Melody Visits (Day 3)

Sunday7.13.2008

Last day of Mel's visit. So what did we do?

Go to church. Of course.


Stretching on the subway.
Angle, framing: fantastic, as always.
Focus: out of.


Many, many stripes that day. None, I will have you
note, run parallel with one another.

If the lions come, they will be confused and give up
trying to pursue me. Ha!


This ad intrigues me:
Females - cold
Males - odd and ludicrously overposed (bonus: imagine Ludacris in
any of these poses).
Colors: a full palette on display.

I suspect that this ad represents a particular ideology of modeling:
display, and do not make any crude advances of sale, with the
premise being that the item shall sell itself.

The board conveys to me a sense that Lacoste is comfortable with its
level of brand recognition and aspirational status in this country ;
compare this bulletin with other conventional ads, whose models
appear warmer, even indulgent.

In such ads, it seems as though brand identity is such that the
viewer is assumed to need prompting to accept the desirability of
some product or its distinctive name. In such cases, the role of the
model is to evoke in the audience a sense of identification with.

Here, on the other hand, the role of model seems to run parallel to
that of the mannequins, oddly denuded of all verisimilitudinous
plastic genitalia, which model lingerie in the numerous stores
hawking such fripperies in the Korean subway stations: that is, to
present and, having bestowed such upon the viewer, to fade away
without protest.

After church, we came back home and went for a run out near Lake
Park.














I'm fairly certain that we weren't supposed to walk across this.


Mel comments: "this photo needs something. like a giant rampaging
monster. or a mushroom cloud."


Wish heard, wish granted.






A vantage point.

The sun setting, we wound our way back across the
park to Ilsan's famous (so I am told) Singing
Fountains.

The lilies of the field.




Little homey was straight up mountaineering. We cheered him on.




Waiting for the sun to set and the show to go on.


Melody is puzzled; by a puzzle, no less.


Red, white, and blue: I have lost my tan.


A study in juxtaposition: non-photogenicity and his counterpart.

Even at my best, I only muster up the merest hint of bemusement.


Singing Fountains: Winamp/iTunes/Windows Media Player
visualizations take form, Fantasia-like. We heard "Pirates of the
Caribbean" as well as, um, Celine Dion. Also things in-between.

After finishing up at Lake Park, we headed out for one last (coerced)
meal before turning in for Melody's 6 AM bus to the airport.

Tonkatsu and some type of bulgolgi (beef).




I wear those Hanes t-shirts a lot. Good thing I
found like 7 of them blue-binning this May.


She complained, pre-visit, that we don't have any pictures together.




Happy now??
Plenty of pictures.


(my thumb covered the flash.)

Monday7.14.2008

6 AM bus stop. Good-bye.

Visions of Seoul II

As I rode the subway from Hongdae, where I collected my recently-stamped passport, to Gangnam, the site of Sandi and my scheduled rendezvous, a young mother and her daughter walked onto the middle of my already-crowded car, child clinging to her mother's hem.

I'd previously been noticing the man next to me reading his Bible, thumbing through Judges - somewhere around chapter 11 or 12. He noticed the young girl standing in front of him and I felt him prepare to rise; I followed suit, so as to enable her mother to sit beside her.

However, upon rising, I glimpsed peripherally a well-dressed middle-aged women, who had been standing to my right, cut in behind me. From my standing vantage point, I watched her dig through her Louis Vuitton carryall and pull out a yellow-covered book, beginning to read. I peeked at the exposed page of her book: a Korean Bible. The mother stood in front of her sitting child as the car gradually filled up with teenagers, salarymen, and mothers.

My stop drawing near, I took a place near the door, anticipating our arrival. The same well-dressed woman pushed her way through the other travelers waiting to disembark, Louis bag swinging coolly from the crook of her arm. As the doors parted, mutely servile, she strutted out. High heels clacked rhythmically against the wet marble of the subway station as the woman cut her way through the crowd, where I lost sight of her.

Melody Visits (Day 2)

Saturday7.12.2008

Got up early Saturday morning, went into school to
teach two classes, then headed with Melody to
Hongdae, the site of Hongik University, to drop off
my passport for a Chinese visa (recounted here).


Graffiti in a Hongdae alley.




Bibimbap for lunch. Mel made me eat. Again.




XD


好吧 => Ho Bar.




Street art. Hongdae is a rather artsy, liberal area for Korea, which I
speculate is in great part due to the presence of the University in the
town. As such, there is art scattered throughout the area on walls,
the ground, etc.




No Mrs. Pizza... Yet.






A group of three young boys toting their guitars got on the subway
back to Ilsan with us. Utterly weary, they murmured softly to one
another, slumping with exhaustion.


1000KRW for a waffle sandwich.


With butter and apple butter.


