The Galaxy-S is poised to sell well as an alternative to the i-Phone 4.
Okay, this isn’t exactly my opinion, but it’s my opinion of a translation of someone else’s opinion.
Another anonymous blogger that I follow, “The Korean” from the blog “Ask A Korean“, actually translated the original text from a Korean language tech blog called Alternative Hypothesis, run by Kim Sang Hoon, who works at the Dong-A Ilbo newspaper. Trying to read it myself would have taken me probably all day, so thanks to “The Korean” for translating.
After reading the translation I can see exactly how Samsung’s marketing strategy is kind of genius. Everyone knows that people want the i-Phone, and the Galaxy-S is… well pretty much the phone that people bought who for some reason or another couldn’t get their hands on an i-Phone. That said, Samsung seems poised to clean up with it.
I’m not going to post the whole article, but the most interesting part of it follows: Continue reading →
I’m really angry right now. How angry? I’m livid. Open your wallet and take out a $50 bill. Now tear it into tiny tiny pieces and burn them. That probably won’t make you as angry as I am, because you’re the one who did it to yourself.
To get as angry as I am, you’ll have to give the $50 to someone you trust, then unexpectedly that person will have to tear your $50 into tiny pieces. Yes, that’s how angry I am.
Why are you so angry?
Well, this is a fairly long story. A story about me being cheap and waiting a long time to buy expensive things so that they will be cheaper because I’m not the kind of idiot who buys something new just because it’s new. All video game consoles are expensive when they first come out, because people can’t wait and they line up at stores to buy them. I laugh at them because when I get around to buying it, it’ll be much cheaper, and I already will know which games and system I want, as I’ve been given ample time to evaluate all the systems before opening up my wallet. And it’s not like I’m not gonna get a chance to play the games if I don’t buy the system. Everyone who has the system is going to call me up and ask me to come play with them.
Well this time around it was the same, and I waited patiently as the Nintendo Wii came out, followed by the Playstation 3. I believe both have been available for 4 years now, and my girlfriend told me that even though I didn’t think I needed another game system that I was going to buy I decided to buy a PS3 and 3 games for only about $320.
The games were pretty fun. I got a lot of playing time out of Prince of Persia. Tekken 6 is great if you have someone to play against, as well as FIFA 2010. All in all I really like the Playstation 3.
One day a gangster got into a fight. He got beaten up pretty bad, so he decided to go to his favorite public bath to wash up. What did the lady who worked there say to him? Continue reading →
Saturday hurt. A lot. The whole country (Korea) was excited all day about the prospect of moving into the quarterfinal. The actual game with Uruguay was almost secondary, and it seemed the majority of TV, people on the street, and the internet pretty much expected Korea to win. The game itself was very good. I think I can safely say that Korea is a stronger team than Uruguay. They ruled the game on ball control, their set plays were better executed, and that Park Jisung is electrifying. But as in all sports, the final score is what matters most. Korea exited the world cup, losing to a team they could have very well defeated. One can only wonder what could have been, if only that free kick had gone into the goal instead of bouncing off the goal.
A bad loss doesn’t usually leave me so depressed, but this loss coupled with the U.S. loss to Ghana just made me want to cry. Ghana is indeed a strong team, and the U.S. defense needs much improvement. That said, this is a game that the U.S. should have won. I don’t know what it was about Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore, but in this game they had so many chances. Altidore is huge, fast, and bulky. I can’t really understand why he’s unable to finish and put the ball into the net. Dempsey had a horrible world cup. His only goal was the blunder by England, and he had other goals taken away from him by the referees. He’s a great player, but this just wasn’t his time.
These two losses hurt. I’m still depressed about them now. I could have dealt with one losing if the other was still alive, but both teams were killed on the same day, but teams they could have very well beaten. Now I have to wait four more years (assuming Korea and the U.S. qualify) to see either of them in the World Cup. It also hurts that my prediction that Korea and the U.S. would meet in the quarterfinal turned out to not even be half true. I should stop making predictions.
At the world cup, we’ve heard our fair share of national anthems, and the Korean national anthem is an interesting song that has an interesting history. The world cup has brought about the best kind of nationalism in Koreans, but there is one feeling that I appreciate more than the nationalistic one that flows through my heartt when I hear the national anthem. It’s a feeling brought about by another song.
The economic contrast between North and South Korea is clear from space.
I choose today to introduce the song because today’s date is June 25th. It is an important day for Korea. It is the day that the Korean War started 60 years ago, in 1950. That pretty much means Korea has been divided for just as long. As such, 3 generations have come of age in the divided Korea, and this song, created shortly after the division happened, calls for the reunification of Korea.
The song is called “우리의 소원은 통일 (Uri e soweon eun tongil)” or Reunification is our wish. Every time I hear this song I almost start to cry. I don’t know what it is about it. I grew up in America and I didn’t even understand the words when I first heard it, but it makes me tear up. Perhaps it’s the children singing it that does it for me. I mean, they don’t deserve to live in a divided country, they’re only children. What do they know of international politics and war?
