Seoul's Zombie Walk

Two weeks ago...
... the Dead began to rise from their graves...
... and took a stroll through Seoul.

"It's close to midnight and something evils lurking in the dark,
Under the moonlight you see a sight that almost stops your heart,
You try to scream but terror takes the sound before you make it,
You start to freeze as horror looks you right between the eyes,
You're paralyzed.

Cause this is thriller, thriller night,
And no ones gonna save you from the beast about strike.
You know its thriller, thriller night,
You're fighting for your life inside a killer, thriller tonight.

You hear the door slam and realize there's nowhere left to run,
You feel the cold hand and wonder if you'll ever see the sun,
You close your eyes and hope that this is just imagination,
But all the while you hear the creature creepin up behind,
You're out of time.

Cause this is thriller, thriller night,
There ain't no second chance against the thing with forty eyes.
You know its thriller, thriller night,
You're fighting for your life inside of killer, thriller tonight.

Night creatures call,
And the dead start to walk in their masquerade,
Theres no escapin the jaws of the alien this time
(they're open wide)
This is the end of your life.


They're out to get you, there's demons closing in on every side,
They will possess you unless you change the number on your dial,
Now is the time for you and I to cuddle close together.
All through the night I'll save you from the terror on the screen,
I'll make you see.


That this is thriller, thriller night
cause I can thrill you more than any ghost would dare to try,
Girl, this is thriller, thriller night
So let me hold you tight and share a killer, diller, chiller
Thriller, here tonight.

Darkness falls across the land
The midnight hour is close at hand
Creatures crawl in search of blood
To terrorize yawls neighbourhood
And whosoever shall be found
Without the soul for getting down
Must stand and face the hounds of hell
And rot inside a corpses shell
The foulest stench is in the air
The funk of forty thousand years
And grizzly ghouls from every tomb
Are closing in to seal your doom
And though you fight to stay alive
Your body starts to shiver
For no mere mortal can resist
The evil of the thriller

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Below:
Micheal Jackson's "Thriller" performed by prison inmates. Increadible...

Tokyo Tomorrow

Whew, I am trying to get the Halloween Zombie Walk Post up with pictures, but Life is busy!

Finishing the month teaching, doing Halloween stuff, seeing Steve's mom off, and preparing for my trip to Tokyo tomorrow - so much to do! Need to buy new jeans (stupid hole!), pick-up some yen, and pack before walking up tomorrow and catching the bus to Incheon Airport (curiously rated one of the best airports in the world.)

Anyway, I'm off to pack - Tokyo is calling! Happy Halloween!

Bush vs Zombies

In honor of today's Zombie Walk Seoul 2008!

"Laser..."

Hee hee!

I'm getting a little excited here...

Whew! It's been a busy month here in Seoul-land! And there is so much to look forward to!

My roommate Steve's Mom has been visiting us for the last week which means I've been hitting the tourist attractions of Seoul hard. (Actually, Steve is doing most of the showing around - I mean, she is his mom!) Anyway, we've explored Namdaemun Market - in search of Halloween paraphernalia, and hiked Bukhansan Mountain, a respite from the urban forest (Check back soon for PHOTOS and a more in depth look at these popular Seoul spots!)

Looking to the future, life only gets more exciting - You may have noticed the poster for Seoul's first-annual ZOMBIE WALK 2008, happening this Saturday! The brainchild of my friend Bobby (and seconded by your's truely - "Let's do it!"), the Zombie Walk will celebrate all things Halloween and UnDead. We will all meet around 4pm at Ewha University (the local women-only uni) and then walk to Hongik University (Hongdae = student party central, where there are literally hundreds of bars and clubs - my usual Friday night hangout!)


Oh yeah, and we are all dressed as zombies. We expect over 40 people to join our dead-shuffle, creating an unforgetable impression on the local Korean population! (My Korean friends, by the way, think this is the most insane and crazy thing to do - as it goes against the social norms of not standing out. Do I expect the police to show up? Maybe. Will we be on the news? Maybe...hehehe) Again, photos will come soon!

