lala beta... | jerjonji\'s Xanga Site - Weblog

lala beta... | jerjonji's Xanga Site - Weblog

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Antelope Canyon... | jerjonji\'s Xanga Site - Weblog

Antelope Canyon... | jerjonji's Xanga Site - Weblog

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Hallyu... or I knew there was a market...

Some of us are old enough to remember the term "the British Invasion" which was a fever that swept across America after the Beatles kick started a movement. We couldn't get enough of that British sound and look, and it affected our pop culture in ways that still resonant today.

While I knew that certain elements of the Korean TV dramas were very popular in Japan and other asian cultures, I hadn't run across the term "Hallyu" (Korean Wave) when I started thinking about translating them for the American audience. (See this post for details on my plan.) The Korean Wave has taken Asia by surprise as the viewers clammer for more and more Korean entertainment. The Korean tourist industry has gotten such a boost that frequently the TV dramas focus around a tourist attraction. For example, even before Winter Sonata went into production, the marketing campaign for the settings of that specific drama were in place. Tourists want to see the places where their favorite stars acted, and even want to meet the stars and a deliberate marketing plan is in place to capitalize on the interest.

A movement that started after the Seoul Olympics in 1988, it has expanded into clothing lines, models, music, cell phones, and the brand-marketing is becoming a part of the TV drama in subtle ways. Plans to build their own "HallyuWood" outside Seoul are in place (for around 1.95 billion american) as they develop an entertainment center similar to our Hollywood.
That said, they have been fairly unsucessful at moving the wave to America and other English speaking cultures. The love of the Korean entertainment scene appeals to Asian-Americans, but not to mainstream America. I knew that there would be a problem as soon as I began dissecting the dramas for what would work or not work in our culture. I am fairly sure my plan would work. Now... I just need to find an Angel or two who can see the future and dare risk a couple million on a dream. Anyone want to invest in a dream?

life in new mexico

i'm really an east coast girl and this foreign land reminds me of my foreigness daily. it's more than my fear of the lizards crawling in bed with me and the thorns i keep picking out of my dog's paws when we go walking. it's more than the lonliness i feel and the isolation. it's more than the desert and mountains outside my window, and seeing everything in spanish and english. it's like i'm living in the beloved westerns of childhood at times. so while everything seems oddly familiar, it's different at the same time. maybe it's because i grew up with black and white tvs! maybe!

i forgot i had this place

woah! i totally forgot about this space. i used it after i got my xanga and had too much to say for one blog and before i got myspace (amid others which shall be nameless)... i can't believe you found it! lol! you must have been some kind of bored last night!

otakon

i'm not going... i'm really not going, which means i'll probally never go in my entire life since we're moving to the southwest. kusanagi keeps trying to convince me to go, but i won't meet up with him while i'm there (he has his own agenda and i have mine) and i don't want to go alone.

i'm such a chicken about going to new places alone. my anxiety level rises sky high. how on earth am i gonna move to albuquerque? and we're really gonna go to new mexico to live in august. the movers were here to count our stuff and we have ten thousand pounds of stuff left to move out there into storage- not counting what we have to take ourselves for our temporary home.

so how can i miss otakon? i donno...

maybe i can find someone to drive down w/ me.... maybe....

my friend kusanagi

there are twenty eight years difference between kusanangi and i and i'm the older one. our friendship is bumpy at times as we wade through not understanding each other and we've both went away mad at the other more than once. but something always pulls us back and lately we've gotten better at negotiating the pitfalls. partly because we've both grown to value the friendship and are afraid of losing it forever. we talk forever every day and he still doesn't trust me- a true child of his generation while i trust him completely- a true child of mine.

the other day he accused me of valuing trust too much and i laughed. "how can you have any kind of relationship if you don't trust each other?" I asked.

he shrugged. "i've never thought about it, i guess, ma'am."

"i h8 that word."

"lol, ma'am... i know." (i h8 ma'am b/c it makes me feel so old)

"brat" i reply affectionately.

"i h8 that word 2 u know."

i know. i know that your parents have used few terms of affection with you and that they usually use foul adjectives in front of the word brat. i've heard the pain in your voice when you tell about them. i know trust is something i'll earn with you over years of being consistently there and caring. breaking down years of bad voices isn't easy, but this friendship is changing both of us... for the better, imho. hope you agree, too bad if you don't, dear brat!

moving

It's official... we're selling most of what we own after 20 years on the East Coast and moving to the Southwest.

I was so careful to select a mate with the desire to live on East Coast, who knew he'd change his mind after living here 20 years?

I'm not sure this East Coast girl will fit in well in the Southwest, but if I don't try, I'll never know.

I'm trying to figure out just how much of my winter wardrobe to move as we try to move as little as possible. I've always had four seasons worth of clothes- even as a child, and can't comtemplate not needing a full season full of winter outfits. I have at least six winter coats: two full-length dress coats (brown and black, of course), two short coats (one with a hood, and one w/o), a lightweight winter coat for the almost warm days, and one ratty one for dog walking. That doesn't even begin to count the sweaters, turtlenecks, cords, leggings, hats, mittens, scarfs.

Last year, it snowed three days from Dec - Feb where we're moving to and the average temp was 40 degrees. It rained six days straight and the total rainfall for the six days... less than 2 inches...

I was freaking out yesterday... "Do they even sell ANIME there?"
We finally did a web search and found a full-service anime store with manga... "Whew!" I guess I can move after all.

Internet... anime... what else does this girl need?