Rumble in the Rising Sun!

“We’re back with the YouTube Family Feud. This week we’ve got two awesome contestants…” is how I started the show this time. A few months have passed sine I last recorded a Feud, and this was the first one done in the new apartment (and in front of Jo).

After doing it in this location, I have to say that this set up was perfect. The area for the green screen made the laying in the chroma key filter easy and uniform. Using the H2 as the skype mic and the audio for my video track was easy too – and it provided a nice little extra voice quality for those on the other end.

This YouTube Family Feud features two prominent YouTubers from Japan. EricSurf6 has quite a following and young Philip is a rising star as well. Both gentlemen were great sports and had a lot of fun playing the game. So much so, that editing the show proved to be quite a little challenge in some cases, since there was so much audio overlap. In all, the taping was just a little longer than normal– but editing was still right on par (1 minute of video representing about an hour of editing and rendering).

I hope you enjoy this little show, I know I did!

Monday Mornings…

Dongnimmun

The work week is officially here and I am very happy. Not because I am going to work, but because it’s the last of the Backpack classes. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed teaching the students in the class (and the extra pay that will come with it), but I really hate what it does to my schedule. Normally, teaching for a private academy allows you some great freedom during the day. I mean, usually I don’t go into work until 3pm and then start teaching at 4pm. This gives me the entire day to do chores, explore, and most importantly read and work out. As it stands now, I only have about 30 minutes in the morning to exercise rather than what I’m used to having.

Over the weekend, Jo and I had a blast. Saturday saw us get together with another English Teacher and head over to Yongsan Electronics Market. We were just looking around for a few things to pick up after payday (vacuum) and the other teacher was looking for a new camera. I also wanted to scope out a few mobile phones, since Jo may be needing one soon and I wanted to see what models were available there because I may drop my SK plan and join up with KT when I get her phone. The excursion was a great success for our friend, in that not only did she pick up a new camera, but a rice cooker as well (everyone should have a rice cooker).

That evening, we chilled at home finishing off season two of Veronica Mars. Jo has introduced me to that show and we’ve been plowing through the seasons. We have one season left and then we’ll have to find something new to watch on Tuesday/Thursday nights (and the weekends). We tried watching Leverage, but neither of us was that into it.

Sunday, we met another couple and headed into Seoul. We made three stops: Dongnimmun Park, Seodeomun Prison, and Gyeonghuimun. The three sites are relatively close in the north-western part of Seoul and very cheap to get into (only Seodeomun charges admission). Last night I imported the video from the excursion and will begin editing it this afternoon. I’m really excited to see what Jo and I came up with, since we collaborated on much of the video. I’m also excited, since I found new Final Cut Pro settings that allow me to use the high resolution modes and not have crappy playback.

So… what did you do this weekend?

Repair Land…

Busan (부산), South Korea

And so it is… Today is the day I take my little laptop in again to be repaired at the UBASE facilities. I figured, I’d have them do a few other things to make sure everything is up to snuff before my AppleCare expires next month. Unfortunately, that also means that this is the last entry for a while… but I do have some really cool updates (saving the best for last)!

The first little story to tell revolves around social networking. For years, I’ve been a member on Red vs.Blue. I joined the site when they were making the Blood Gulch Chronicles and stuck around for quite some time. Over the years I met some great friends there and we met in person during the Super Bowl last year in Vegas. Some of the friends on that site, live too far away, but we still keep in touch via Skype and messages.

Well, this past weekend, I got a little help from an online friend. Jo and I went to Costco with a few friends. We needed to do some shopping and get her added to my account. When we went to the Membership counter, they asked for proof that we were married or that we lived together. Since Jo is here on a Tourist Visa and doesn’t have an Alien Card all would have been lost… if it weren’t for my friend Jack. He sent us a Christmas Card and addressed it to us both. That was good enough for the ladies at the counter and now Jo has her own Korean Costco Card (good world-wide). Thanks again Jack!

