Ktown Cowboys : The Movie!

One of my all-time favorite web-series, Ktown Cowboys, is coming back. This time, as a film.... soon. The original Ktown Cowboys webseries featured a group of guys having an epic adventure in LA Koreatown. If you haven't seen it, check out this article HERE. Now they need some help raising money to market this upcoming film correctly. Check out their video :

More about the film below.

CSM introduces Jimjilbang (찜질방) + pictures

Jimjilbang takes MANY forms

Last week, CSM (Christian Science Monitor) featured a little article on Korean jimjilbang. Jimjilbang is basically Korean Sauna, in much more refined form. Besides the sauna component, many Jimjilbang is like a relaxing entertainment center. It doesn't go into much specifics, but it's still pretty cool that jimjilbang is featured on CSM.

Check out the article here : The latest craze in South Korea: the jimjilbang
More pictures of Jimjilbangs below.

Why North Korea has the lowest suicide rate in the world

This is part of an article I was reading from Free North Korea Radio (www.fnkradio.com) today. It was a sad, surprising, and eye-opening article for me. It was titled "A (North Korean) defector's thought on suicide" (탈북자가 보는 북한식 자살 정의).

Life, an incarceration.

North Korea is known to be the country with the lowest suicide rate on earth. Why is this, for this nation with the worst world economy, human rights violations, and highest number of defectors in the world? It is because there is a mental pressure far stronger than suicide itself.

K-pop News : Daesung(Big Bang) runs over an injured man

Currently big news in K-pop :

Big Bang's member, Daesung(대성), ran over a man that was already injured from a car accident that happened shortly before. This happened early this morning, around 1:30AM. According to the witness (the taxi driver), he found the motorcyclist bleeding on the road and was about to call police, then Daesung's Audi came in and crashed.

According to police, he was not intoxicated at the time of the accident, but was going over the speed limit. Currently the main focus is whether it was Daesung's car crash that killed the motorcyclist, or whatever accident that happened before that was fatal. Stay tuned.

North Korea claims that they are the happiest nation in the world

1st: China, 2nd: DPRK, 3rd: Cuba, 152nd : South Korea, 203rd: USA

Now they have really gone out of materials to make up. This image surfaced on a Chinese website, and it's a screenshot of North Korea Central TV. They claim that China is the happiest country in the world (100/100), North Korea being the 2nd happiest (98/100), and so on.

South Korea is apparently the 152nd happiest in the world (18/100), and USA is the 203rd (no score).

This has got to be the most screwed up happiness scale. Do North Koreans actually buy this kind of crap?

Kpop : 위대한 탄생 (Star Audition : The Great Birth)

Star Audition : The Great Birth (스타오디션:위대한탄생) is a American Idol-isque music talent program in South Korea.

Participants from Korea, Japan, China, US, and Youtube(...) participated in preliminary auditions. After countless more auditions and competitions, the final winner was announced on the 27th of May. I could really go through the various drama and interesting plots that happened throughout the 7 month program... but honestly, I didn't watch this show. American-Idol-isque programs are just not my cup of tea. (Here's the link to Korean wikipedia entry about this show. And it's ridiculously long!)

However...

Baek Chung Gang (백청강), a Chinese with Korean descent, won the competition. He will walk away with approx. 300,000 dollars in prize and various offers in music making, recording, etc. This was a very pleasant surprise for me. Kudos to you!

Below is the video of his final performance. Enjoy!

Welcome to the 80s, North Korea - North Korean laptops

The North Korean State TV reported about their brand-new all-North Korean laptop.

HOLY CRAP NORTH KOREA HAS COMPUTERS?


Oh man, this is really something. I never expected this cuz I thou...

Image sources : NorthKoreaTech

Wait, um. What the hell is this thing? It looks like one of those pseudo-computer looking things that you can buy from like, gas stations... oh wait.