Tourist for a day

that's right tourist, if you know me personally you know I hate Tourist. But since I went to see a friend there I thought i'd let her show me around the way she wanted to. Althought i have to go back to Seoul becasue I'd really like to see Seoul Action School. I had to take the subway from Incheon to Seoul in order to meet my friend (she's from there but I met her in chicago at school). The first place we went to (in Seoul) was 덕수궁 - Deoksugung


There we saw a changing of the guard, when we started to look around I tried the best i could to take pictures of only the guards. I thought it was kinda foolish to stand next to them and pose. So I just took their pic, there were other touist trying on costumes to wear as they posed. I told Jini to try it one so that I could take a pic of her in it. She said that she would if I did it as well, of course I said no but if I wanted to get a pic of her in that dress then I was going to have to do it as well.So I did and I got the pic but not before we got a pic standing next to the guard. If you're wondering where those pics are don't worry because you won't see them. As we took our costumes off we missed the tour bus.


As we were waiting for the bus we noticed a water foutain across the street so we deicided to walk over and take a look. We saw some children playing in the water (it was a hot and humid day), I thought this was a perfect photo op. So I took a few shots. But if you weren't getting wet there really wasn't much to do. We we walked back across the street and waited for the bus.

The next stop on the tour was The National Museum of Korea. Where we rushed through to see as much as we could. they had lots of cool historic peices in thier collection. By that time we got a little hungery so we went to the resturant in the museum and had lunch, some shaved ice with red beans and fruit. She said it tastes better if you mix everything up and then eat it and she was right. I thought it tasted better after some of the ice melted and it was a little more soupy. We rushed through the Museum again to finish looking and get on the next bus, which we missed again. So we looked around outside in the Meseum garden till the next bus arrived.

The next stop was Seoul Tower, which was basically 360degree view from the top. With a quick martial art show at the base of the tower. Sorry no pics, it's almost the same type of pic as when I climbed to the top of that moutain in Incheon. The next stop on the tour was Dongdeamun market. when I saw it i fell in love, it reminded of the maxell street fle market (now located on canal). I had to have look around since I recently started going back to the fle market in chicao. I told her i wanted to try a street vender. In films i always see a scene where a character eats at street vender.








we didn't find one that sold fish cakes like i wanted to try but we did find one laday selling food. i grabed a big chicken on a stick which tasted like orange chicken. only more chruncher we also went to Insadong market, i would write more about them but I have other stuff to do now. Also i'm going back to those places today to do some shopping. So i'll talk more about them later.

Korea day 3 : Night life

As it still raining I thought i'd write another blog entery. Before I came to Korea I had written Kimmy lots of e-mails. She had mentioned a few times how she doesn't like the area. When I arrived at 7am I looked as some of the buildings the cab driver had passed. I started to suspect about what kinda of area i'm staying in. The pic above is from the view in my apartment at about 6pm. Last night was friday night so i figured that i'd take a stroll down the street to see what it looks like at night with all the lights.
As I left my apartment this is the first view you get at night from across the street. I thought i should take a pic so that I show people, maybe it was the rain or maybe it was because it was still kinda early (about 10pm) but the streets weren't as crowded as i thought they would be. Maybe i'll go out again tonight to see if there are more people out. As I started to head back I did see a bunch of women going to another club. Most of the clubs had "door men" or guys in button up shirts trying to get people to come in. It was kinda funny because of some them i guess were trying to get me to come in but stopped. As I walked by they opened they mouth as if they were going to call out to me but then as I got closer they didn't say anything. I guess since i'm a foreigner they thought I wouldn't understand and for the most part they were right. But i'm old enought to know what they're doing in front of the building.