Continuing on that vein… I got a random Facebook Friends Request the other day (I get a lot from YouTube). I didn’t recognize the name, so I checked it out. It turns out the person was a friend of a friend, so I accepted it… turns out this individual is here in Korea on business for a few weeks and down south in Busan. He asked if we could get together and buy me a drink. Who am I to refuse? Rather than have him come up here, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to explore Busan with Jo for the weekend. So Friday night/Saturday morning we’re going to hop on the train and enjoy the day with some new friends and do a little exploring. Jo’s already found us a place to stay and we’ll be making our reservations today.

Since we’re going to Busan… I’m going to make a travelblog to capture the day. I’ll be using the new camera to do it as well. I’ve also recently found some new things about the device, which I’m really happy about. While recording at 24mbs creates excellent video quality, after expanding it with AIC, the file sizes are huge (gigabytes in size). Also the uncompressed bitrates are massive! I can play the files with no problem on my system, but Final Cut chokes on them. I recently found out that recording the files at a resolution of 12mps or less, still creates a great movie file… but more importantly, Final Cut can read them as native files (after the AIC export) and I don’t have to render them in program to edit. This is a massive time-saver (and very geeky of myself… I know).

I discovered all this while making the first of two UCCs for my intensive class. I still don’t know what I’m going to do for my second video, but you can see my students and experience the Backpack Song for yourself. It took about 45 minutes to shoot the video, since the kids are so young and were going every which way but loose. Trying to get them to understand how a green screen works was almost impossible. Needless-to-say, I won’t be using that in my second video. I still have one more to do, and I’ll probably be using my external mic to record dialog with them. But that will be next week!

The last little update is a bit of good great news! Jo originally came out here on a Tourist Visa for 50 days. Since we’re still going through all the red tape to get married, her visa was set to expire next week. We called Immigration to see if there would be a way to extend her visit. They said she would be able to stay a full 90 days. So we went down to the office, filled out the paperwork, and got her visit extended. Now she’ll be here through March! I just hope we can get all the wedding stuff finished by then!

Ok, this has gone on long enough. I’ll see you all on the flip side when I get my computer back!

First!

Seoul Tower

I hope that everyone is continuing to have a great first weekend in 2010. Jo and I are enjoying our last few days of vacation and took the opportunity to travel with some friends into Seoul on 010110. Our destination: Namsan Seoul Tower.

It’s a large needle sitting on top of Namsan Mountain in the middle of a large park and adjacent to the remnants of the Seoul Fortress Wall. It’s also one of the most recognized landmarks around Seoul, since it can be seen from everywhere.

One of the things I really like about the Seoul Tower area is the park. There is a great network of trails up, down, and across the mountain, that allows the pedestrian to explore some very historic areas of central Seoul. On our visit, we opted to not do that for two reasons:

1) It was below freezing.

2) Even though my socks were doubled, my toes were freezing off.

We DID, however, opt to hike up the mountain from the National Theater and grabbed some great shots of the freshly fallen snow. Like most mountain trails here in Korea, they are really done up right with some great wooden accents and plenty of benches to rest and relax on. My favorite places to stop for a bit are the shaded pavilions where you can catch a nice little snooze in the summer.

When we made it up to the top of the trail, we paused for a bit so that I could warm up my toes and peruse the gift store. Jo and I quickly found two items we couldn’t live without: a cellphone charm of the tower to add to our Christmas Tree next year and a lock.

Now purchasing a lock at a gift shop may sound a bit strange, but there’s a long tradition of couples purchasing locks and affixing them to the railings around the base of the tower. In facts, the locks are sold without keys (in many cases) as a sign of everlasting love. So Jo and I found a little cute lock (without a key) and took it to the overlook.

We then bought our tickets and went up the tower.

