M.I.N.E.

Where did th ABACUS go?

admin — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 07:30:27 +0000

The abacus is a calculating tool that is used mainly in asia for counting.

It’s speed is probably more accurate than a calculator in that one can visualise the process that goes on. Probably traded between the romans and the chinese in the 2nd century BC…..

Check this out……

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIiDomlEjJw

what about this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srg2uxeM4F8&feature=related

and utube rocks.

because it gets even better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnmLuOEDbkQ&feature=related

Homes APART

admin — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 02:19:32 +0000

I recently went to see a documentary by acclaimed producer Christine Cho called HOMES APART. Where North and South Korea attract many Westerners to the DMZ, this novelty has only come about through the loss and suffering of many lives. More importantly, the continued loss and suffering for many years since.

The film is quoted “They speak the same language, share a similar culture and once belonged to a single nation. When the Korean War ended in 1953, ten million families were torn apart. By the early 90′s, as the rest of the world celebrated the end of the Cold War, Koreans remain separated between North and South, fearing the threat of mutual destruction. Beginning with one man’s journey to reunite with his sister in North Korea, director Takagi and producer Choy reveal the personal, social and political dimensions of one of the last divided nations on earth.”

The film charts the great suffering in the many seperated families who never expected the war to go for so long. The physical distance becoming unbearable for some and others maintaining spiritual connections wth their brothers and relatives. Christine is able to go from Pyongyang to Seoul and presents a thoroughly unbiased perspective on the two Koreas. The focus of the film becomes the role of American soldiers and their continued presence on the penninsular, with a pivotal moment in the documentary where the phrase “Yankee Go Home!” was coined by a South Korean demonstrator during the riots to remove the military government in South Korea.

The documetary shows more than anything the real sadness and helplessness of people facing a situtation that they cannot see resolved for their lifetime. South Korea has infact turned into an island nation through the years of conflict which explains the very defensive nature of its people.

I really recommend this for anyone interested in the human view of the war other than the political and military stories. (currently showing in CGV Technomart Seoul)

Photo taken by me during the Q&A session.

Mosque NEAR ground zero

admin — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 00:19:34 +0000

The issue of raising a mosque two blocks away from the site of grond zero has enraged some Americans as insulting the victims of the 9/11 attacks. From a architectural perspective as long as the the buildings are not visible from each other it serves to emhasis the idea of forgiveness and the American theory of acceptance, not the acceptance or what happened on that fateful day but more th acceptance of religion and the difference in cultures itself which makes up the make up of the American society. One always talks of events in parrallel and in the shadows of another point in time, I would propose that two buildings reflect upon each other and provide in one photograph two religious symbols of architecture. The progression of humans to associate less with buildings as a practical piece rather than a more symolic icon and this seems less as one moves away from the city. Cities must always contain iconic buildngs, the more developed the city the more icons that it contains whether its a Zaha Hadid in Dongdaemun Park or “that big wobbly shaped building next to the park” (don’t know who the architect is but its cool, “could if be the one by jean gang?)

The trend for more middle eastern buildings is driving the industry in the West, whether or not we embrace their ideology, the fact is that commercially these Iranian embassies and religious centres are becoming more and more commonplace. One day the Itaewon mosque in Seoul might become an icon next to the Han river?

(All image rights reserved)

بريتانيا كشوري است جزيره اي در غرب اروپا كه از قرن شانزدهم ميلادي با ايران داراي روابط سياسي بوده است. اين كشور داراي ظرفيت‌هايي براي ايفاي نقش در اروپا مي‌باشد و به طور سنتي منافعي را در ساير نقاط جهان از جمله خاورميانه دنبال می کند. اين كشور هم اكنون جايگاه متفاوتي از قرون نوزدهم و بيستم ميلادي در عرصه هاي بين المللي دارد.

