i went to north korea and all i got was this newfound appreciation of civil liberties

i was technically in north korea for all of about 5 minutes, but in that brief time i felt the icy cold fingers of communism reach at my back, like a reanimated corpse desperate to eat my gutty works.

the uso in seoul operates a tour that offers foreigners (no south koreans allowed) the unique opportunity to visit the dmz and, as i said before, briefly step inside that storybook world of north korea. it was sort of like visiting the shire. or i guess mordor might be a more accurate (apparently my friend sean had similar feelings). it was like some place in a fantasy filled with strange characters and weird events. and then i was there. it was a little disorienting.

by far, the most bizarre part for me was looking into north korea's "propaganda village." a village made to seem so ideal that it would entice south koreans to flee north to the rich promise of the dprk. riiiiigght. the creepy thing about this village is that nobody really lives there. it's a ghost town. is it strange that north korea's offer of perfection to south koreans is abandoned and, ultimately, non-existent? is that kind of like a metaphor?

while the tour ran a bit long and dropped the ball on some promised souvenir opportunities (north korean money? soju??), it was definitely a highlight of my year. i'm not sure i could recommend it to everyone as it's mostly walking around and looking into things, not much hands-on experience is what i mean, if you have any interest in north korea and/or oppressive regimes it's for sure an informative and engaging experience.

jamie enjoying the previous night's subway sandwich

panmunjom, across the way is the north korean visitors center or something like that. we are, obviously, on the south korean side of the divide at this point.

that little spec is a north korean soldier. say hi to capitalism, bro.

inside the blue room, about to step on over to the "other side"

me and my new bud. we got some soju after this. the south korean soldiers are in a constant taekwando stance of aggression. they also have those aviator shades that make them look pretty tough too. i could probably take him.

its the line!

the propaganda village. that flag pole used to be shorter but then south korea built a flag pole that was taller in their "freedom village" so north korea responded by making their tower even bigger. they also have the world's largest flag on that pole. it weighs several tons and is interwoven with iron rods or something crazy like that.

this was at the third tunnel, which is one of several tunnels (many of which are believed to be still hidden) that north korea had secretively been digging into the south. i forget how many have been found, maybe five. seems low. but this sign sure is happy! nice and appropriate. look at that cute lil helmet just hanging off that purple m.

sean and jamie. my dmz travel buddies. admittedly both were way more into the experience than i was.

going into the tunnel. it was pretty steep.

and the ceiling was pretty low. had to stay hunched over the entire time.

north korean beer! don't worry friends, i'll be bringing back a bottle with me.

this was at the train station that theoretically goes into north korea (see the sign below). obviously it's not used as such today but if things get all peaceful it could be. part of it is still in use and runs about 3 times a day to some tiny town in south korea, but no stops into communist territory.

'fac'+'backwards e' launch party

over the past few months i've been helping to launch a new magazine in daegu that focuses on urban youth culture (in one of the most conservative cities in korea, but hey...); specifically, the fashion, arts, culture and events that make it a happening place to be. they decided to call the magazine face and i'll give you exactly three guesses to figure out the reason why. hint: review this paragraph a few times and it should jump out at you.

it wasn't the smoothest operation. (rant incoming) the image that most immediately comes to mind is that of a chicken with its head cut off. or maybe just its face! hah! it was a cool opportunity to take the reigns of design team, unfortunately the whole thing was just micro-managed to shit. here's a taste: design-by-committee. uh-oh! really, all i tried to do was create a nice, cohesive system of parts that they could use after i left and put out a consistently good product with as little hassle as possible. plug-n-chug for all you maths fans out there. you know...design. unfortunately that idea was routinely shot down. there would be no unity, there would be no white space (so called "conventional design"). there would be a ruckus of design. a ruckus. each article with its own unique "creative identity." i tried to invoke images of graphic diarrhea and regurgitation, but apparently controversial design (meaning: chaos) gets people talking. here's what they're saying, "my god what is this? it's making my eyes bleed! quick get rid of it! no wait...burn it! spare others who might find it!" then they brought in a professional adviser with some 30 years of experience in the magazine biz. i thought: finally, an ally! her first bit of input was questioning the use of indesign as a design tool. uh-oh. then she systematically brought down 5 years of design theory and practice in about 5 minutes. cool! on top of that, everything was requested at the last minute. "oh hey, here's some articles - can you have a mock-up designed by tomorrow morning. we have a presentation for some sponsors." "i just decided that i want korean and chinese translations added to all these articles. can you change the layout of every single article to accommodate? by tonight..." "here's an indesign file for you to work off of...what? i needed to also send the photos and typefaces they used? why don't we just use ppt then?" "kyle -- we have to print in 2 minutes if we're going to get it done for the party. please make all these changes and send me a print ready pdf asap!!!"