Perhaps it is the situation in North Korea that makes me emotional. Just look at this picture of the Korean peninsula at night. South Korea is a robust, modern economy. North Korea is.. well, not. The harsh conditions that the people in the north live under is striking, and sad. So perhaps that’s why I am getting emotional.
This song is sung in both North and South alike, and usually in presentation it’s sung by children, because the intent of the song is to portray innocence.
Videos of two renditions of the song with lyrics after the jump Continue reading →
Okay, sorry to all who were expecting prompt information about my experience at the Expo. First, this website is going through a total overhaul. I suspect in the near future that it will be looking different. Between that and other projects at work, in addition to the World Cup, I haven’t had time to update about how awesome the expo was.
Anyway today, as promised, I deliver to you the video I took of the Korea pavilion. My impressions of other pavilions will follow in the coming week.
Okay okay, I know this is a Korea blog, and I know that the World Cup has seemingly taken over my blog. But I have to mention how awesome it is that the United States made it through to the round of 16. Let me tell you how my night of watching it was.
I got home tired from staying up the night before for the Korea game, and being super sluggish all through work. After a nap and dinner I turned on the TV only to find that SBS was only playing the England game, because I guess England is more famous. I heard that the U.S. game was on a cable channel, but I have 500 of them in my directory and only 50 of them work. It would have been impossible to find the right one as with IPTV you have to wait 10 seconds on each channel to see if you can access it or not, so I went to my computer and tried to find it streamed. Most U.S. stream sites were only allowed to stream within the U.S., so I actually ended up settling on one in Arabic. I then assumed incorrectly that I’d be able to use my radio to tune in to AFN for the play by play. AFN didn’t have it on, so that sucked. I searched the bandwidth for Korean radio commentary, only to find that on the radio too, Korea only cares about England! Anyway I’ve been watching replays in many languages on youtube, and I think the ESPN guys did it best.
So what happened?
Not only did the US make it through, but they did so in dramatic fashion, and they won the whole group, ahead of England, which also advanced.
Dramatic Fashion?
Just… watch. Keep in mind this was the 91st minute. If it had remained a draw, the US would have been eliminated. This is basically the most important goal of the 2010 campaign (so far). Some are calling it the greatest goal in U.S. Soccer history. http://www.youtube.com/v/w6T0sIlu-MY&hl=en_US&fs=1&
Edit: FIFA is blocking the top video so I will instead leave you with this awesome fan reaction video
Anyway… my prediction for the US and Korea in the quarterfinal is well on its way to becoming reality.
Korea must beat Uruguay, and US must beat Ghana. Both are entirely possible.
(Edit: What a horrible prediction I made. Neither of that happened.)
Landon Donovan might not be the most handsome athlete ever, but I think I’ll always remember him for one of the most important goals in U.S. soccer history.
Fans of Korea's team react to their team advancing past the first round. Notice the Korea 2022 sign. Yes, Korea wants the world cup again!
So yesterday I watched the first volley of worldcup games in a bar in Jongno. One of the customers was from France and was really excited for their game with South Africa, but SBS was showing the Mexico Uruguay game instead. I guess it doesn’t matter because no matter what happened in the France South Africa game, Mexico and Uruguay both advanced. After that game I went home and tried to stay awake so I could catch Korea vs. Nigeria at 3:30 AM (Korea time). Continue reading →
So one of my readers asked me what the KOR-US FTA was after I mentioned it in the last article about COSTCO and their delicious pizza. I think this shows how long I’ve been in Korea, because I naturally assumed that everyone would know what the KOR-US FTA is, as it’s such a big deal in Korea.
I am smacked back to reality to realize that in the grand scheme of things, in other parts of the world, there isn’t quite any reason for anyone to care about it, as it either doesn’t affect them, or it affects them so little that they don’t really notice it. In Korea, naturally it’s really important, and it’s also quite a politically charged topic.
What does KOR-US FTA stand for?
It means the Korea – United States Free Trade Agreement. Ideally, under free trade agreements, all tariff and taxes on goods are lifted between participating countries. Did you ever wonder why Japanese cars are expensive in the U.S. despite being relatively cheap in Japan? It’s because of the import taxes. The U.S. government basically is taking their cut of your auto purchase.
WHAT? That’s not fair!
Well, there are actually two schools of thought here.
Some would say that the domestic industry needs to be protected against foreign competitors who have a superior product at a cheaper price. They usually cite labor costs in the U.S. for the reason that the American product is so expensive. If people can buy a Honda Accord for less than the price of a Ford Taurus, then nobody would buy a Taurus. The Ford factory would lose massive amounts of business, and thousands of American workers would lose their jobs as a result.
Others would say, yes, that’s not fair and they would want the government to step out and let the market decide. So then if we take our Honda Accord vs. Ford Taurus example, Accords would naturally sell better, but this would force Ford to change their company or product somehow in order to stay competitive.
Eugene is huge! 