Viral Videos of the Week Ending November 5

Here are the videos spoken about on the Pete Ross M-Town Show this evening on GFN:

Chaplin's Time Traveler

Fainting Goat Kittens

People are Awesome

NSFW A Hunter Shoots A Bear

Take a trip to the DMZ

Everybody comes to Korea with a list of things they want to do, see and accomplish as long as their arm. Taking in Asia seems to crop up on most of them, along with learning the language, taking up Taekwondo and, of course, saving money. But anybody with of a passing interest in history (or a slight penchant for voyeurism) is guaranteed to make a trip to the Demilitarized Zone that separates North and South. That it featured so highly on my own list is slightly worrying, but I’m happy to have checked it off and in the process of doing so, I had one of the most sobering, surreal experiences of my life.

There are various trips to choose from, each with their own selling points and packages. I was sold on Adventure Korea’s promise to take me off the beaten track. Rolling through the deserted countryside beyond the civilian control point that precedes the DMZ, I felt reassured that they had kept their side of the bargain, but a slight unease at the eeriness of the surroundings.

The once bustling metropolis of Cheorwan has long since been reduced to a ghost town. Stray machinery peppers the endless rows of rice paddies, conceivably abandoned at the outbreak of war, but more probably by the farmers who must leave the zone before their curfew. It amounts to a whole lot of suspense before we reach the first point of the tour, the Second Tunnel.

One hundred and forty five metres deep and 3.5 kilometres long, the tunnel was intercepted 1.1 kilometres in to South Korean territory in 1975 and had the power to transport 16,000 soldiers an hour under the border. The figure beggars belief. I have to crouch as I make my way down to its base, wondering how long it would’ve taken to carve this into the rock. The guide reveals, to gasps of astonishment, that there is an estimated twenty other tunnels like this yet to be unearthed, but that despite the recent decline in relations, they don’t anticipate an invasion. His words emphasize just how volatile the Korean situation is.

The centerpiece of the tour is a visit to the Cheorwan Observation Centre, situated a mere stone’s throw from the DMZ, with a bird’s eye view of North Korea. Of course, there is scant opportunity to see what life is actually like in the most secluded country on earth, but the little we can see is equal parts fascinating and shocking. On the South Korean side, the farmland is lush, the vegetation rich; a reflection of an age of prosperity. It’s in marked contrast with what we see on the other side.

On the entry point to North Korea, the thriving nature reserve that has been created by default in the DMZ comes to an abrupt halt. Everything living has been flattened, lest it provide camouflage for anyone attempting to escape across the border. There is a North Korean army base visible, looming disturbingly large on a hilltop. The smoke of a fire evidently lit by there soldiers rose towards the sky. Since I’ve been in Korea (actually, since long before it), I have wondered about the North and the peninsula’s situation. Being within such proximity was surreal and if truth be told, thrilling.

Traveling to the DMZ was a worthwhile experience: interesting and enlightening… and, yes, fun. However, it would be advisable to keep your expectations in check. You will not see anything you’re not supposed to, so be realistic… if you manage to do so, you’ll be in for a real treat.

Written for Say Kimchi News

Viral Videos of the Week - Week Ending October 29

As discussed with Pete Ross on today's radio show, here are the viral videos of the week.

The Rent Is Too Damn High Party's Jimmy McMillan at the NY Governor Debate

HRP-4C Dance 1/2

It Gets Better, Google Employees

Wash Your Balls

Dance Move Fail

Korean Grand Prix Appraisal

After all the build-up, all the excitement, all the naysaying and all the expectation, the Korean Grand Prix has been and went. Formula 1 has left Yeongam for another year and as the dust begin to settle, it’s becoming a bit clearer what conclusions we can draw from the occasion.

The first thing is the race itself. Rain caused huge problems. The track had blatantly not been tested enough in such conditions and caused difficulties with large amounts of spray coming from the cars, leading to long delays as the track dried up. It also resulted in the first 17 laps being raced behind a pace car and the race being completed amidst a darkening sky and poor visibility. The winner went to the Spanish driver Fernando Alonso, who leapfrogged Mark Webber (who retired early) into first position. But yes, it was exciting. The conditions made for a very unpredictable Grand Prix that is being hailed in the Western media as a “classic”.

