Muse, News, and Reviews

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Apocalypse-oul!

Itaewon, Seoul: ApocalypseNews:
Bill Paxton said it right in Aliens, "Game over, man. Game over!" H1N1 has finally taken its toll on Korea. I never thought it would come to this: riots, looting, mass-violence, murder, plague, death... zombies! You read it right. Zombies! How did it get to this?

Calls for vaccinations from the west were the beginning. Nationalist pride forced the government to secretly infuse kimchi with the antibodies. That's where things really took off. The combination of injecting the untested vaccination and mass ingestion of the famous pickled cabbage was catastrophic. The so-called H1N1 pandemic turned into a biological nightmare of apocalyptic proportions. We who didn't take the vaccine or eat the kimchi survived -- we built our immune defense up naturally. That's all anyone had to do, but they called us crazy. My, how the tides have turned.

Those of us not infected with the H1N1 mutation have taken refuge where we can. I'm writing this in an underground PC Bang surrounded by rotting corpses of the Sudden Attack and Starcraft players who stayed during the riots. I survive on the Ramyun and Cass Beer I find throughout the city. It's a war-zone here -- everyone for himself. I found a can of Dr. Pepper that I'm bringing home as a present for Shannon. It's the little things that count, now. I think I heard some thing moving. I have to go... If you read this, spread the word: avoid Seoul, head north if you can, and whatever you do

Sunday, October 25, 2009

In Itaewon with Shannon

Itaewon, Seoul: ShannonMuse:
This is Shannon: my friend, my roommate, my future fiance, my everything. We have known each other since 2001 when a mutual friend of ours died. Mike's death brought a lot of friends together that year. And though it wasn't the particularly best of circumstances, that was our beginning. Well, you see, within the tangled web of life in which people cross paths and meet in seemingly ordinary circumstances, our beginning had been building well before we had realized: I used to work with her friend; she used to be roommates with mine. Our paths crossed from time to time after that, and when you cut past all that comes and goes in people's lives during seven years -- the ups & downs, rights & wrongs, good & bad -- you get to where we re-connected. In March, 2008, it was our time... and what a good time it has been!

We've been teaching English in Korea for about a year and a half now. That keeps us busy from Monday to Friday, but on the weekends we get a chance to go out and explore this amazing country. Last weekend we were out in Itaewon, Seoul for our monthly trip to the awesome foreign grocery store, foreign book store, and foreign dinner -- it's the foreigner capital of Korea. We wandered around through some side streets and alleys off the beaten path and I found a cool garage door I though she would look lovely in front of. Click on any of the following to go directly to the exhibit and see more. Here are a few photos from that shoot:

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Your Favorite TV Shows Results

Which Current Shows Do You Watch?



News:
With 60% of the votes, Project Runway comes in as the winner. It's pretty fitting since the show focuses on artistic expression through fashion. Thanks for taking part! More polls to come...

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Seoul Grand Park Zoo

Seoul Grand Park ZooReview:
It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight! We packed up our backpacks and headed off to Seoul Grand Park to check out its enormous zoo. Whoa, Nelly! It was big. We had to actually take a trolly car, or the optional sky-lift, up a mountain to the entrance. I swear, Korea has run out of land so new things are either on mountains or top of other old "things." Once we found a map in English, we trekked off on our makeshift tour with one real destination -- the dolphin show.
From Wikipedia:
Seoul Grand Park is a park complex to the south of Seoul, South Korea, in the city of Gwacheon (과천시). Seoul Grand Park has numerous facilities, including:
* Hills and hiking trails
* Seoul Grand Park Zoo
* Children's Zoo
* A rose garden
* SeoulLand amusement park
* Seoul Museum of Modern Art

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Kimchibilly Night at DGBD

DGBDReview:
DGBD - Hongdae, Seoul
So I was checking out some photos on flickr and came across this stunning black and white in one of the expat groups and I had to find out where it was taken. Turns out, it was taken in June (around Kimchibilly Night 7 or 8) at DGBD -- what I assume is the Seoul equivalent to the legendary CBGB -- in Hongdae, Seoul. I Googled me up some info from The Rocktigers MySpace Page and my old lady and I set off for some Korean styled rockabilly music at Kimchibilly Night 9 in August!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Comic World Cosplay - Setec Center

Scarlett O'HaraReview:
The little lady and I checked out the Comic World Cosplay (Costume Playing) Event at Seoul's Setec Convention Center this past August. I really love the kids that come out to this. They put most of the stuff I've seen back in the US to shame. However, I usually have no idea what they're dressed as because traditional Marvel or DC type super-heroes are just not that popular out here, plus I'm just not that hip on anime, manga, or really anything the Korean kids dig these days. So I just said, "Oh cool! Look at that," and get a few shots off. Kinda lame, I know.

Most of the kids tried hiding next to the building in the shade which wasn't the most photogenic area. I actually saw a couple guys taking kids out and posing them for extensive amounts of time, shaping light, taking meter readings, getting great photos -- I'm sure -- but generally sweating balls out there. However, I'm a run & gunner at events like this, so I decided to go at it as gorilla as possible -- [1] stopped down my camera to darken the scene and brought back my subjects with some diffused flash to avoid the crazy harsh light available, [2] blurred backgrounds with large aperture and focal length to help separate the subject from any distracting elements like ugly building stuff, bags, other people, and general randomness, and [3] shot quick bursts and let the kids pose themselves. Hey, it was crazy hot and I'm generally nonchalant when it's on my dime! I'm really happy with the collection I got. Click on any photo to go to the full exhibit. Let me know what you think!

Here's a selection of some of my favorites:
 
Aaron Brown Photography © 2008 - 2009