Outside the supermarket. I bought an ice cream,
several snacks, and some soda.

Mel bought fruit, utensils, and a bowl.


Giant Asian pear X Melody


Giant Asian pear X me.

There is an area near my house whose neon flirts with
the ostentatious even during the day. Composed of two
shopping centers - LaFesta and Western Dome - it quite
boldly defies the night.

Of course I took Mel there.






More enforced eating at a Japanese restaurant.






[No explanation needed]
[or possible]


Best slogan ever. One day, when I have the nerve,
my blog will be called More meat Better Taste


I took this one of the Colonel, and was inordinately proud of my eye
for angles as well as his jaunty air of respiratory rebellion (or, I
suppose, conformity, in Ko Rea).


Lights over crowds.


Sign as enigma:
-Is it an O BAR or O girl?
-What is under the ????? ?
-OK? OK what?


On the way home.

Mel if you buy and wear one of these I will fly you back out.

Lions Den Sale - 60-75% off EVERYTHING

Lions Den, LA Chinatown's contribution to the streetwear scene, is moving locations from their old joint on 711 New High St. to 945 Sun Mun Way. While they'll be out of commission for the duration of the move, their falling back is our moving forward:



Despite the fact that the sale prices (60-75% off errthing in the store, no holds barred) are not reflected online, you can always hit up their excellent point man Ray Tseng via email or their phone contact and holla at him. He has always treated me fair and just as though I were in-store dealing with them. They are a thorough crew and got some real fire... ALIFE, Stussy, Puma, Recon, Leroy Jenkins, N4E1, etc.

I been on that savings tip the whole time thus far in Ko Rea, so I went ahead and ordered a nice little package [||] from their store. And let us never forget what, in the words of Victor Cheng, this blog is about: pictures of girls (check) and kicks (here we go...)

1) ALIFE Frog Pack Everybody High.
Retail: $145
Sale: $43.50


ALIFE personally tramples the SoHo exclusive kicks scene. While other brands are content to choose either (a) making their own (usually wack) sneakers or (b) pick up a Nike Quickstrike account and let the Nike designers drop hot heat all over their counters, ALIFE pulls a deuce on err'one: they have their own line of solidly-designed, classic-profiled sneakers AND the Alife Rivington Club is New York's classiest source for Nike, reebok, puma, fila, etc. limited release joints.

Not to mention that Nas, John Mayer, etc. perform in their backyard. Chyea!

I guarantee you will never see such an assortment of ALIFE kicks for so low, ever again. If you do, I will eat these words: I will print them out on paper and eat them, that is my guarantee. To you, because I am a man for the people like that.

This pack was based on the camouflage patterns of poisonous South American tree frogs... but on your feet they will be poison for the haters standing around you.

2) Staple Design X Base Control polo.
Retail: $80
Sale: $24

Base Control is one of Japan's finest manufacturers of all the standards: polo shirts, tees, underwear, whatever. If people around the world wear it, Base Control makes it and sells it to streetwear companies.

This joint was a collaboration polo for Staple's 10th anniversary collection.

The likelihood of seeing another Base Control item for sale in America on sale? Son I would not take those odds even if I were a betting man.

3) Staple Design - "I Am..." Tee
Retail: $26
Sale: $10.40

Gotta rep 中文, even 繁体字. Staple stays remembering the Asian roots.
"我不是共产党员"... true.

4) Staple Design socks
Retail: $12
Sale: $4.80

To be honest, I only picked up these joints for the free shipping: shipping on 3 items was $7.00; but pick up 4 items and the S&H is on the house. Don't even play like you think I am not going to be clever like that.

Do the math: $4.80 - $7.00 = they are paying me to buy these socks. I save money in the process of purchasing these joints for my foots.
All told, my bill for 4 items ran to less than $85: a little more than half the normal price of the Alife kicks on their own.

You know the Internets keep us winning like that!

Gonna have a nice pile, all Christmas morning, waiting for me when I get back to the States.......

BustOut Family in SoCool!!

Big ups to my Bust Out Family brothers!!
恭喜我Bust Out家哥们儿！！

An article from So Cool - mainland China's #1 streetwear/street fashion magazine...
从So Cool杂志来自的文章， 中国大陆第一本街头时髦杂志。。。




Once or twice every month, whenever I was living in Beijing, I would go to the nearest newsstand and cop the latest issue of So Cool!... they always hold it down real thorough on the streetwear tip, with features on fashion luminaries like agnes b, suitman, CLOT, nike designers, etc. etc.

Well now my Bust Out brothers got our Season 1 and Season 2 lineup in there! So you know we are doing this FOR REAL, this is not just playing around in Photoshop and Studio!

Look ma, we made it....
But I know I told ya that we won't stop!!!