The build-up had been mostly negative, with worries over the completion of the track and lack of facilities being to the fore. It was easy to see why at Yeongam on Sunday. The track was finished, but nothing else seemed fit for public consumption. The surrounding area was a building site. Mountains of rubble, piles of scaffolding and huge potholes greeted attendees as they caught an unfortunate first glimpse of Korean hospitality. It was a real shame that they couldn’t get their act together sooner and make the splendid venue the occasion deserved as it offers a tainted view of a country that really is a great place to live.

There was very little race information available at Yeongam. Nor was there anything to eat or drink. We managed to find one Family Mart, in a venue built to host 120,000 people. It’s a ridiculous statement. If they really wish to turn the Korea International Circuit into the “Las Vegas of Asia”, they have a long way to go. Perhaps focusing on the basics and learning to walk before they can run might be a good start, but there were plenty of hungry revelers bussing back to Mokpo, Gwangju and further afield after the race. On a related note, the transport links between the cities were abysmal too. There were shuttle buses leaving from Gwangju every hour in the build up to the race, but only one. One bus from the nearest big city is nothing short of a disgrace.

There were, however, some positives to report. The attendance was much larger than anticipated. Some forecasts had expected less than half the tickets to sell out, however from where we were sat, it looked like there were many more. People were in good spirits and the rain, which could have potentially dampen them, didn’t seem to have much effect at all. The race is finished now and after a while, that’s all people will remember. The Korean Grand Prix has a contract to continue in the area for seven years. This presents a huge opportunity for KAVO and the local and central governments to invest heavily in the infrastructure and transport links that have been universally slated. If they do so, then the Korean people will have a venue and an event to add to all of the other facets of their culture they are deeply proud of.

Written for Gwangju Blog

Korea's grand prix stutters to the start

Written for Asia Times

GWANGJU - On the eve of the first Korean Grand Prix, organizers will be hoping the exhilaration of a five-way Formula 1 championship battle wrestles the spotlight from what has been a shambolic buildup.

Concerns over the readiness of the track, poor ticket sales, lack of local interest and the reluctance of local sponsors to support the event have all overshadowed the race, which was only rubber-stamped last week.

Organizers Korean Auto Valley Operation (KAVO) have admitted they have "not been well prepared" for the event, but there is some confusion as to why, particularly considering the country'shistory of hosting premier sporting events.

Despite publicly paying lip-service to the solidity of Korea's event, F1 chief executive officer Bernie Ecclestone waited until October 12 to officially give it the green light, amid rumors that circuits in Europe were being readied to step in. The grand prix will now, it seems, go ahead, but a nervous weekend awaits both KAVO and the sport's governing body, the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA).

Ostensibly, the main worry has been the huge delay in completing the Korean International Circuit, located in Yeongam the southwest of the country. Designed by Herman Tilke, it is considered to be one of the most extensive and high-tech racing complexes ever built. Along with the accepted difficulties that come with undertaking such a huge project, workers had to contend with an abnormally long monsoon season, including Typhoon Kompasu, which hit the peninsula in September.

While the weather has certainly caused havoc on the region (it is also being blamed for the current "kimchi crisis") it is doubtful that this alone could lead to the holdups. Yet it is the only concrete excuse being offered.

One alternative theory being proposed is that an attitudinal conflict exists between how Koreans engage in large-scale projects and how the West would prefer to see them completed. There's a prevalent mantra in Korea, particularly among the older and controlling generation, stating: "If we do it, it will work." It's an approach that has seen them through hosting global events in the past, but not without cost.

Case in point: the Seoul Summer Olympic Games, 1988. A leading Canadian peace-time disaster planner, who worked in conjunction with the Korean government from 1985-87, admits being "appalled by the construction practices used to throw up the Olympic venues". Despite being impressed by the speed with which the Koreans completed the venues, he warned that the poor planning processes and the general attitude of senior staff resulted in "inferior products, buildings and institutions".

On paper, it's certainly not a methodology that's compatible with an increasingly safety-conscious FIA; nor is it in keeping with the prestigious image projected. The world is a much smaller place now than 22 years ago and the microscope's focus is all the finer. While the Seoul Olympics are remembered fondly, Korea won't escape lightly where Formula 1 is involved. Success in this one field, Asia Times Online's source suggests, may prove elusive unless they start looking outward and embracing a more globally accepted approach.

