"beer soup was common"

One copacetic thing about being a long-term expat in South Korea, or Asia, is that since I'm not into Big Western Breakfasts I never really encounter them unless I'm staying in a hotel.  What I'm trying to say is, American Breakfast is elitist bullshit:

"American breakfast begins in Europe, which provided the food norms imported by early colonizers. There, the day’s first meal had emerged from centuries of prohibition under the Catholic Church. 'There was a period of time in England and western Europe where eating breakfast was sort of tied to gluttony,' says Heather Arndt Anderson, the author of Breakfast: A History. That all changed with the Protestant Reformation, when morning sustenance became more broadly permissible, if not all that exciting, or even distinct from everything else people ate. Lack of refrigeration meant the meal was usually sour and tepid. In Germany, beer soup was common.

In early America, breakfast remained a matter of convenience for most people: bread; preserved meats; repurposed leftovers; and things, like eggs, that were easy to prepare and regularly available to rural families, Arndt Anderson says.

According to Krishnendu Ray, a professor of food studies at New York University, that’s consistent with how much of the world still approaches the day’s first meal. 'Poorer people everywhere, especially in places like India and China, eat the same kind of food for meal after meal,' he says. 'The strict differentiation of meals is partly an American thing, but partly a thing of upward mobility.' Breakfast food, as a concept, is a luxury. As colonial America developed into a more robust culture with distinct class markers, breakfast started to change with it."

I do miss blueberry or chocolate chip pancakes on very rare occasions.  I'm not a monster.

Since Nobody Asked Me (Game of Thrones Spoilers!)

I was fine with the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones going full 9/11-Auschwitz-The Day After via Targaryen meltdown.  It was clunky though, and it feels like the show-runners have basically gotten lazier as they approach the end.  (My free advice to Daenarys -- attack the damn city at night when you can't be targeted.)

A lot of internet criticism runs along the lines of "While the direction / spectacle is excellently done, the writing falls flat."  And I'd pretty much agree.  I find myself just kind of wanting this thing to end, unfulfilled prophecies be damned.

This is hardly the stuff of high-praise, but suffice it to say this was a series that matched Martin's strengths -- amazing characters and world building, with an audacious willingness to sacrifice heroes when called for.

Consistently solid story-telling with consequences that matter, beyond the random death of major characters?  Not so much!

"If Heaven's really coming back / I hope it has a heart attack"

Jason Molina, "Just Be Simple" live

I just finished the Jason Molina biography Riding With The Ghost by Erin Osmon.  At just over 200 pages, it still felt "weighty" enough and really excels during the first half of the book -- his childhood and college years at Oberlin, and his early musical triumphs.

Through no real fault of the author, things get hazier as we approach the inevitable end due to alcoholism.  He lived in London with his wife for years, and that part of his life coincides with his descent into addiction.  So it makes perfect sense that the details start to dissolve, and Osmon does an admirable job of trying to piece the narrative together through the memories of friends.

Highly recommended, with some great storytelling regarding the Oberlin music scene of the 90s and basically the history of the Secretly Canadian label.

Not Looking, Thank You Very Much

It's no secret that South Korea is in the midst of a crushing demographic crisis, as fewer and fewer couples choose to have babies.  Now, many young South Koreans aren't even interested in dating:

"Money isn't the only issue facing students on Bae's course. They often cite news stories about sex crimes, voyeurism and gender discrimination, all of which have become major societal issues in South Korea.

There were 32,000 cases of sexual violence reported to police in 2017, compared to 16,000 in 2008, according to data from the National Police Agency.

Among these, partner violence has soared sharply. Between 2016 and 2018, the number of cases in which a person was assaulted by a romantic partner or date rose from 9,000 to almost 19,000.

College student Lee Ji-su, 21, said she was deterred from dating when a friend was assaulted by her boyfriend after she broke up with him. Lee said the friend was terrified because the man kept showing up at her home even after their relationship ended."

Dating is bullshit in any country -- the desperate act of trying to convince somebody you're worth their time and attention.  Throw in a slow economy, a highly traditional culture that is uncomfortable separating dating from sex from marriage from having kids, and a healthy dose of rape culture, and this is what you get.

"not according to their actions, which are frequently quite bad, but by their standing"

Alex Pareene wins the internets for this week, at least:

"What made all this the stuff of Dantean hyperbole was the simple, self-evident truth that Kavanaugh was 'a good kid.' Good Kids are determined to be good not according to their actions, which are frequently quite bad, but by their standing. On this status-driven reckoning of the natural order of things, the worst thing imaginable is for a good kid to be denied future opportunities to wield power.

