It's called Coffee Factory and served us this delicious waffle with fruit and ice cream topping. We started eating before remembering to take a picture; the heart in the chocolate ice cream was unintentional. Also in the vicinity is Bukchon, home to a whole bunch of hanok, or traditional Korean houses. I'll direct you to some good posts on The Marmot's Hole here and here rather than attempt to discuss the must-visit neighborhood here. Here's a page sent to me recently about preserving Seoul's disappearing traditional homes, and here are photos on Flickr tagged with Samchungdong.
Later that evening something unbelievable happened: my character foil Roboseyo and I broke bread together at a Russian restaurant near Dongdaemun Stadium Station. He was kind enough to recommend not only Samchung-dong but two whole big lists of restaurants in and around Insa-dong. Much appreciated, brother. He swears a lot in real life, though, but I'm nonetheless pleased to report on my first celebrity blogger sighting.
Thanksgiving weekend I brought the Kim's Club Christmas tree out of storage. There are few things I enjoy more than the Christmas season, with its decorations and its carols. Last year I recommended the "Holiday Classics" channel on AOL radio, but this year instead of just playing . . . the classics, it plays all kinds of new garbage. The "Holiday Oldies" channel is a little better, but crap still slips in. If anybody can recommend some sites that stream good Christmas music, I'd be in your debt.
Last year I also mentioned "Es ist ein Ros entsprungen," a German Christmas carol I particularly enjoy and rank among the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. Here is a lovely choral arrangement:
And here's an even better version sung by three tenors.
Another holiday favorite is "O Come Emmanuel." The best version on YouTube is done by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. That video also provides the second-most funny comment I've read on YouTube.
Probably better than my Choir at school when we sung it.
My favorite comment is on this Jeju horse-fighting (seriously) video.
Whoa, Korean Pokemon is way different than Japanese.
Today Roboseyo posted some of his holiday favorites, including Sufjan Stevens, a guy I had never heard of before. He sounds all right. You know who else needs to record Christmas music? Richard Hawley:
9 comments:
It's funny/cool you mention "Lo How A Rose E'er Blooming" (the English name) in your Christmas post: the sufjan stevens version is the second tune in my final clip of music on that post. I'll still pick "Silent Night" as the prettiest Christmas carol (that's Stille Nacht in Deutschland), but Lo How a Rose is now definitely second place, and totally spanks O Holy Night. I might even take "O Come O Come Immanuel" above O Holy Night, too.
Frankly, I don't recommend sites that stream christmas music, because they'll stream too much of the bad stuff into your house, and not enough of the good. I'm really going for it this christmas, and trying hard to get into the spirit with music and whatnot. May even buy one of those cheesy trees. Good luck with doing the same.
And yeah. I swear a lot in real life. especially when I drink, and am with Matt. Hope I didn't rub anybody the wrong way. It was awesome seeing you, though, as well as GF in JND, who was very nice, too.
(verification word is "unders" which I'll wear tomorrow, if it's cold)
No, I don't mind about the swearing. But . . . did you just call my tree cheesy? I think you did. I think you fucking did.
Oh by the way, you're bang-on totally right that Richard Hawley needs to do a Christmas Album. So do Tom Waits, The Flaming Lips, The Polyphonic Spree, and I'm really curious what kind of Christmas music Bjork has in her.
I wish Nick Drake and Nina Simone had stuck around long enough to make one, too.
I'm glad Diana Krall has one, though.
I like www.live365.com
They have tons of everything under the sun. If you become a VIP, you don't have to listen to those annoying commercials. A wise investment of a couple of dollars, and you can listen to X-mas music year-round.
They also have music from the turn of last century and great radio dramas from the 30's and 40's before TV. I've spent countless hours browsing the seemingly endless choices.
John, back in Daejeon
I highly recommend investigating Sufjan Stevens further. He's one of my favorite artists. His album "Illinois" is a good place to start. "Michigan" is also quite excellent, but less refined. "Seven Swans" is beautiful, but not quite as accessible. It's stark, minimalist, acoustic, versus "Michigan" and "Illinois," which are lush and complex. But, really, everything he does is beautiful. His Christmas set (five EPs) let me enjoy Christmas music again.
What's the name of this Russian restaurant, and how does one find it?
Jens: I agree about Sufjan. He's one of my favorite these days.
The russian restaurant is near Exit five of Dongdaemun Stadium Station. Step out of the station, turn right , and start walking. Cross the street, and then start looking down the narrow alleys for one that has a big yellow sign across it, just high enough for people to walk under it. Go down that alley, and right about when you're directly under the yellow sign (I think the lettering is red), the restaurant will be on your right.
It's not a big place, so if you go at peak hours on a Saturday or something, you might not be able to get a seat.
Happy hunting!
Sorry for calling your tree cheesy.
That's okay. I know it's not. (But thanks for apologizing.)
Don't get me started about streaming Christmas music. When I was in Gangjin, man, I'd turn on AOL's Holiday Classics and be all set. (I love the renditions from the 40s, 50s, and 60s). But in subsequent years it's been bad, and this year is downright awful. I don't want to hear Sting or the guy that sings "You Raise Me Up" on a Holiday Classics channel. And sorry to say Dean Martin doesn't cut it either. I'm talking Frank, Andy, Bing, Perry, Nat, and friends.
I found accuholiday this year, and on the first day the Old-Fashioned Christmas Channel was awesome. But listening other times it was pretty bad---renditions recorded in 2003 are not old-fashioned---and had a lot of repeats.
I remember back home probably about 8 years ago or so a thing on TV about the ultimate Holiday Classics CD collection. Something like eight CDs of all the good ones from the 40s, 50s, and 60s. I think I'll just need to get that when I go back home, or at least download a ton of said mp3s.
I'm a big fan of choirs, too. About six kinds of awesome right here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHKo4NmmvRI
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