The Turning Gate

The Korean soundWave XII

A work in progress ...

Today is the fulcrum of eternity, the point to which all things aspire, and the point from which all things are come. Today is the most glorious day that has ever been, and maybe the most glorious day that ever shall be. Today is the day Han Hee Jeong's solo album, My Document, hit store shelves in Hongdae.

That's me at Greek Joy this evening, holding an autographed copy of Han Hee Jeong's new solo album. I've been waiting a long time for this. I'd feared the album's release would be pushed back beyond my departure date from Korea, but I am truly blessed that this has not been the case. Oh, and as if that weren't enough of a good time ...

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Selections from Project Seoul, exhibited in Insadong in 2006

Back in August 2006, I participated in a group exhibit in Gallery Gaia in Insadong, Seoul. In clearing out my apartment for my imminent international relocation, I unearthed my box of framed images from the exhibit. They're too heavy to ship home and I have no reason to do so; I can reprint them at any time for a fraction of what it would cost to mail them. I'm hoping to donate them to someplace here in Seoul, which may or may not happen. Anyway, I'd hate to throw them into the trash. Here's a gallery of the images in question.

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I'm Mac in the saddle again

My Macbook Pro is back from the service center (and there is much rejoicing) with a new Logic Board. I hadn't mentioned it previously, but I had been experiencing some unusual behavior for about two weeks leading up to Saturday's meltdown. The system had been running hotter than usual, and my battery life had been inexplicably brief. Both of those issues now seem to be remedied.

What's more, the spam seems to have been staved off. Hopefully it will be awhile before I see it again. As a preventative measure for the future, I've enabled Defensio on The Turning Gate. This is a learning system, so if you leave a comment and it fails to show up, it's probably been marked as spam by the system. I'm moderating these and trying to train Defensio to recognize legitimate comments more often; if your message seems to have been flagged as spam, check back later and I will likely have scolded Defensio and put up your comment.

I'm now catching up on my inbox and some of the work I've fallen behind on, and should have things back to usual soon. Thanks for your patience.

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Spam recruits heat, bricks Macbook

The war rages on

I last visited my inbox 30 hours ago; 599 unread messages, 17 of them legitimate and the rest spam. Textpattern and my array of defensive plugins have done a fine job moderating and hiding the spam so that only I have to see it, but I still have to see it, and that's a problem. Oh, but if spam were my only problem ...

Logic should dictate it's a separate, isolated incident. But my instincts tell me the gods of computing have it in for me. The timing is just too sinister. Yesterday, I checked my email before leaving the house, then closed the lid of my Macbook Pro, sending it into deep slumber. Or so I'd thought. Something went wrong, sleep did not descend upon the machine, and, when I returned hours later, I found it scalding to touch and totally cooked. My Macbook is bricked.

On reboot, it sounds the restart, the sleep indicator lights up solid, and the keyboard illuminates. Nothing on screen, and nothing going on inside.

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When it spams, it pours

MAN: You sit here, dear.

WIFE: All right.

MAN: Morning!

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The Korean soundWave XI

Alex, Adult Child, Belle Epoque, Nam Sang Ah, Yozoh & Eric

In predicting the imminent close of The Korean soundWave as a series in Episode X, I've seemingly jumped the gun. A bevy of new releases has recently hit the shelves, and there's more writing to be done. Keeping this one kind of short, though.

Alex Vs. Horan; Horan wins

Long have Alex and Horan waged war to determine who is the greatest of Clazziquai's singers. Concerts have ever been bloody affairs in which the forces of Alex have launched themselves into the fray against Horan's devout followers. The entire nation has become embroiled in this heated conflict since Clazziquai first launched itself into the Korean consciousness. And yet, never before have either of these adversaries risen above the other in any indisputable way.

Never, that is, until now.

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Browsers on my mind

Being that IE6 is for dinosaurs, Koreans and losers

With the release of Firefox 3 last week, I've been reminded of something I've been meaning to write on since redesigning this site.

Web savvy visitors may not have noticed, but The Turning Gate looks like poo in Internet Explorer 6 (IE6). This was an intentional and, I dare say, responsible design decision.

As viewed in IE6, page elements are positioned as they should be, but PNG transparency is unsupported and there may or may not be other issues elsewhere on the site. The place is fully functional; just ugly.

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The Korean soundWave X

Jaurim, Sweater, Ibadi

Today marks the start of Korea's rainy season. There's little I like to do more on a rainy day than kick back with some good tunes, and, as luck would have it, good tunes have not been in short supply. Sigur Ros, Portishead and The Submarines have new albums out, Nine Inch Nails has released their latest album, The Slip, and a live tour EP, Lights In The Sky, as free downloads from www.nin.com, and I discovered the incredible Emilie Simon and Under Byen just a few months ago. As if that weren't enough, we also have fantastic new releases from Korean bands Jaurim, Sweater and Ibadi! At this point, my problem isn't finding great music, but finding the time to enjoy all the great music I've found. Much as I hate to push my problems off on other people, I'm going to do just that. Welcome to The Korean soundWave X.

Jaurim's 7th is a gem

Jaurim's latest, Ruby Sapphire Diamond, comes as a welcome return to form following their 2006 foray into jejune electronica, Ashes to Ashes. Rather than that, this is the album they should have released following All You Need Is Love. Once more taking pages from latter day Beatles, Jaurim plunges back into the flamboyant, psychedelic rock of that album, expanding upon it and taking it further. Whatever fears I had for the band's future have now been put to rest. This is Jaurim at their finest. I may be declaring an early album of the year!

The album cover offers clear indication of what's in store for the listener. It's bright, surreal and strange. The artwork embodies the music, which vocalist Kim Yoon Ah has cited as being influenced by musical films such as The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Memories of Matsuko. On listening, there's no doubting the album's theatrical qualities. Every song brims with presence and charm.

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Nanbanjin plays Seoul, June 20 / 21

by Eric Davis, guest contributor

It’s common knowledge that the Internet has opened new doors for smaller bands. Vampire Weekend, Tapes'nTapes and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah have gone from blog favorites to talk-show guests within a calendar year. A textbook example of this shift in the music industry, Oita, Japan’s Nanbanjin are taking full advantage of our global society. Not only did they book their upcoming Seoul performances entirely through myspace.com, search for a birthday gift while using g-mail chat to field questions for this very story, they also joined the growing number of bands that give their music away for free online.

That’s not to say Nanbanjin (Japanese; a derogatory term for foreigners that literally means Southern savages) couldn’t make money from their recordings if they chose to. Their new ep, “Hi-Fi Ro-Fi” smartly marries prog-rock arrangements with punk spirit. They say the limitations of their three-piece lineup discourages them from falling into the conventional song structures and allows each person more freedom to explore their parts. Guitarist/vocalist Dai Evans and bassist Eoin Jordan have a knack for writing angular yet catchy melodies that intertwine seamlessly with drummer Manabu Mouri’s jazz-inflected rhythms. Together, they create a spacious but highly rhythmic sound that falls somewhere between the Mars Volta and Field Music.

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Lightroom-News.com Interview

Sean McCormack interviewed me today for Lightroom-News.com, regarding my work creating Lightroom web photo gallery templates. The interview is online here.

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