I took this pic because the street reminded me of the trailer to one of my Favorite films. In English is called A Dirty Carnival but in Korean it's
비열한 거리 I think becasue it was a small side street, anyway i'll attach the trailer so you would know what i'm talking about. Also the film is realy good and I think Dragon Dynasty has the U.S. rights to it, either way I'm sure you'll be able to find the DVD. Then again maybe i'll attach a link to where you can order it.
A Dirty Carnival (teaser)

http://www.yesasia.com/global/search/a-dirty-carnival/0-0-0-bpt.48_q.a+dirty+carnival-en/results.html

If you keep walking around you see lots of sings like this as well, my Korean is not so good but it reads as Motel "Joo Ja Jang" or "Joo Cha Jang". I don't think it means anything it could just be the Name. There are also lots of resturants and mini marts in the area, if your singing and dancing your going to get pretty hungery. Since I'm not sure how crowded it gets i'm not sure how full these places get. Maybe i'll have another look on Tonight.

Day 2 in Korea, My Korean Name is 하강호

Today it rained again in Korea, so my plans for a 7am work out with Kimmy and her friend were cancled. I kinda figured a much when I woke up by 4:30 am when I heard lighting. The funny thing is on my first night here I thought I felt the building move in my sleep. Don't ask me how but I sweat I felt the building move while I was sleeping. I woke up as soon as i flet it slapping my hand to the floor. When they started showeing news on TV it said that there was an earthquake in Japan. I thought
maybe i did feel it then. Or maybe, you know how sometimes when someones in trouble and they call out to someone. The other person says that they could feel being called for help. The only thing I would say to that is why would she call out to me.

Anyway back to my 7am workout with Kimmy. Needless to say it didn't happen, she showed up around 7:40 saying that she was late. She woke up when her friend called her at seven saying that she forgot to wake up. Kimmy had asked me yesterday if there was anything else i wanted to do. I asked if "The Good The Bad and The Weird" was playing yet. She called her friend and she said that it was. Later she introdouced me to Eun Young and she drove us around for the day. She took us out for breakfast and then to a department store where they had a cinema as well and we saw The Good The Bad and The Weird.

Kimmy had to go to work soon after so she left me with Eun Young to help her Niece and Nephew with their english. After they introduced themselves and their english names "Leo" asked me if i had a Korean name. (when Koreans start to learn english they are usually asked to pick an English name to help them want to learn) I told Leo my Korean name was 병헌 like 이병헌 because he's one of my favorite actors. Eun Young just laughed and said that I should be 강호 after 송강호. She said because we booth have chubby faces. This morning i was telling the story to Kimmy, and she asked what I said to Leo. I told her Byeong Heon, then she said that I should choose 우성 "I like Woo Seong" she said. Then i told her what Eun Young said and she said that was perfect. And since my last name begins with an H my Korean last name should be Ha. So my Korean name is "Ha Kang Ho"

As for day three there isn't really one, Kimmy helped me get internet so I stayed in all day contacting all my friends and family about how to get in contact with me while i'm here

Hello My Name is Leo
Hello my Name is Annie
Eun Young and Family

Korea

well, i've been gone for a while But I'm back again and this time i'm in Korea. I was actually surprised by the flight because we didn't fly over the Pacific as I thought we would. We flew north over canada and then west stright to Russia and then south Over China. We didn't fly over the ocean until we came near North Korea. Also I wasn't as bored as I thought as I was going to be. I ended up watching only one movie because it took me a while to actually use the entertainment systems. I was also surprised at how much food they gave us, we had two meals and a snack. Which were given about five hours apart.
Two hours after takeoff dinner was served. I choose to have the traditional Korean meal, which was better than I expected. I had never had Korean food before. I had Soba Noodles and Bi - Bim - Bab. For the snack they gave a mini sandwhich. And for breakfast I had pancakes with sausage. The only movie I saw on the plain was A Man Who Was Superman - 슈퍼맨이었던 사나이. It was your typical Korean film, it started out like a warm hearted comedy and then it went into a drama with a sad ending. All I will say is "Superman" althought I did find Jeon Ji-hyeon to look more attractive then in other films. Especially when she's Lois Lane.



