Thursday, October 21, 2010

The Korean in CNN International

CNN International has highlighted one of my must-read blogs, Ask A Korean:
It was originally a small, amusing project.

"I was in my third year of law school -- before the economy went to hell -- and I found people asking why Korea is this way or that," the Korean tells CNN. "I thought I could start a blog for fun."

The Korean, who prefers to remain anonymous, is the man behind "Ask a Korean!" -- a Q and A blog for people curious about North and South Korea and Korean culture.

Now an attorney who lives in the Washington, D.C. area, the Korean was inspired by "¡Ask a Mexican!," Gustavo Arellano's satirical column that's syndicated across the United States. (In the same vein, among others, there's also "Ask a Frenchman!" and "Ask a Russian.")

Since he answered his first question ("Dear Korean: Why are Korean men such awesome pool players?") in 2006, he's fielded thousands of questions from readers.

"It's almost become like a public diary. I guess the content is what makes it interesting," he said.
Perhaps if I re-introduce Ask Kushibo, I'll get on CNN. The downside of that is that it means more work.

4 comments:

  1. Bring back Ask Kushibo!

    Here's my question:

    What does "Kushibo" mean? Is it 95? If so, what is the significance?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Indeed, "kushibo" is the number ninety-five in Korean. And no, you are not the first one to ask that. I'll simply reprint an answer I gave for its meaning from five years ago:

    It's part of my philosophy on life. In any given group at least 95% of the people (usually more) are mostly good, decent people, while up to 5% (usually less) are bad, dishonest, vile people. The secret to life and happiness is to not let the <5% ruin things for you.

    Also there's the added (and inadvertent) fact that "kushibo" (九十五) looks just Japanese enough that some extreme knee-jerk Japan haters will go on a tirade and start calling me "Jap" or "Nip" or "족발새끼" at the first sign of anything they deem "anti-Korean," so it's fun to play with their heads.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well, there's no accounting for taste. AAK has become one of my must avoid blogs. I wouldn't read his stuff if someone paid me.

    He's simply an shockingly arrogant dickbag who considers himself an intellectual and above his audience. He gets no clicks from me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well, I won't say I agree with everything he says, but he does bring well thought-out arguments to many important subjects. But yeah, he can be a tad obstinate and authoritative. Still, knowing him (a bit) in person, I wouldn't call him a shockingly arrogant whatever that was.

    ReplyDelete

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