The location of the grand prix itself has also been a bone of contention. Yeongam is a small county, some 400 kilometers from Seoul. Its province, Jeollonamdo, is the "breadbasket of Korea", reliant on agriculture and with relatively little other industry. Construction in such a rural area brings its own logistical problems. The immediate vicinity can only accommodate 38,000. With a race capacity of 120,000, a huge percentage will need to find lodgings in nearby Mokpo or Gwangju. If the plan is to build a city around the venue rather than vice versa, then it has yet to begin materializing.

There can be no arguing, however, with the potential an annual grand prix has to invigorate Jeollonamdo, also the country's poorest province. The deal signed with the FIA is for seven years, with the option to extend for an additional five. If all goes according to plan this weekend, KAVO and President Lee Myeong-bak's government will have a chance to ready the infrastructure for 2011. Whether the latter will commit more fully having assessed the benefits of the first grand prix remains to be seen, with local people currently seething at what's been perceived as "another snub for Jeollonamdo".

An agreement to stage a grand prix in the area was first reached between KAVO, the local government and Ecclestone in 2006. Anton Scholz, founder of Korea-Consult and a key figure in the development of the race, has spoken of how it took the central government another three years to formally agree to financially support part of it. Scholz says he "even had to hold a speech in Korean senate in Seoul" and describes how at one point, he "gave a personal presentation to President Lee Myeong-bak", before the Korea Grand Prix was acknowledged as having special significance to the country.

This alleged lack of support has only served to widen the schism between Seoul and the southwest. Moon Ho-sung, a student of Chonnam University in Gwangju, said: "Busan has many factories and Seoul has all the companies. Here we only have farmers. We are simply not valuable to the government. If Formula 1 was coming to one of the more glamorous parts of Korea, Lee Myeong-bak would have supported it straight away."

Should Pyeongchang, in the north of the country, be successful in their bid to host the 2018 Summer Olympic Games, it is envisaged that funding be released at once, as was the case with the football World Cup in 2002. It would create a situation comparable to the one criticized in the United Kingdom press this week by Ecclestone. He accused the British government of "wasting a fortune on the Olympics which will come and go, and be forgotten in a few weeks, when they could have supported Silverstone and made sure the British Grand Prix is there forever".

Seoul has also failed to provide significant public relations for the occasion. The grand prix has flown under the radar across the country and even locally, interest is low. There has been speculation all week as to how many tickets have been sold, with some sources estimating as little as half. Motor sport doesn't have the foothold here that it does in many other parts of the world, despite South Korea being the fifth-largest producer of automobiles in the world. The provincial streets are devoid of "petrol-heads", with mopeds being the vehicle of choice for young motorists.

Park Myeung-seop, a teacher from the outskirts of Gwangju, said there is no interest, simply because "Koreans find Formula One boring". Park also condemned ticket prices, saying: "They are much too expensive for normal people in the area. If they wanted to make it an occasion for the Korean people, they should have made the prices lower. Otherwise, it is not something the people can enjoy."

The prices dwarf even those at the established British Grand Prix at Silverstone. A three-day pass at Yeongam will cost you more than US$1,000, while the British equivalent will set you back just north of $600. While high ticket prices are certainly a deterrent, one wonders how different things would be if there was a Korean car or driver lining up on the grid?

The nation has taken to a wider interest sports in recent years with the success of figure skater Kim Yun-ah and swimmer Park Tae-hwan. The next circuits to debut, India (2011) and Russia (2014) are likely to have local competitors for the partisan crowd to roar on in the shape of the Force India team and Renault's Russian driver Vitaly Petrov. Whilst neither nation has a glorious history in Formula 1, a local interest is a reliable way to boost the sport's profile.

The country's largest car manufacturer Hyundai (also comprising Kia) has as good as ruled out entering a team in the championship and have also surprisingly not taken out any sponsorship on the event, saying that their "utmost priority is to boost brand image in Europe". It's a bizarre turn of events, and one that has left LG as the sole local sponsor, with some of the teams carrying out promotional activity in the region themselves. Subsequently, the profile of the event has remained relatively low, with most of the press in the run up to the event being negative.

The Korean Grand Prix isn't the first to experience teething problems. In this year's Turkish Grand Prix, organizers had to cover the grandstands with tarpaulin to disguise the fact that there was nobody there. The Abu Dhabi and Bahrain Grand Prix have also experienced low turnouts, but they have the excuse of small populations and have the funds of oil-rich patrons at their disposal. Many fans have pointed at Ecclestone, accusing him of chasing the money, ignoring true followers of the sport and spreading the F1 brand globally, but only in the geographical sense of the word.

