Articles by mgedwards

Rain’s Coming

Last night my wife and I attended Korean pop megastar Rain’s concert to promote his fourth, soon-to-be-released album, “Rain’s Coming.”  One of my coworkers gave me two VIP tickets to Rain’s concert at Olympic Stadium in Jamsil (south Seoul).  About 40,000 fans showed up to cheer the Korean pop star whose vocals and music style are one part Usher, one part Justin Timberlake, and one part Michael Jackson (yes, the King of Pop) minus the crotch grabbing.  Rain is the English translation of his Korean name, “Bi” or “Pi.”  Rain has been making waves on both sides of the Pacific, especially after his appearance on MTV‘s Total Recall earlier this year.  His image has shifted somewhat from that of a Korean entertainer to that of an international persona.  My wife, who’s more up on Korean pop (K-pop) than I am, told me that Rain is planning an English language album to break into the U.S. market.  Mainstream pop artists who want to make it big in the U.S. ultimately need to sing in English, although some foreign language songs do become runaway hits (e.g. “Macarena,” a Spanish-language song, and “Da Da Da,” a German song).  “Rain’s Coming” is Rain’s prelude to hitting the U.S. music scene in full force.
I enjoyed the concert.  The stage show was excellent, although I was a bit perturbed by the opening sequence depicting Rain as a military helicopter pilot shot down during a fire fight.  Recalling the horror my father went through during the Vietnam War when his helicopter was shot down by enemy fire along the DMZ, I was not happy to see Rain incorporate such horror into his show.  He has no idea what hell guys like my father went through when they’re shot down and have to fight for their lives on the ground in a hostile environment.  (For a glimpse of what it’s like to be shot down in a helicopter over enemy territory, try watching “Blackhawk Down.”)  I think war is inglorious and should not be part of a concert stage show.  Despite this, the show’s visual effects, particularly Rain’s transformation into an angel, were absolutely stunning.  It is the most professional stage show I’ve seen since my wife and I went to Barenaked Ladies’ “Maroon” concert a few years ago.  My wife thoroughly enjoyed the concert, as did the thousands of screaming fans yelling all around me.  I felt like a middle-aged fuddy duddy in the middle of a crowd of Gen Y youths, and I’m not even that old!  At times, I found my foot tapping to some of the music, and I had to make myself stop.  I’m not supposed to like K-pop ala NSync.  Fortunately, I was sitting next to another coworker in her 50’s.  She is an unabashed Rain fan and loved the concert.  She took some photos of the concert and will send them to me next week.  When she does, I will post them on this blog.  You’ll see them here first.
Perhaps the most tragic moment of the concert happened when we were assigned to new seats because the concert promoters accidentally issued two tickets for each seat in the VIP area.  When the real ticket holders arrived to take their seats, we were in them.  We explained that the ushers put us there, but they refused to move even after the ushers asked them to move.  I felt badly taking their seats, but we had no control over the chaos down on the floor in front of the stage.  If I had my druthers, I would have moved, but our group did not want to move.  After about 20 minutes, the ticket holders we displaced finally gave up and moved to different seats.  It took a lot of cajoling and irrational Korean dialogue to resolve the issue.  I sat quietly and thanked my stars that I can’t argue well in Korean!  They left me alone because I’m a foreigner.
Blog Notes:  I was offline for a couple days because my computer monitor burned out last Thursday.  It’s nigh impossible to use a computer when you can’t see anything!  I went to the store today and bought a beautiful 19-inch Sony monitor.  It’s almost too nice for the computer I’ve been using!  Very easy on the eyes.
As expected, Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon was elected by the United Nations to serve as its next Secretary-General.  Congratulations, Korea and Mr. Ban.  Make us all proud.  Also in the news today–traces of radioactivity have apparently been found in the air near the site of the alleged nuclear test in North Korea.  The UN Security Council agreed on a draft of sanctions against North Korea.  Hold on tight.  We could be in for a bumpy ride.

The stiletto heel dance

This may be funny to some but not to others.  Korean women often wear high-heeled shoes.  Stiletto-heeled shoes are especially fashionable.  It’s not so fashionable, though, to get those stilettos caught in pavement crevasses or between cobblestones while walking on the street.  Every once in awhile, while one walks through the streets of Seoul, one notices a stylishly-dressed woman suddenly stop, look down, back up, lift her leg slightly, and then move forward again, as if pirouetting during a dance sequence.  Most of these ladies seem well-trained in the art of keeping their dignity intact while extracting their heels from offending crevasses.  They make it look good rather than embarassing, and effortless to boot.  The odds are good that walking in Seoul wearing stiletto heels will inevitably result in such incidents.  It makes me glad that I don’t wear stiletto-heeled shoes.

Still here

Yes, it is still here.  Yes, we are still here.  Despite North Korean claims that it had conducted an underground nuclear test yesterday morning, life in Seoul was fairly calm by Korean standards.  The air was a bit more agitated than usual with news of the test and with new Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in town for a visit with Korean President Roh Moo-hyun.  I spent the afternoon touring the Insadong area of Seoul with my mom.  (During our tour yesterday, we spotted Abe’s wife Akie strolling through the shopping area).  The air was truly still–no public panics, no riots, no protests, virtually nothing happened.  If the news is indeed true, it seemed almost anticlimactic, but that’s fine with me.  We are still here, and that’s good.  If we weren’t, that would probably be bad.  For those in the U.S. wondering whether this will lead to the unthinkable, rest assured that at this moment, life seems to be focused on business as usual in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula.
 
Few really know what truly happened yesterday in North Korea.  Some experts even speculate that the "test" was a ruse by the North Koreans to convince the world they had detonated an atomic device, when they really had not.  Right now, speculation about what happened is running rampant, and the Powers That Be are huddling behind closed doors around the world, trying to decide how to respond to North Korea’s claims, sorting through the evidence to discern the truth.  No matter what, I hope that North Korea’s claims that whatever happened was fully contained are in fact true, because I don’t want anyone–particularly my family–exposed to any radiation drifting down from the North.