I thought it was amazing how fast the elevators took you up to the observation deck. I mean, one second you’re in the basement… then a few later you’re 370m meters up in the air. Like all towers, there are restaurants, cafes and gift shops, but what really makes the W7000 ticket worth while is the view. I don’t recall how long we spent up there, but it was long enough to really get a good feel for the city. We even got to see the sun set and Seoul come to life at night.

The following day we returned to Seoul to see Avatar in 3D at the Gangnam CGV. We had been hearing from friends around the globe (and my mother especially) that it was an awesome film – one that should be seen in the new 3D theaters. I have to agree. While the story isn’t new, the graphics are stunning. They are even more spectacular in digital 3D (I think that this is the first 3D movie I’ve seen since House of Wax in the 1970s). If you haven’t seen the film… fork over the cash and do it. This is a film that should be seen on the big screen. The pacing is great and doesn’t seem like a 3 hour film.

The Rattlesnake Adventure

Coming from the American Southwest, I have an affinity for being outside and wild animals. Recently, I was given a package containing a dozen preserved rattlesnake eggs from my home state of Arizona. Come explore the history of this amazing animal and the technology behind egg preservation.

The gift-giver: http://www.youtube.com/ericsurf6
The Assistant: http://www.youtube.com/tea113

An outing!

Admiral Yi

One of the things I never understand about some who come to Korea to teach is why they don’t ever take the time to discover the cultural wonders that are in their own back yards. This week, I had the pleasure of meeting two new English Teachers to Dongtan and they were excited to come out and explore a little of Seoul with me. While my adventure was nothing special, it did show these two newbies some of the wonders that await in their 12 months to come.

King Sejeon

What I had wanted to do was check out Gwanghwamun (광화문) Plaza, since so much time and effort was taken to build the plaza while reconstruction of the gate is being carried out. What once was 18 lanes of traffic, is now 12, with the center island a beautiful park with statues devoted to Admiral Yi and King Sejong. In fact, underneath the statue of King Sejong is an elaborate museum dedicated to Korea’s greatest ruler.

Since Gwanghwamun (광화문) Plaza serves as the southern entrance to Gyeongbokgung (경복궁), I decided to take these two lovely teachers into the palace to let them experience a little of Korea’s history. It was a lovely fall day, and while it was overcast, the colors came out and provided some great sights.

Hyangwonjeong (향원정)

I especially enjoyed coming back here, since it gave me a few new ideas for some future videos about the palace once the gate opens in 2010. It was also fun revisiting the palace, as there’s always something new to learn and see. I especially enjoyed seeing fall colors reflected in the lakes.

I can’t wait to return here with Jo. She has a passion for exploring these places as well, and the next time we go, I’ll have more information to share with her as well as a better plan on how to get there quickly so we can take advantage of the Korean National Folk Museum that is adjacent to the property and Blue House.

The trip was also a good way for Brook and Tonita (the new teachers) to get used to traveling in Seoul. We took an express bus into Seoul and then transferred to a City bus to get to our destination. On the way home we took a cab, train, subway, and city bus. It provided a great learning experience on how anyone can get anywhere without a car here. Plus it also showed them a lot of Dontan, Gangnam, and Seoul.

I hope your Saturday was a fun-filled as mine. Tomorrow, I’ll be putting the final touches on the documentary I’ve been working on and hope to have it live on YouTube in two weeks. Until then, i’ll leave you with this:

Click the Image to see more

The party is over…

The Main Corner at Night

The sun came up Monday morning, signaling two things… One, that the Chuseok (추석) holiday is officially over for me and two, that I must return to work this evening. Well, maybe…

Starting Friday, I’ve been battling a little illness in my left eye. It’s been red and achy, but not what I would really call infected. however, when I work up this morning, it was all gunked up, a sure sign that it really is and I’ve probably contracted Pink Eye. That really sucks on several levels, since I hate it when my eyes are like this. Plus, I only have a few sick days each year. I really don’t want to burn one for this, but I’ll see what the doctor says later today.