For Korea, all will not be lost if KAVO and the government treat this year's disastrous run-up as a steep learning curve. The promise of at least another six grand prix could reap dividend, should the glaring deficiencies be addressed and in that respect, the rhetoric from KAVO's camp is positive. Kang Hyo-seok, director of the province's F1 Support stated: “We don't expect early returns, as this project needs long-term investment to turn this area into a regional leisure and tourism hub”.

A study into Formula 1 in Australia by Flinders University, Adelaide, estimated a profit of A$1 billion (US$944 million) could be recouped over 10 years. Alongside direct economic impact, there is huge benefit to be gained from employment, tourism and infrastructure. But if the Korean Grand Prix is to have realistic designs on success, organizers need to be sure they can steer, before they put the foot down.

Finbarr Bermingham is an independent journalist from Northern Ireland, living and working in Gwangju, South Korea.

Daejeon Rock Festival

Written for Gwangju Blog

A day that was filled with promise turned into a case of what might have been. The first annual Daejeon Rock Festival guaranteed good music, world food and international beer. It barely delivered on any of the fronts. The festival was stopped at around 11pm (having been billed until 5am) due to complaints over noise pollution. The food fair was shoddily put together: three hundred advertised vendors shrunk drastically to about a dozen overpriced and confused (samosas come from Mexico? And is spaghetti a national dish of Spain?) fast-food retailers and the international beer and wine promised manifested itself as a shed-load of Cass. The sizeable Gwangju contingent that made the trip was certainly under-whelmed.

Nonetheless, it was beautiful to be able to bask in the last rays of sunlight before the onset of winter in the pleasant setting of the Daejeon Convention Centre. What survived of the music was a mixed bag, but for the most part enjoyable. One serious gripe, however, is that there were few announcements or little information on big screens to differentiate one band from the next. The whole thing had an amateurish feel about it… a shame, really, given the picturesque surroundings. The stage was thrust in amongst the apartment blocks and as the sunset, the backdrop was stunning. Hundreds of lanterns were raised to the sky and everybody was gearing up for a long night of music.

The first band was a shock to the system, proving that Screamcore is alive and well in Korea. Babies were wheeled bawling from the arena, locals wore concerned looks upon their faces and a general air of confusion reigned momentarily. They made way for an altogether more pleasing proposition, in ex-pats Dirty Gangneung. Rootsy, Black Keys style riffs were met by a tunefully wailing lead singer to wash the aural ruin of Act One from our ears. A crowd surfer and a spectacular firework display ensured that the visuals matched the audio, and the evening was ushered in, in fine style.

The third band to take the stage, Kickscotch, was arguably the most impressive. A female fronted quartet, they continued the brash rockiness of the precursors. The lead singer was reminiscent of PJ Harvey, head swirling and playing a flying V that completely dwarfed her. The music itself was more like an R-rated B-52s: call and response vocals, delivered over muscular riffs.

Kickscotch were followed on by the Seoul City Suicides, another riff heavy three-piece recalling Austin, Texas garage rockers White Denim. It was an enthusiastic, impressive set, but perhaps not as well-received as that of the ensuing act, Whatever That Means. Ignore the name; it wasn’t too hard to work out what was behind their music. They sounded like the fallout from Green Day’s Dookie personified and thrust onto a far-eastern stage. It was some tuneful refreshment to the heavy rock of the previous few bands and provided one of the highlights of the sadly curtailed evening.

A largely forgettable EMO ensemble were next up, followed by the strangely monikered, Skasucks. Apparently there is a healthy ska scene in Korea, and despite the irony of their name, they are surely one of the forerunners. They inspired moonstomping aplenty and by the end of their set, had filled the stage with crowd members hell-bent on replicating some of the Specials’ most video-friendly moments.

Shortly after, we realized there wouldn’t be anymore music. What was supposed to have gone on for eleven hours, lasted for around half that. Organizers had seemingly not fully considered the setting of the venue, in the midst of some large apartment buildings. Complaints over noise pollution resulted in the plug being pulled on an eventful, yet anti-climactic day in Daejeon.

Viral Videos of the Week - Week Ending October 22

Here are the viral videos I talked about on today's Pete Ross show. Enjoy!

Dot. The World's Smallest Stop-Motion Animation Character

OK GO: White Knuckles

BP Spills Coffee

Bull Attacks Drunk Who Strolls Drunk Into Rodeo

Cecilia Cassini: The World's Most Precocious Kid