The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America posted their 2010 Nebula Award Nominees, with links to free, online short stories, novelettes, and novellas, if you're looking to read something specfic + amazing. Congrats to all the nominees, including and especially Rachel Swirsky for her novella, "The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen's Window"!


In other news, I just took the last taekkyeon level exam I'll be able to while in Korea. I'm not very comfortable with throws -- like Jayne Cobb, I like smackin' 'em -- and figured I'd fail, but the overseeing master gave me a favorable review, so I may be going home with one more certificate. Woooo! 


Here's a video of Master Jang doing a taekkyeon demo:

Hey everyone, just popping in to let ye know that things'll probably be quiet around here for a while. It's my last week in Korea, so I'll be pretty busy getting my act together, tying up loose ends, et cetera. Fear not, there will be plenty more adventures to be had Stateside!


In the meantime, check out this supercool video of Taichi Saotomo doing battle against the shadowverse, culminating in a duel against his nega-self. I'm sure we all have days like this:

This past weekend, my most excellent Amerifriend, Amanda, came up to visit me in the big city while training for her next job in Jochiwon. Regretfully, I didn't take very many pictures, but here's a glimpse of what-all we did:


Walked around Edae, where I succumbed once again to my takoyaki craving. The guy working the flipping sticks got a little fancy on us, jumping the little takoyaki back and forth across one another as they cooked.

This past weekend, I traveled south with some friends to Jeonju, ancestral home of my clan, and Iksan, modern-day home of some really neat pubs. One of our camerados succumbed to a terrible plague and had to stay behind to fight the good fight, but he acted as a sort of guiding star for most of this trip, writing up detailed notes and suggestions from his sickbed.


The day (of the Fri- variety) started early, with Nick and I taking the Saemaul KTX Jeonju-ward, while a third, also somewhat sickly Kammerudo valiantly forged a trail to meet us. 

   

While I slept this beast had come and ripped out my husband’s throat.
So ended my first night in the City of Wolves.

After my friend Martha posted her reactions to some Super Bowl trailer spots, I spent some time tooling around the Apple Trailers site and reigniting some of my own anticipation re: upcoming films, as well as finding out about movies I've never heard of before (not exactly surprising, considering my self-imposed exile from the Western world). Here then, in no particular order, are some movies about which I find myself super excited:

As you may recall, last Thursday was Seolnal, or the Lunar New Year.  It's one of the biggest holidays in Korea, to the point that three days are marked on the calendar, and many folks get all three of those days off of work to travel to their hometowns, celebrate with family, honor their ancestors, etc., which means that traffic to and from anywhere can be a nightmare. I was summoned to spend the night at my grandmother's, so we could hustle out and beat the early morning rush to the cemeteries up in the mountains outside of Seoul. It didn't quite work out that way, but I took some photos to sum up the day:

"This is for a hundred roaches," he says, half-smiling, setting down the things in a row like she'll need him to point and explain.

She pays for it out of her new-fall-boots money and takes a cab home because she doesn't want the roaches in the subway to spread the word that she's coming.

prone to wander, and with your/ grandmother's music box lodged/ in my throat, I waltzed away

The bear stooped down and put the lantern on the ground. It fumbled with the straps on Hitoshi's pack and started rummaging through the contents.

"I have some tinned tuna," Hitoshi said.

The bear ignored him and continued to search through the pack. It took out his cell phone and tapped awkwardly on the screen.

Red stains white. These boys are wolves in human skin. They’ve scented fear. One tries to kiss me. I can taste the cheese he had for lunch and smell the sourness of his sweat. I rake at his eyes with my nails and call down every curse I’ve learnt. They don’t know that the words are empty without the charms to make them real. They’re still laughing but they’re not so sure anymore. They’re thinking of what their pretty friend said about me causing the lingering winter. They’re wondering what my mother might have taught me.

Break it. It will be beautiful.
And that's what punks do.