(Source. See Korean Kontext for an interview of Steven Yeun back in April too)
Announcements
— Seoul’s Gay Men’s Chorus 2012 Concert, Saturday November 10 (The Kimchi Queen)
— KUMFA is looking for 10 volunteers to watch kids during their monthly meeting this Sunday, November 11th (Tales of Wonderlost)
Body Image, Health
— Fashion: Regulating the Inner/Outer in Choson Korea (The Korean Gender Cafe)
— White lies: China’s intimate bleaching industry (Buy Buy China)
Censorship, Media
— 양키새끼들? Seriously? (I’m No Picasso)
Crime
— No more “I was drunk” defense for rapes (The Marmot’s Hole)
— What steps you should take if you are raped or sexually assaulted in Seoul (You are not alone)
— Family of Man Killed by Spitting Student Struggle to Survive (Korea BANG)
Dating, Relationships, Marriage
— N. Korean defectors find freedom in South, but limited marriage options (Yonhap)
— Having a Crush on a White Girl (Journey into the Well)
— Ask the Yangxifu: On Married Men in China Seeking Extramarital Affairs With Western Women (Speaking of China)
Education, Parenting, Demographics
— Current Situations of Maternity Facilities for Unwed Mothers (KUMSN)
— In S. Korea, the best education means a sacrifice for parents (The Washington Post)
— After college exam, Korean students exhale (Asian Correspondent)
— Interesting op-ed in the Chosun Ilbo about new MOE requirements for foreign teachers (Gusts of Popular Feeling)
Economics, Politics, Workplaces, Ladygate
— Feminist Rebuts Claims Women are Over-Empowered in Korea (Korea BANG)
— On 된장녀 (I’m No Picasso; update)
— “Park Geun-hye and Women Leaders”: A Discussion We Need (ILDA)
— Yonsei University professor to Park Geun-hye, “You may have female parts, but you’re no woman lady!” (Korea Law Today)
— Is Park not a woman? (The Korea Herald)
— Candidates’ women pitch sparks rancor: Femininity dispute swamps campaigns as Park touts female leadership (The Korea Herald)
— Park plays the gender card to draw contrast (Korea Joongang Daily)
— Presidential Candidate Park Geun-hye is ‘Married to the State’ (Korea BANG)
— SKorea: Incheon University accused of kisaeng diplomacy (Asian Correspondent)
Gangnam Style
— Psy’s Gangnam Style: This Isn’t Really Multiculturalism (Mabel Kwong)
— Gangnam Style and Korea’s branding failures (The Marmot’s Hole)
— Psy teaches Oxford students how to dance Gangnam Style (The Telegraph)
— ‘Gangnam Style’ singer Psy: ‘I tried an elephant, monkey and kangaroo before the horse dance’ (NME)
— Top 10 Global ‘Gangnam Style’ Parodies (Global Voices)
— GLEE Snags “Gangnam Style” for Upcoming Setlist (MTVK)
— About how badly do you think “Glee” will destroy “Gangnam Style”? (Asian Junkie)
LGBT, Sexuality
— Holy crap this is actually a Korean drama? What show is this?! (Angry K-Pop Fan)
— Gay Korea comes out (The Korea Times)
— Welcome to Room #305: Manhwa provides good insight into a heterosexual’s reaction to meeting a queer person (The Kimchi Queen)
— UPR of Republic of Korea: concerns remain on death penalty, gender equality, and military service (ILGA Asia)
— Do men and women experience orgasms differently? (io9)
Miscellaneous
— Honda Fit She’s, the world’s only car aimed exclusively at (Japanese) women (Sociological Images)
Pop Culture
— Stoffa: ‘Cloud Atlas’ is not really racist (Iowa State Daily)
— 60% of Korean Actresses ‘Accosted for Sex by Bigwigs’ (The Chosun Ilbo)
— Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin, and Some Thoughts on Culture-Specific Modes of Reading (Gord Sellar)
— How K-pop is Enhanced by not Knowing Korean (or English) (Seoulbeats)
— In Search of a Common Language: In Another Country, Starring Isabelle Huppert (The New York Times)
— Sexual Marketing: Teen Top vs. Nu’est (Seoulbeats)
— HyunA Tries to Fetishize Her Dark Skin in “Ice Cream” and it Doesn’t Sit Quite Right (McRoth’s Residence)
— When Idols and Fans Clash (Seoulbeats)
Social Problems
— Pakistani activist wins asylum in Korea (Asian Correspondent)
— True Meaning of Welfare For the Elderly Who Are Living in Poverty (South Korea Human Rights Monitor)
(Links are not necessarily endorsements)
The Grand Narrative 
Yeah, what drama _is_ that?
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I’d like to know too!
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Extensive browsing of the tumblr comments suggests it’s “To The Beautiful You”.
Re: “Gay Korea comes out” opinion piece – Ewha’s lesbian club is impossible to miss with their gigantic rainbow banner in the student union building if you walk through campus. I’ve heard of the “Come Together” LGBT society here at Yonsei but can’t say I’ve seen visible signs of it yet. Topic is brought up in the student media now and then though.
At the moment I’m just trying to process how that psychology professor gets work at at big university.
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Re: Cloud Atlas is not really racist
I think it’s a shame that Bae Doona being just about the first Korean(-Korean, not gyopo) to land a serious Western film role is being overshadowed by cries of yellowface. Bae Doona did a great job in the movie, and she got the same make-up treatment to become a white character as well as a Latina. Her character was the most symbolically important in the whole plot, too, even if she didn’t get the most screen time. In the movie during the Neo Seoul arc, her character’s friend at the restaurant (played by a Chinese actress) had the biggest girl-power moment of the whole movie, and incidentally also was made up as a white character later on. It’s true that Korean wasn’t spoken much, outside of Sturgess’s character playing a baedalbu when caught by the cops (which indicates to me that in that fictional world English took over completely as the global prestige language- but anyway). It’s also positive to see Koreans playing Korean characters- unlike G.I. Joe or Ninja Assassin. Furthermore, though the actors were white, the depictions of male Korean heroes were great (even if the makeup was horrible).
Seems like the hullabaloo is that Korean male actors didn’t get a main role, but there are certainly plot-related reasons for it- the actors were chosen based on their primary arc in the story, hence Bae Doona being cast, as her character’s main arc was Neo Seoul. I wonder how much of the controversy has to do with Asian-American concerns about Asian males being mis- or underrepresented in Western media colliding with Korea(ns) wanting every possible exposure in the West, causing Bae’s skillful performance and breakthrough to be overshadowed. I just think it’s quite unfair, considering the plot and also the Wachowskis’ record of being rather progressive.
Out of curiosity, are there any Korean(-Korean) male actors with the chops and language abilities that Bae has, who are also in the age range of Sturgess or Weaving? Korean film has lots of great actors, but I’ve got no clue about the language abilities. Bringing gyopos into the picture, I think Steve Yeun is due for some big screen success.
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