The Crane Game

They're everywhere. Really, they're on almost every street corner, usually outside of convenient stores, which really are on every street corner. Koreans love them. Why do they love them? Because the prizes are great, it's cheap to play, and it's easy to win. You get six tries for the equivalent of $1, and if you're not entirely blind, you get something almost every time.

So what can you get, you might ask? Everything from butane lighters to radio-controlled cars, video games, and mp3 players. What did I win tonight in front of my local Family Mart? I'm glad you asked. Something useful, something wonderful, something absolutely charming. Below you can view the box it came in. Or maybe I should say "they".


Inside the box of SexyLine "for glamorous girl" was my prize: a pair of pretty gray and pink panties. HOT! If only I had a girlfriend to give them too. Check 'em out in greater detail below.

"Supergirls" indeed. Only a super girl would wear these. I guess I'll just have to go find one. Time to find some coins so I can go play again. I'll try to post some pics of the machines and more prizes soon.

Seoul Arts Center

So sue me, I've been lazy about posting. Here's a gratuitous number of photos to make up for it. About a week ago, a friend and I went to the Seoul Arts Center, conveniently located on the orange line at Nambu Bus Terminal Station.

The Seoul Arts Center is an imposing complex of arts-related buildings. It includes a design museum, a calligraphy museum, an opera house, and I don't know what else. We originally went to see a free exhibit of Eames furniture, but it was disappointing. So, after seeing one room of furniture that I've seen before, off we went to look around the complex.

This is the first building as viewed from the very busy street. There are posters for upcoming exhibits and other events taking place somewhere in the complex. Notice the mountains in the background; the complex is basically built into the side of a mountain.

This is the main museum building. I don't know what the chimney thing is, but if my TV watching hasn't lead me astray (which it never has before), the design is based on a traditional Korean hat. See below:

Is that uncanny or what?



I really enjoy this sculpture of people impaled on pointy sticks. I would guess it's about war or suffering, but the title was in Korean so I'm not entirely sure.

Before I conclude this post, here is a picture (a very, very bad picture) of me with Captain Snake Neck Facet Face. Notice my excellent posture and wearing of jeans with complete disregard for the fact that it was about 90 degrees and 100% humidity (not an exaggeration; I was completely soaked). I'll work on posting more often.

"Hello, Cleveland!"

Original, American Style Taste!

Happy American Independence Day! In honor of telling those Brits to bugger off, I did American things today. And yes, that does mean I ate at McDonalds. I had the Big Mac set, pictured below. In Korea, McDonalds does lunch specials! A Big Mac meal is only $2.95. Getting fat is cheap! Notice the Shrek the Third advertising on the cup. The people behind the counter were wearing Shrek ears, but unfortunately, would not let me take a picture.


All this being American was making me very tired, so I decided to do something else American: I went to Starbucks. For only $3.55, I got a grande coffee in this charming cup. The Hangul on the cup informs those using the cup that it is for store use only. I have one in my cupboard, so apparently they were wrong.


The worst thing about the 4th was that I had to go to work. I was very tired and so needed one more treat and, since I was going with the American theme, decided that I needed something with original, American style taste. And I got it, and you can see it below. Check out that marketing slogan on the top! Genius!

I finished off my day with a few too many Budweisers and some tequila. We had our own little fireworks show in the park and nobody lost any critical body parts. No BBQ, but close enough. Now I don't have to be American again for several months.