Random Play by Graham Reid

Be interested to see what you make of the K-Pop and Hip hop. It can be an acquired taste and for most expats I know it's a taste that leads to vomiting. Problem is that there is some decent music there but it either rarely gets mainstream radio or TV time and when it does it's on those variety type shows where they play one or two songs and its on a glitzy set in front of screaming female teenagers because the boys are all either outside smoking, or blowing stuff up in the mountains.

There is even an underground punk scene based around Hongdae but it took me the best part of 2 years to even hear about that and about the same length of time to find any cds worth listening to but once you crack onto it it becomes a bit easier to find the rest.

Oh, and I recommend a few Korean movies. Gweumul (weta did the monster effects), taegugki, JSA, my sassy girl (yobgi yoja geunyang) and the one about the soldiers who get trained to assasinate Kim Sung-il is crazy as all hell and is true (only what really happened is crazier). There's plenty of others. They tend to be a bit offbeat though in a way can get boring as they tend to be rather repetitive.

I will be posting at some later date about the DVDs and CDs I picked up (and a couple of good books about korean design and culture etc) but meantime yamis if you want to flick me an e-mail via www.elsewhere.co.nz you and i can maybe chat about such things away from prying eyes -- and i have some useful links for you i hope.
k-punk rools!
g

Scott Burgeson's books and zines are probably worth checking out for "fly on the wall" cultural criticism. Very good writer and observer, but a bit too much for many people. He does his homework and takes it very seriously.

http://www.kingbaeksu.com/bugcrib.htm

The Timeless, Bottomless Bad Moive is worth seeing and Jang Sun-Woo is a director worth checking out.

I'd probably go for Dae Geum (bamboo flute) music as well. Don't have any recommendations though.