Chillin.

I realize that I haven’t blogged for awhile. Lately, I haven’t been doing too much – or anything too crazy. Actually, this past week I’ve been sick which means I’m stuck at home most of the time.

Previous to this week though, I have been out and about a little bit. Two weekends ago I ventured into downtown Seoul just because I haven’t been in some time. That was a mistake. I had forgotten the amount of people that also like to shop on Saturdays. I was truly a bit overtaken. Stressed even. So I decided not to return there – possibly ever.

This last weekend, Kevin teacher came to visit Bundang and so Will, Kev and I had a rollicking good time in our apartment. It’s always good to catch up with Kevin – makes me realize how important he was when working in Suji. He does seem to be enjoying being a university professor though. I think the pinnacle of that night was throwing mandarin oranges as each other.

Since then, I haven’t felt great. Not a serious cold but enough to slow things down. As a result, I’ve spent copious amounts of time indoors watching TV programs. The first of these is a series called The Lost Room. A friend tipped me off on this bizarre show – and it came highly recommended. At first, I was a little skeptical but I was hooked quite quickly. This show originally aired on the SCIFI network so, as you can imagine, the story is a bit “out there.”

The basic premise is that there’s an old hotel room that exists out of time or space – filled with objects that all have special powers in this world. The main character loses his daughter in the room and is forced to use the objects to get her back. There are only 6 episodes but it’s a well-written story.

The second series I obtained from a friend here: Brandon. It’s titled Ghost in the Shell and was released in 2002. This is a Japanese animated TV series that was first a comic book and movie before appearing on television. Brandon is my go-to guy when it comes to anime as he has already put in the time critiquing the good and the bad. I was blown away by this series though – on several levels.

First, the animation is incredible - detailed and very futuristic looking. Second, the music is interesting and original. And last, the story is fantastically done – dealing with intellectual and philosophical issues. The basic story follows an elite cyborg police squadron as they fight cyber-crimes in the future. It’s interesting because it raises issues of man vs. machine or human existence vs. computer A.I.

I’ll leave it there for now. I’ll try and be back soon!

-Paul