일 운동 (Korean Independence)

삼일 운동 (만세운동). Two days ago was a very important holiday for Korea. Like most nations, many historically important holidays mark a day that symbolizes a particular feeling or thought. In Texas, we have the Battle of the Alamo. This was a tragic military loss in every sense of the word during the Texas Revolution. Yes, a failure - the well-trained Mexican army outnumbered the beleaguered defenders 10 to 1. In fact, Mexican Army General Santa Anna even gave the defenders a chance to surrender. If you know Texas, then you can guess which finger the defenders raised in response. Essentially, the Mexican army ended up slaughtering just about everyone inside. However, this seemingly foolish decision to fight the organized Mexican army ended... Show more

You have much to learn, young 파다원 (Korean children’s daily life)

Korean children's daily life. These snot-nosed little brats sweet little angels are the cutest things on Earth. Proof. But make no mistake - these kids get more than their daily dose of school. The sheer number of hours spent in the classroom is enough to raise Western eyebrows. They get plenty of instruction in and out of school. The Korean educational system consists of six years of elementary school, three years of junior high, and three years of high school. School semesters are seasonal (like in America) but start in March and ends in February (Spring to Fall as opposed to Fall to Spring). One overall educational goal is to make them bilingual in Korean and English; if they can fit another language into that sweet little... Show more

두근두근

It's been another week of good stuff being released, such as Fly to the Sky's latest (and last) album Decennium. I'm personally still feeling rather heartbroken that they're breaking up, although they have said that they will be coming back together to release smaller releases sometimes. That's like ending your marriage but still dating that person! I wish that they were staying together properly, because Decennium had so many amazing songs on it, they just keep getting better and better - I suppose it's good to go out on a high note, though. 신화 member and ballad singer 신혜성 also released an album this week. Keep Leaves is the 'second side' of his third solo album. The first side, Live and Let Live was released last year and had 신혜성... Show more