soon to appear on my sidebar

CHAPTER ONE

Although no one's accused me of this (probably because I periodically repeat my refrain about not being either liberal or conservative), I sometimes feel I don't have enough liberal-leaning Koreablogs on my sidebar. I've got plenty of left-leaning bloggers in general slapped up on the gallery, but most of the Koreabloggers listed there skew decidedly rightward, which is, perhaps, a fair reflection of where the American wing of the expat Koreablogosphere leans.

In the liberal spirit of affirmative action, then, I plan to include a blog already noticed and registered by most Koreabloggers: Michael Hurt's leftie Scribblings of the Metropolitician. The blog is well-written, intelligent, and thorough-- reminiscent of Charles's Liminality, not so much in terms of style and tone, but in terms of underlying conscientiousness-- something often missing in the quickly tossed-out posts written by so many bloggers (including yours truly), and therefore a valued commodity among writers who care about the craft of writing as much as they care about the mere act of communicating information.

I'm also eager to blogroll Michael because he shares with me (and Charles, and others on my blogroll) a love of interdisciplinary approaches to questions, and he handles his topics much more systematically, not to mention more gracefully, than I do. Two fantastic examples of what I mean are currently visible on Michael's blog:

1. Why Korea Needs Star Trek, which explores basic differences between Korean and American culture through the lens of each culture's appreciation (or lack thereof) of Star Trek, and

2. The Gates of the Minjok, a post hailed by several bloggers as a "must-read" piece, which it is, not least because Michael gets to put on his historian's cap and show he's actually learned a thing or two.

It's not as though Michael needs any hits from my blog; if the guy writes this well and is also being invited to "virtual parties" for Lap-POP events, then he's probably rakin' in the numbers. I'm blogrolling him, as always, for my own selfish reasons.

I should note that I don't necessarily agree with all that PoMo jargon Michael uses (or, more precisely, the jargon doesn't agree with me). I used to use those terms, too, after I'd taken a scriptural hermeneutics course. Didn't realize how much I'd been brainwashed. But the PoMo jargon's presence isn't enough to distract me from the fact that Michael runs a good, solid blog.

[Note to Michael: once you're more than a few years away from academe, you'll suddenly snap out of it and start using normal English again. Terms like alterity and totalizing metanarrative and différance* and all that other Derridean, Lacanian, Baudrillardian, Foucaultian, blame-the-West bullshit to come out of the academic Left's sphincter-- those terms will all fade into the recesses of distant memory.]

So: coming soon-- a sidebar image for Scribblings of the Metropolitician, a sturdy alloy of blogological style and substance.

CHAPTER TWO

Little did I know that the formerly mysterious author of Sound of a Dog Eating Grass was none other than Todd Thacker of OhMyNews International (OMNI), the very same gent who interviewed me back when the MIC censorship was going on (see that article here).

Todd's an extremely busy man. His blog, of necessity, gets the short end of the stick because, well, Todd's journalism is what pays the bills.

He is, however, looking for encouragement to continue blogging. If you've read Todd's articles in OMNI, you know he's a fine writer. You may also be aware that Todd's an editor at OMNI. With writing, editing, deadlines, and travel, Todd probably needs a good verbal ass-kicking to pick up the blogging pace. That, after all, is the Korean way: Show no sympathy for the overworked. Instead, make them work even harder.

Jerjerrod: The Emperor is coming here?
Vader: That is correct, Commander. And he is most displeased with your apparent lack of progress.
Jerjerrod: We shall double our efforts!
Vader: I hope so, Commander, for your sake. The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am.

So go visit Todd's blog. Read his latest post about home being where the heart is. Leave a comment. Command him to continue posting. Threaten to shove a splintery broomstick up his ass if he slacks off with the blogging. Todd's a calm, seemingly laid-back guy, so he needs to be confronted with something dire, like the prospect of a bloody asshole, if we're to get him moving.

Todd's blog will also be on the sidebar soon.

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*Deliberately spelled with "-ance" at the end and not "-ence" to make a semantic point, which I won't get into here, but which I think I've blogged about elsewhere.


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