Besides the z-walk, I am also looking forward to my planned trip to Tokyo the weekend after next. My good friend Taka says I can stay with him in Yokohama and I'll take the train in to see Tokyo. I am also planning to meet another friend Naoko (someone I worked with at the Lookout.)

Furthermore, besides zombies and Godzillas, I am also looking forward to Bond, James Bond. Yes, Quantum of Solace, the new Bond film (and direct sequel to Casino Royal) comes out here on November 5th!

Yup, there's alot on my plate, and I like it like that.

Oh, and readers, what is a "quantum of solace" anyway?

One of Us...

Coming soon ....

Please Vote

Today is the day. Please vote in the Canadian Election.



Please take away the sentiment from the video. You don't have to register to vote in Canada, just go to the polling station. If I can vote from Korea, you can vote from Canada.

Please vote.

Happy Thanksgiving

A Big Turkey by Peter Bond

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope you get to eat some turkey and stuffing ...mmmm...stuffing. Have a great day tomorrow!

Let me know what you are thankful for...

Minmi and Thoughts on Palaeoart

I recieved an email from Craig at The Tyrannosaur Chronicles wondering if I could provide a little art for an upcoming post about Australian ankylosaurs. He was looking for a life-reconstruction of Minmi, the small dinosaur from Down Under.

Great, I thought and I asked him for money. He laughed in my face (monitor?) and told me I'd get the traffic from his site as "commission." Ha.

Have you ever visited the Tyrannosaur Chronicles?!? It's about a puppet dinosaur! But it's also great! An exciting and hilarious fictional adventure that stars a new theropod hero for our times! Of course I'd do it. What are friends for?

You can learn about Minmi, the cute Australian creature here.

So here it is, a reconstruction of Minmi paravertebra, done in watercolor and pen - step by step:

The pencil sketch

The finalized pose, outlined in ink.

The base watercolours and ink detail applied.

The Final Result:

Minmi paravertebra in Sunshine by Peter Bond

Thoughts on Palaeoart:

Artists on blogs such as the Flying Trilobite, Raptor's Nest, and Druantia Art produce wonderful work everyday. But how much palaeoart is needed in the world? Is there ever enough? I don't think so, but I am confused.

So I looked. Below is a selection of other artist's reproductions of Minmi I found using Google Image Search:

Whoops! This is Minmi, the Japanese hip-hop singer!

Not to be confused with our cute little ankylosaur:

As you can see, there is a huge variety in Minmi's shape, musculature, armour, spikes, and colour. So much so that each picture looks like a different animal! This is strange as about 95% of the skeleton has been found. Some artists chose to represent Minmi more like a stegosaur while others chose an ankylosaur-like style. I chose more of a nodosaur-like shape for my painting. But the question is: which one is correct?

None of them, ... or all of them. The point is we don't know and it's almost impossible to "know" what a prehistoric creature looks like. Also, as more and more material is unearthed and new discoveries come to light, palaeoart evolves. Does this accounts for the variation abong the Minmi reproductions? Or is it just artistic license? Do artists need to follow the scientific literature?

"Palaeoart links Scientists to the Public." Thoughts?

Cheers! These thoughts on palaeoart are mostly question, but maybe you have some answers.
So long, and one more Min-mi for the road!

Are You a Cheater?

Have you ever cheated on your wife or girlfriend?

Have you ever thought, "Man, I want to cheat, but I don't want to feel guilty?" We don't want to feel guilty, do we?

Well, now we don't have to! Welcome to CheatNeutral - a new initiative where you pay money when YOU cheat and the company will pay others to NOT cheat! Thus keeping the total amout of pain and suffering at ZERO!

No longer will you have to feel guilty about cheating!

Don't believe me? Check out this promotional video for CheatNeutral!


