Judged: Lotte World

Four out of five (80%) people agree, Lotte World is a good place (5th person is taking the picture, naturally).  I didn't even have to use a computer machine to figure out that figure.  Figures.  Can you tell who didn't care for it?

Lotte World is a place where magic flows and dreams come true.  A tiny indoor and outdoor theme park in the middle of Jamsil in Seoul, Korea.  It has a castle, raccoon  mascots and Disney's still pulsing heart powering it all.  The problem is, the heart was willing to make something grand and unusual but the body is six feet under.  I suppose if you hit the jump you will fall into a rabbit hole only to come out in China instead of Wonderland.

Sunday Herald

What has been going on in Korea the past week or two?  Well, you're about to find out.  In this weekly or bi-weekly perusing of the going-ons on this neat little peninsula.

We all know Starcraft is a big deal in Korea but the Starcraft 2 Beta that came out not too long ago is another monster.  Hardcasual

South Korea, known for an exceptionally high national APM rating (actions per minute), now stands like an ant hill, a barren exterior enclosing a population busying beneath with menial labor. But while an ant colony’s actions provide for the greater good, these South Koreans engage in self-centered Player vs Player matches, unflappable in their pursuit of nothing more than a commendable win/loss ratio.

The Touring Machine: Part Deux

 The not-so-theoretical touring machine continues!  This time around we're checking out The National Museum of Korea, N-Seoul Tower and Myeongdong, though I have little to say about Myeongdong since we spent very little time there due to time constraints.  Maybe that's another topic for another day.  In the mean time, take a look at ancient emoticons and guardrails that lover's don't want you to steal.

Redlight Entertainment

Lee Mi Sook - Proof that Asians, are, in fact, better than white chicks. Now I just need to get a job in construction with the mob.

It's official, Hollywood may not be as sleazy as I thought it was.  You could say I'm not one of the gossiping types, however the Korean Herald has a pretty staggering report about Korean actresses and what exactly many of their jobs entail. 

In the survey conducted by the Korean Women’s Development Institute last year on 111 actresses, 60.2 percent of respondents answered that they had been asked to sleep with rich and powerful figures...also said that such “sponsor” relationships are quite common

Man oh man!  What some men would do to get a piece of these ladies! Apparently, you just have to strike it rich, be an asshole and commit some form of sexual harassment and/or assault, then, BOOM you're golden! You got yourself one of the sexiest ladies in Korea.

More startling facts here!

Thanks to mehdi for this post and the rest of Asianbiz blog, good stuff.

The Touring Machine: Part 1

Yes, I just called myself a Touring Machine, not to be confused with the device made by Allan Turing. Why? Well, that's what I did for a couple days two weeks back. There are some pretty cool sights here in Seoul like N-Seoul Tower, Gyeongbokgung Palace and Myeongdong to name a few.  Go Turing, ah, Touring too by interwebbing with me below.

Well, They Avoided a Direct Hit...

...however, they still sank. According to a Korean paper written in English, The Korean Herald, the ongoing investigation into how and why the South Korean ship, Cheonan, is now 20,000 leagues under the sea has been followed by just about every Korean I have come across. Apparently, the ship was never meant to be directly hit in the first place.  Read the story here. Speculation and conspiracy ahoy!

YO BRO YOU TROLLIN'!!!

The Korean Hearld, my favorite English paper in Korea, picked up an article by Mr. Garrison Keillor.  He speaks the stuff the Trolls and performs his Trollspeak quite well.  Why does he remind me of Roger Ebert?  Who knows!  Do the click thing on the link to read moar because the moar the you know....