I’m also quite pissed that this all started on October 1, the day I put new contacts in my eyes. I did that of course… only to throw them out. Then yesterday, when things looked they were all aces in my eyes, I put fresh one in. Now, I’ll have to toss those as well. Which means, that I’ve wasted a month’s worth of contact lenses in two days. Maybe I’ll wear glasses through the end of October to make up for it.

Since last night was the end of Chuseok (추석), I was invited over to a friend’s place for dinner. We sampled various Korean traditional dishes and had a little wine, soju, and scotch. The event started at 6pm and after a few hours of talking, we wound up at the norebang (노래방).

I was just going to return home, but Berry insisted that I go. So, who am I to disappoint? The entire evening was fantastic. It was hosted by three of my closest Korean friends (Cindy, Gina, and Tiffany) that I see almost on a daily basis at the coffee shop.

They are a great bunch of women (sorry guys, they are all taken) who really reach out to foreigners to make them feel at home.

Two other things I though were interesting this long weekend surround my life here. First, it appears that two of my videos from last year have been featured on YouTube. They really aren’t anything special in terms of production value, but just me sitting in front of the camera. The first one was recorded a few days after I got to Korea in 2008, right before I was going to move into my apartment and I received my Mobile Phone. The other one was related to education and recounted the story of a student melting down in class.

Lastly, I have to give kudos to my school. Today is October 5th – Payday! However, when I went to the bank over the weekend, I saw that I had already been paid… on September 30th. How cool is that? How thoughtful! It was something completely unexpected and much appreciated. The owner didn’t have to pay early, since today is not a bank holiday or the weekend, but took the time out to make sure we had our funds in. That is the mark of a great man and owner. I’ve said it many times, and each time I sincerely mean it, this is probably the best place I’ve worked for.

Until next time…

Cheers!

A great little night…

Last night I had the opportunity to finally meet someone I had wanted to for a long time. You see, when I first found out I where I was going to be living in Korea, I decided to do a quick Google search for any blogs about the region. What I found was Jason’s blog about Dongtan.

i was instantly captivated by the blog, since unlike so many others I have read, he was not bitching and complaining about Korea, his school, and life in general. It was quite refreshing, especially since the blog I stumbled upon right before his was from a guy from Perth, Australia who came to teach English… and two days later was already planning his “escape.”

One of the other things I really enjoyed about Jason’s blog is that it focuses on photography. Coming from that background, I really have enjoyed seeing his work progress. Plus, in the time leading up to my return, it helped me get excited about seeing some of the great sights once more. In fact, this weekend, I’m planning on retracing my walking tour steps, but this time making sure the video camera heads are cleaned!

So where am I going with is???

Over the past few months, Jason and I had started exchanging posts on blogs and emails. Furthermore, since the ex-pat community is quite small in Dongtan, I quickly realized that we also have a number of friends in common (small world, eh?). Originally we had planned on getting together for dinner last week… but something came up (like dental work – you can read all about it on his blog), so we canceled and pushed things back to this week.

Over the course of an hour, we ate a huge plate of the Frypan’s fried chicken, potato chips, and a couple of 700cc beers. It was really nice to connect with him in person after reading so much about his life here in Dongtan. While, he’s only here for two more months before heading back to the US, I hope we’ll continue to build on this friendship and see each other a few more times.

Following dinner, I made my way upstairs to the Cafe where my old friend Kim See In used to work. He had called to let me know that he was in town with a few friends that I had to meet. What I was greeted with was not what I expected.

It was an upper management from one of the local semiconductor plants that spoke almost flawless English. Usually when I’m invited to such gatherings a little English is passed back and forth and See In translates for both parties. This time different, the guest did the translating. It was quite refreshing, since on this occasion, I learned why See In has taken such a liking to me: it’s the fact that he’s never seen a westerner come to Korea with such a desire to not only explore the history of the land, but research and understand the culture. I never thought my attitude was all that special, but it appears to have really made an impact, and for that, I am glad. Truth be told, I’ve missed hanging out with See In since he’s moved away. It was always nice to meet up with him for a drink or two and trade languages back and forth. Plus, the singing was always a lot of fun.