Even Senator Ben Sasse, a professional critic of the president’s temperament with a side-hustle as an author of books about how to raise your children well, took to the Senate floor to make a grand show of feeling bad about how the president spoke about the Kavanaugh accusations, and then voted for Kavanaugh’s confirmation anyway.

We could have had exactly what Sasse and the rest of the Seriousness Brigade claim to want: an honest discussion of what moral lessons parents and institutions are teaching, or failing to teach, our children. Instead we had a prolonged national meltdown on behalf of all the American teens who, because of the excesses of #MeToo, may yet miss out on the pleasures of behaving like the protagonists of Porky’s."

In some ways the era of Trumpolini really is incredibly easy to understand -- the 2020 election will find the American people rejecting or accepting, probably forever, the hegemony of White Male Identity Politics.

This is only one great point among many, so read the whole thing.

Spring, Summer

Airy, "The Way To Vanish"

Kind of abstract Grouper-type thing.

It's still a bit early but I'm thinking about my summer vacation plans.  I'll definitely be going to the DC area to see my sister but it's possible I won't even bother with Seattle and my Dad this year.  If I do go it'll be for a few days rather than the usual week / week-and-a-half.

Long-story short, as I've lamented before being a FOX News Orphan is a Real Thing.  It's not a joke -- the network has literally destroyed relationships and if you don't believe me, ask my sister.

My Highly Unscientific List of Three Things I Hate Teaching In English

1)  Articles (Korean doesn't have them.)

2)  Past tense  (English has way too many irregular verbs, meaning you basically have to memorize the past tense for hundreds of different words.)

3)  Reported Speech  (You wouldn't think this is a tough one but man, 45 minutes into a "basic" RS lesson and I'm ready to quit.)

Game of Thrones Is Almost Ovah! (Spoilers!)

I'm on the record as believing that the HBO writers are generally better story-tellers than George Martin but word to The Mother, this final season is really trying my patience.

I have read the books, and I think Martin's strengths are character creation and world building.  And up until recently I was pretty content to let two TV "pros" take the raw materials and turn them into good TV product via cutting the fat and actually making things happen.  (Lest we forget, the last two novels so far have been so fucking slow, with Daenarys basically "trapped" in the East for no good reason other than Martin doesn't know what to do wither her.)

I think the worst crimes though are setting up things for payoffs that never come.  As much as I love Arya's character, it seems like she pretty much proved there were much easier, much better ways to deal with he Night King rather than losing huge swathes of your armies.  (Will Bran even appear in the last two episodes?)

But maybe I was wrong.  Maybe there just wasn't enough time to sufficiently send off each of the main characters in the ways they deserved, and the HBO team was willing to settle for very safe, dishwater endings that don't really solve any of the larger, more historical mysteries of the show.

And damn if Missandei wasn't pretty much thrown away, and Brienne will probably be sitting out the battle of King's Landing.

Daegu F.C.

When I came to Daegu I was aware that their baseball club, the Samsung Lions, were one of the better teams in the country while the soccer club, Daegu F.C., was something of a joke.  Times have changed though -- while the Lions are now basement dwellers, the soccer team (in blue) now plays in the top tier and is challenging for a championship this year.

This was my first match in the new downtown stadium as opposed to the World Cup stadium pretty far outside of town (the Usain Bolt one, as I like to call it).

Daegu won over Sangju Sangmu 1-0 on a late goal.

Interestingly, this new stadium was built on top of the old Daegu baseball stadium.  Why?  Who knows.

Tis The Season

I love Fall in Korea, but Spring is a close second.

Galmegi Brewing is based in Busan as South Korea goes through a bit of a micro-brewing explosion.  Here's the balcony at ETOH's, my preferred spot for import beers.

This is a very interesting yuzu-infused choice.

This came at the end of a long day teaching and doing some errands in lurvely downtown Daegu.  (There food is quite good as well.)

Sayin' No To Joe

Alex Pareene on the ongoing Democratic primary race -- "Democrats Have Created An 'Electability' Monster":

"Watching Joe Biden, a man who was already too out-of-step with the party and the country to win the nomination 12 years ago, claim the 'electability' mantle only strengthens that feeling. No one really wants President Biden. It’s just that the 'better things aren’t possible' caucus accidentally managed to convince some large portion of the Democratic electorate that they must hold their noses and vote for actively worse things.

Expecting voters to behave like pundits—asking people to vote for what expensive consultants and Sunday show guests imagine people like them might want instead of what they actually want—would be perverse even if it worked. But unless and until the Democratic electorate can be given license to support what it supports, each failure of the 'electability' paradigm will only be taken as proof of the need to retreat further into learned helplessness.

If you’re not that excited to vote for Joe Biden, I promise you, your neighbor isn’t, either."

Joe is way too old and out of touch with the actual heart of the Democratic base -- non-white working class folks.

And guess what?  So is Bernie.