POJANG MACHA?!

admin — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 02:56:30 +0000

Packaged Carriage?! its not a tourist attraction in Korea, I mean this is hardly an attraction for a world class city is it?!

http://www.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_6.jsp?cid=261132

http://www.ryuenishizawa.com/

admin — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 01:07:53 +0000

Currently reading about the work of http://www.ryuenishizawa.com/ composition is beautiful.

Image copywrite acknowledged.

Excellent resource for information on the Korean War.

admin — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 01:04:43 +0000

http://www.koreanwar-educator.org/home.htm

This web site includes information about the Korean War from the perspective of U.S. veterans who were involved in the war effort, as well as American families who lost loved ones in Korea.

The most important things is that this website contain some amazing memoirs from the war with photographs.

http://www.koreanwar-educator.org/memoirs/eberlin_charles/index.htm

Black Hair Documentary

admin — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 01:01:31 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p96aaTSdrAE&feature=related

This is true, although the nails are dominated more by the Vietnamese and Black Hair care Industry was taken over by Koreans in the 1960′s.
This is an excellent Documentary on the Korean take over of Black hair Industry, they are doing everything in their power to run out the last vestiges of Black-owned haircare in California.

Reporter John Rich’s photos of the Korean War.

admin — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 00:57:15 +0000

John Rich was a photographer for the International News Service as war broke out in Korea in 1950. Using a small camera given to him by Nikon to try out and Kodachrome colour film which was reletivly new technology, he took close to 1,000 photos of life in Korea using film from jJapan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aF_r_01ekY

GMC Starcraft and Korean celebrities?!!

admin — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 02:11:12 +0000

Did anyone ever talk about the issue of environmentally friendly or safety when Korean celebrities started to get driven around in Korea in these massive people carriers? Many people ask why in Korea there are so many black & white cars. At any point in Apgujeong or Gangnam you will see a number of these cars whisking their hidden occupants around the city. Their tinted windows analogous to the sunglasses that many celebrities adorn in Korea. It seems the obsession with GMC starcraft comes from a marketing exercise in part by the famous American car maker. A mobile room allowing celebrities to do everything whilst moving from location to location. Sometimes a couple of these cars are just parked outside major attractions as a marketing tool and I’m not sure what the laws are regarding advertising from your car.

why is seoul so addicted to coffee?

admin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 00:26:07 +0000

Coffee provides a platform for spatial discussion, more than anything a coffee
shop provides the single most efficient location for people to interact and socialise.
the informal nature of space and the ever present smell of coffee sets a location
for many efficient interactions. the huge consumption around the world of this liquid
knowledge has become almost an addiction for human relationship. The very nature of sitting,
reading, is nothing than an elegant space for humans to rest meet and form connections.
this space is therefore a surface typology, the actual space of a “shop” providing merely
a surface in which stories are written and old and new narratives formed and reformed.

what then becomes of this place in terms of architecture and what would the future of this product become?
taking a more theoretical perspective on this location it would be appropriate to start with
the process of coffee making and coffee building.

caffeine is a drug which serves to increase the speed of one’s metabolic rate
it is a morning drug, and an afternoon or evening indulgence, served in white containers
the usually black substance and the very nature of coffee is in stark
contrast to the surroundings in which it is consumed. This almost quiet irony is the focus in which the project occurs.

A dark mocha coffee shop. (with cream on top) the spent coffee beans are formed into bricks and turned into construction
material, the project then develops to reasearch on the colour of coffee and its subsequent colours that arouse from its planting picking,
roasting, planting and roasting until final consumption and spillage. Reminders of the worlds cheapest and most expensive coffee trigger
memories of the smell of coffee in the morning. The used coffee bags aren’t used as a form of texture or fabric or seating but
becomes more important the actual fibres and textile turned into placemats and packaging material, rather than an aesthetic object.
The visitor to the shop would in part take home a part of the farm in which the coffee has grown. this packaging is then relocated
into the home or office or park or any part of the city which signify’s a place of rest, relaxation or conversation and meeting.
a trace of flavour.