That brings me to the point of the latter part of this entry: Karaoke. It’s no secret that karaoke was invented in the Philippines and that the Japanese really perfected the art of building machines to play music so that people could sing along with it. But what I didn’t learn until last night (and still haven’t been able to confirm) is that the social aspect of singing in front of friends has its roots deep within Korean culture. Hundreds of years ago, it was tradition to have a great big meal as a gathering of family and friends. Then, following the meal, instruments would be brought into the room and those attending would take turns providing the musical entertainment.

After the Japanese conquered Korea at the start of the 20th century, they took that notion and combined it with the Philippine invention to come up with what we refer to as singing rooms and noraebangs (노래방). And as great as those inventions are (hell even the North American style isn’t all that bad), there is something a lot more enjoyable when you are singing with a band behind you. That is the defining difference between the social element in Korean singing lounges and the noraebangs: the live band. If you ever get a chance to visit a live cafe in Korea – do it! They are and awesome way to down a few beers, shoot back some whiskey, and have an all around great time!

It wasn’t all a bust!

The Gang

I’m sitting here on a cloudy and overcast Sunday typing and enjoying some fresh green tea from the Philippines. There really isn’t thing like this back in the US or here in Korea and I am very thankful to Jo for sending this to me. I’ve really missed having it after meals or when I just want to chill. Originally I had planned to head into Seoul today to explore Namsan and the Seoul Tower, in the hopes of scouting out a location for a YouTube Gathering (I want to call it the Soul of Seoul Gathering).

But alas, things don’t always go as planned. Because I wanted to make a video of the location, as well as some other places in downtown, I scrapped the idea. Furthermore, being up until 5am is a definite damper on going out all day. Originally, I hadn’t planned on staying out as late as I did, but as with all things in Korea, when you’re with friends and having a great time, the hours pass quickly and before you realize it, you find yourself looking at your watch and saying to yourself, “How did it get to be 4am?”

The night started out with two friends joining me in Central Park for a little golf. Even though, I had my camera with me, I elected not to take pictures, since the lighting was a bit dark. (I plan on returning and really filming the outing in HD, along with the other amenities of the park.) Even though this was not a challenging course, the first five holes caused Tasha, Vincent, and myself a great deal of stress in trying to hit the over-sized plastic balls with the golf mallets. It was fun and not a bad deal for W7,000.

Following the game, we chilled in front of the Family Mart for a while, until a very oinebreated Korean man pestered us to the point to where we had to leave. Normally, things don’t get to me, but this guy wouldn’t let the fact that he thought Tasha was attractive go – or for that matter, that he thought she was a Russian Prostitute. He kept asking us “How much?” while we politely ignored him. But he got a little more bold and wound up spitting on Vincent’s shirt. It was then we decided to take off for a bit.

A little later, we met up with two new friends, Richard and his girlfriend, Stephanie.We enjoyed a great meal and then headed out for some bowling. As always, that was a blast. Since the alley doesn’t serve alcohol, we brought our own in. I wasn’t nearly as focused as I was the previous outing, but still enjoyed myself, which is key! Following our game, Vincent popped into the lounge to update his Facebook Status, and he received a good ribbing for that!

The night then took us to the Wa Bar for a few drinks and then Alice’s for a 90 minute Norebang session. Richard is a few years, my junior, but grew up with the same musical background, so my favorite moments were jamming to the selected Billy Joel numbers. That’s right… We didn’t start the fire baby!

Then it was 4am.

So we retired to my apartment for some chill time and one last drink and a few tunes and videos. It really was a great night. I’m looking forward to getting together with them again soon!

I hope your Saturday night was as eventful and fun as mine!