Afer the plane had landed it was a quick walk through immigration and then customs. Since i'm only staying just shy of 30 days i don't need a visa and nothing to declare I walked right though. I went to baggage calim and then to arrivals. But my ride didn't show up. I heard later from Kimmy that he was on his way, but by then I was already in a taxi. It was a good thing that I changed some money soon after claiming my bag. Kimmy asked why didn't I call but my phone had no service. I ended up buying a new phone yesterday to get service. But spent an hour today deleating all the unwanted pictures, it was a used phone.


On the day I arrived, i went to the apartment that Kimmy had told me about. but since she still had work it was a quick tour along with a quick tour around the are to see where the subway is for travel later, the market where I can get most of my supples but only till the end of August. Then they close for remodeling and last was an eltronics store for my to get an adapator because they use different plus here in Korea. After she left since I had no way to communicate with any of my friends i went near one of th areas where we passed by before. I had seen a templeing looking structure on top of a moutain, at least i thought it was a moutain it could have been a hill. Either way when she left I was bored and I went looking for it and decided to get to the top. luckily for me i found one of the hardest paths to climb not to mention that it was very humid so when I got down I was covered in swet. I went back to the apartment took a shower and called it a night.

Funny

This is old info that I just found it and thought I should share it with you guys and gals

Bluetooth bikini sews up iPod apparel market


Korean company JWin has developed a bikini top with controls sewn in, allowing the wearer to perform all the usual options, from adjusting the volume to selecting tracks. JWin didn't indicate where you should slip your iPod - anywhere you like, presumably, since the controls are wireless, connecting to a dongle on the music player.JWin has a solid background in the development of iPod accessories and is already fairly well known for its iLuv brand. But will ladies take to their hearts fumbling around with their swimwear in order to listen to their favourite songs?

Busy!!

Not sure if anyone actually reads this blog, but I've been pretty busy lately. Not only has school started, but I recently started working with my uncle to start saving money for a trip to Korea this summer.

Anyway as for school i've been pretty busy with learning different types of film and cameras. Not only that but I've also had to learn different types of cameras. Not to mention I have to get back with my contact about finding an internship since I'm so close to graduating from school.

Here's a few pics to show people what I mean by busy;



This is a densitometer used, to read color saturation on film which I would need to know to record "Gamma" or make a density chart.



just a pic to show what a density chart looks like

Here's a long list of cameras I should know by now. How do set diopters, mount lenses, and load film. The names of the camera type/models are under the photos



Bolex



Krasnogorsk or K3



Arriflex M



Arriflex S


Arriflex BL



Arriflex 35-III (Arri 35-3)



Arriflex IIC (Arri 2c)

Not to mention other things like film stock, and aspect ratio and Perforations (number of holes per frame)

I only have a few for 16mm, and more for 35mm




16mm film



different types of 16mm film



35mm film undeveloped



35mm film aspect ratio

Look at all that and tell me i haven't been busy

I'm Back

Apart from being lazy, I've been very busy this semester at Film School. I haven't been watching as many films as I like to but I have been making quite a few. As of now I made a total of 12 films, with me either as an actor, cameraman, director, etc. I'm currently working on my final film for production II class. Along with one from image design and a few more for optical printing. Anyway today as I was walking down the street trying to avoid working on my films I decided to go into "Borders". I only went because I knew the comic shop downtown was closed. So I went in looking for the New Issues of Giant Robot and AsianCultCinema.















Well I found them, and like always I was quite pleased with the new Issue of Giant Robot, and again disappointed in AsianCultCinema. The more I learn about film the more I learn that the guys who write AsianCultCinema magazines don't know what the hell they're talking about, and what they really like to do is look at nude Asian women. In the current issue of AsianCultCinema they have an interview with actress Maggie Q, and they just happen to have a pic of her topless there. Also in her interview they ask if she has any nude scenes in her upcoming film "The Tourist".

One thing I noticed about Giant Robot is that it's has a lot more adds then before, which I guess is a good thing because it means that people are reading the magazine and they get more money with more adds which means more magazines in the future. If you never read Giant Robot I say get on it. It's a magazine about asian pop culture with a stong focus on Asian American artist/art and culture experience. This is their 50th issue which is kinda a big thing for them considering their first magazine was made entirely by hand.