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Did I get your attention? Good. My good friend Marianne, a scientist in sustainable development, sent me this site. I have to agree with their position on carbon offseting.

It just doesn't make any sense. And you can't offset common-sense, can you?

Countdown to JAPAN - T-One Month!

Well done to those who guessed right!

I bought a ticket to Tokyo, Japan - home of Godzilla and Hello Kitty! It'll be a short trip, four days from October 30th to November 2nd. I'll be staying with my friend Taka and visiting with another friend Naoko!

As you may have noticed, Halloween falls within those dates, so I'll be celebrating one of my favorite holidays in Tokyo. Any ideas as to where I should party or what I should dress up as would be greatly appreciated!

Where in the World...?

Here's an fantastic idea for all you monster fans out there! (From a great new Blog I just found!)

This is a hint to where I just bought a ticket too. Can you guess?!?

Damon on Palin on Dinosaurs

I don't usually delve into politics, but it seems it's time to get a little political.

I've been following the American election closely here in Korea - by reading the newspaper at work, checking in with BBC.com and watching the Daily Show and the Colbert Report online.

In fact, I find the American election much more interesting than the Canadian one (yes, Canada is having an election too!)

Republican John McCain's pick for Vice President surprised and shocked me. Sarah Palin is the governor of Alaska with no experience - at home (mayor of a small Alaskan town and less than two years as governor) or abroad (she "can see Russia from her home!")

Is it just me, or can nobody else see that Palin was only nominated because she is young and she can get all the disgruntled Hillary Clinton voters and the scary right-wing gun-totin' voters. Come on!

Internet rumours also ask the question: Does Sarah Palin, a creationist, believe dinosaurs existed 4000 years ago?

Apperently this is a major concern for non other than Matt Damon (Jason Borne!) Check it out:




"Crazy. I mean, did she, I mean I really need to know if she thinks dinosaurs were here 4000 years ago. That's an important...I wanna know that, I really do. Because she's gonna have the nuclear codes. You know, I wanna know if she thinks dinosaurs were here 4000 years ago. Or if she banned books, or tried to ban books. I mean, this is...this is...we can't have that." -Matt Damon

As a teacher, I believe it is incredibly important that leaders are well educated. The thought that she might actually think dinosaurs lived with humans, or that she might have banned books scares me.

To be honest, I absolutely want Obama and Biden to win. Oh man, do I want Obama to win! If I was American, I'd be a Democrat. And I don't just want Obama to win because he might become the first black president, but because I am scared of McCain and Palin. He is old (72!), and if he dies, she would become the President of the United States. And that is scary.

Time to lighten up this post! Here's a recent segment from the Daily Show about Sarah Palin:

Merry Chuseok Everyone!

This weekend is the traditional thanksgiving Korean holiday of Chuseok!

It is a time where traditionally everyone returns to their hometown (an important concept - where you were born affects your status and creates instant friends) in a mass exodus turning Korea into a giant traffic jam.

It is a time to show respect to grandparent and elders, to visit family graves, and to enjoy a meal of traditional Korean food with one's family.

Sounds wonderful, but in reality (as my students have complained to me) it is the women of the family who spend the holiday buying, preparing, cooking, and serving the meal while the men relax and play cards. And watch TV.

While this is changing with the younger generation, this is the traditional division of labour. It makes sense that many Korean women hate Chuseok.

Time to play some cards! Happy, er... Merry Chuseok!!!

Oh, we were fortunate enough to be invited to Chuseok dinner by our good friend Hong! So expect a post confirming/disputing what my students said!

Also expect a post soon on my adventure into North Korea!

All this and a bag of cats coming soon!

Bugs of Korea!

A freekin BIG Korean bug flew into our TV room and had to be captured and released out the window! It is about 10cm long, head to wing tip.

And it makes the loudest noise - shi-shi-shi-shi-sheeeeeer...

The locals here call it a Meme. Any idea what kind of insect it is?

Either way, it was so cool!