19 Tuesday Jun 2012
Posted in Uncategorized
I’m an avid video game player and a woman. As such, I have often felt frustrated by the limited, and generally negative, portrayal of women in this medium. I applaud Sarkeesian’s effort to create educational material to fight this problem. Bravo!
15 Friday Jun 2012
Posted in Art/ Creativity
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Who hasn’t bought a Glade Plug-in or a little Airwick aerosol spritzer in their lifetime? Air fresheners used to be a staple on my shopping list. After all, they never seem to last that long and constantly need replacing.
However, as a big proponent of “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,” I always hated that there was a lot of waste with store-bought air-fresheners. For example, there’s the original packaging, and that then there’s the container once the air freshener is used up.
Recently, I read a sobering article regarding all the harmful chemicals air fresheners contain, such as formaldehyde, petrochemicals, p-dichlorobenzene and aerosol pollutants. Well, that was the last straw–I vowed to come up with an eco-friendly DIY alternative. All I needed was some paper and coffee grounds!
I’ve always been a big fan of paper-folding (aka “origami”), and I’ve probably folded thousands of these “paper cups” in my lifetime–they are just…
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15 Friday Jun 2012
Posted in Life in Korea
Translation: The secret method to ending your pore and wrinkle troubles!
I came across the above ad while thumbing through a magazine in a waiting room. I had never before heard of the San Francisco-based Benefit cosmetics, nor their popular “Porefessional” product. What really caught my eye was the use of a character named “SpyGal,”created by famed comic book powerhouse Marvel. Now, I do realize that SpyGal is just a shameless promotional ploy, and a lighthearted and cute attempt at that. However, once I saw the words “action figure,” my mind became a veritable maelstrom of thought on feminist theory and other such weighty topics.
Most of all, I was struck by the irony of the term “action figure.” After all, our society continually emphasizes the toxic message that women are defined by their beauty, i.e. their role as [inactive] objects for the male gaze. As Mary Pipher eloquently…
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13 Wednesday Jun 2012
Posted in Art/ Creativity, Knitting
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Let the sun shine in~~~ These flower dolls will steal your heart!
I followed a Flower Doll pattern from an old issue of Creative Knitting Magazine, which I unfortunately cannot find anymore. If anyone out there recognizes this pattern, please let me know–I’d love to be able to give credit where it’s due.
The orange, blue and striped flowers follow the pattern closely, but the pink flower features modified petals. I basically created long I-cords and coiled them to make petals–the effect reminds me of paper quilling.
Most of the dolls were knit in cotton yarns for durability and ease of care. I did also use some acrylic yarns (pink petals and blue petals), since I had a limited range of cotton colors.
You may have also noticed that their faces are all sewn with black yarn. These flowers made their way into the cribs of my friends who…
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12 Tuesday Jun 2012
Posted in Life in Korea
Before my husband and I moved into a high-rise apartment, we leased a small home that was smack in the middle of a bunch of rice paddies. Right across our home was a small historic site: the grave site of a local yangban (nobleman). Korean grave sites feature a large mound–you can see it in the picture behind the small stone pagoda in the center.
Usually, the grave site is completely empty–not a single living things stirs. But one day, to my utter amazement, I was confronted with this scene: there were well over a hundred magpies in the area! This has never happened before, or since– I truly wonder why they all congregated that day… Any thoughts?
12 Tuesday Jun 2012
Posted in Art/ Creativity, Webby / Dogs
This post involves three of my favorite things: Crafting, Recycling, and Webby!
As many of you may already know, Korean summers are just plain awful. While the temperatures aren’t astronomically high at about 20-30 degrees Celsius (70-85 degrees Fahrenheit), it’s the 80% plus humidity that can be unbearable. You know that feeling when you step into a bathroom just after someone has taken a really long, hot shower in it? BLECH. That’s the whole country of Korea in the summer. However, Korea also has a monsoon season where the heavens dump ENORMOUS amounts of rain for about a month during the summer.
Monsoon season has yet to start in Korea, but there have been a few rainy days here and there. My poor dog, Webby, has gotten pretty wet while we’ve been outside on our daily walks. I’ve been meaning to make a raincoat for her forever, and finally…
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07 Thursday Jun 2012
Posted in Life in Korea
Tags
children, government, Korea, parenting, propaganda, PSA, reproduction
Korea always surprises me with its abundance of PSAs (Public Service Announcements/Ads). The topics range from the seemingly trivial (like brightly colored stickers on the floor reminding people to walk on the right), to more serious issues, like encouraging citizens to report possible threats to national security by dialing “111.” I suppose the strong collectivist nature of Korean culture is conducive to these messages which try to change public attitudes and behavior. As a relative outsider, I find these ads absolutely fascinating at times.
The following PSA features the bold title, “Only One is Lonely” / “하나는 외롭스니다”.
The hapless child on the left, who has thrown his teddy bear on the ground in a tantrum, is apparently an only child. Meanwhile, the three kids on the right are aglow with smiles because they are siblings. The red caption above their head reads, “The best present parents can give their…
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05 Tuesday Jun 2012
Posted in Life in Korea
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There is no shortage of cute things in Korea! I spied these darling little rice grains (complete with their brown husks) as prizes at a game arcade. Aren’t they adorable?
31 Thursday May 2012
Posted in Life in Korea
Tags
advertising, commercialism, Korea, makeup, patriarchy, relationship, television, women
The following pictures are from a current television commercial in Korea for Aritaum cosmetics. While I know that Aritaum has no more lofty purpose than to sell as much lipstick, perfume and eyeshadow as possible, this ad actually touches on a lot of very serious issues–and I shudder at the negative messages it sends to both men and women.
It starts with a couple sitting in a patio. The man looks at his girlfriend who has the “gall” to be looking really relaxed: she has glasses on instead of contacts, her hair is up in a bun, and she’s not wearing makeup. The boyfriend’s look of disgust is followed by captions which inform the viewer that they have been dating for three years. The man laments that it seems they are more like siblings than lovers since she’s not prettying herself up anymore.
When he sees a nearby couple acting…
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22 Tuesday May 2012
Posted in Art/ Creativity, Knitting, Webby / Dogs
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“C” is for Choco, the name of my aunt’s Shih Tzu — and it also stand for “Cool!” Wouldn’t you agree? Choco is modeling a great turtleneck sweater that I made from a free Lion Brand pattern.
I knit this with Lion Brand Fun Fur and two strands of Bernat Baby Coordinates knit together. And now Choco is ready for a night on the town~~ Looking good!
Bringing together knitters and crocheters on the Westside
English Language Educator | Native Speaker | in South Korea
// kibble // kib"ble, noun. coarsely ground grain in the form of pellets. // Korean Kibble // noun. random nuggets of commentary from a Korean American woman from LA making a new home in South Korea
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