i guess it would come as no surprise to say we had no physical magazine to offer the guests at the launch party. last minute printing sort of bites you in the ass like that. whoops! (okay done with ranting) but other than that tiny mishap (heh), it was a pretty great night. free drinks and appetizers - technically they were for the guests, not the staff (which is kind of shit, like saying 'hey thanks for all the hard work, now come to this event so you can serve the guests but please don't enjoy yourself'), but im straight hood so i just do what i want. got to hang out with artists, writers, designers, bboys and photographers all night long. i even networked! not one, but two business cards! me! networking! and of course there was an after-party! drinking vodka all night long, playing drinking games with korean girls, getting drunk on the cheap. and then going dancing with them afterwards. sure i felt like the gay guy in the girls dance circle - liked by everyone but in a completely non-threatening way - but at least i wasn't the creep-o white guys grinding at the edges of the circles (not a fabricated detail).

tldr; it was one of the best nights i've had in korea. it felt more mature than what's usually being offered here, or at least what i've been offered. but im sure the magazine will still turn out shit.

the girl at the end of the table (facing the camera - an artist!) said i was cute so she gets photo representation.

looking straight dork.

this was a painting done by a young artist group featured in the magazine. it closely resembles the cover of the inaugural issue, so that's more or less the logo, but we don't really outline it like that...except sometimes, like the temporary business cards. really there's no design guidelines so they're going to do whatever they want with it. that's annie (english editor) on the left and anastasia (russian!) on the right.

and this is craig (executive editor) and hoon (korean editor) doing a love shot.

the girl on right is a hagwon teacher in seoul. she was business card #1. i'm going to assume (hope?) she gave me the card for reasons other than professional. shit, why am i leaving again?

and this guy im pretty sure is an extra from bill and ted's excellent adventure in the scene where they visit the future. also i like their pose.

and this the bboy crew. the shortest one with the tilted sock-hat is 'beast'. he is business card #2 and i'm actually hoping he gave me his card for professional reasons (when are tryouts, boss?).

well, hello...

gawi, bawi, bo!

the design team - anastasia, resun/sunmi, annie, hayoun and me (shrouded in light, like a heavenly host). sunmi and hayoun are students. anastasia is more of a fine artist. annie is just moral support. i constantly flirt with sunmi even though she speaks absolutely zero english. its going about as well as you might suspect.

the entire team!

the afterparty. shot shot shot shot shot!

north korea - a day in the life (2004)

although filmed only seven years ago, if you didn't know any better you might think this movie was made sometime in the 80's. probably in east berlin. north korea - a day in the life gives you exactly what it claims to be, although through a very rose-colored glass. it follows the family of hong sun hui, a worker in a textile factory, and her family. my favorite is the crotchety old grandpa - highly decorated veteran of the korean war with a pretty large axe to grind against them american dogs! apparently, the film-maker, pieter fleury, was only allowed to shoot this film if the images were carefully controlled by the government's top dogs. and it shows in every big toothed smile and with every proud cheer to the beloved leader. but if this is the best - the ideal family - that north korea can put together for us, it really makes you wonder what we aren't allowed to see (and for that i'd suggest you look at this really fantastic article out of the atlanic). but fleury is adept at letting the camera linger just enough, to flush out just enough nuance in it's subjects, to make the film seem slightly subversive despite the efforts to make it a perfectly manicured ode to the north korean way of life. it even seems that because of these efforts, we are allowed to see just how ridiculous this message truly is - in a country where everything is being controlled, it feels as if everything is out of control.

at roughly 45 minutes, it's a quick watch. but i definitely recommend it if you can get your hands on a copy. it was one of the most fascinating things i've seen all year, real or fiction.

(the english classroom scenes are hilarious)

amen! preach it sister!