i'm in seoul

So how's it going?

You posted that, his wife got mad and things went from there. Homewrecker.

wow starcraft 2!

sounds like a fun crazy trip. take pictures.

for what i imagine will be the annoucement of starcraft 2.

i knew it! i knew this had to be the reason you were over there.

any Ghost sightings?

http://www.richterscale.org/images/20050606-StarCraft-Ghost-Statue-E3.jpg

Please let there be a proper RTS Starcraft sequel and not the realization of a Tomb-Raider informed marketing department.

Hope you're having fun, M@tt!

I want to hear about the food, too.

food report:

great so far. went to a nice korean BBQ place, they actually bring out a pot of hot wooden coals and put in in this cylindrical thing under a round grill right on your table. so yummy.

had some typical everyday type food that i saw everyone on the street eating...udon noodle bowls and then also at a small place some breaded pork cutlets and a cabbage salad...they serve lots of pickled cabbage and vegetables as side dishes all very good.

NOT YUMMY: at the olympic stadium where the starcraft II annoucment was, bought a "corn dog" that looked like a corndog, until you bit into it and found out it was imitation crab meat. they also put ketchup on it for you when you order reinforcing the belief that you're getting a regular corn dog. almost puked.

starcraft II looked great....about 10,000 korean kids at the olympic stadium to see the annoucement and then watch tournament matches of the orig. starcraft and warcraft III. gaming is a huge deal here. the pro gamers are like boy bands for jr. high age girls, saw one gamer surrounded by about 15 giggling school girls hanging on his every word. he looked real shy and embarrassed but everyone here is a bit shy, it's hard to get quotes from people, even though a decent amount seem to speak some english. i'm hoping to have better luck w/a translator on monday.

seoul is very nice and clean. feels more "western" than i thought it would.

walking around the grounds of a buddhist temple across from the hotel. very beautiful...saw monks praying/meditating and a huge statue of buddha.

anyway it's nice here but i'm a super duper tired (was about 12 hours today of events at the olympic stadium....)...this is almost "E3" tired, which is saying something.

JEALOUS

Seoul is completely awesome; you gonna get a chance to to go to the open markets?

JEALOUS

What he said etc.

yeah i love seoul, what a great town. thanks for the reports!

Soju will FUCK YOU UP. i'd describe it as a cross between good vodka and saki. it goes down more like saki, but fucks you up like vodka. dangerous business. i got crushed last night. a 16 oz cold bottle of it is only like 3,000 won (around $3) at regular type bars.

one thing have noticed: at the hotel (which is very nice) and more fancy type places, they tell you they don't serve soju...they kind of seem weird about it, i wonder if it has some kind of "low rent" connonations here or something? anyway I like it.

absolutely destroyed from the Blizzard/Starcraft convention, totally nuts, I guess attendence was around 50,000 over 2 days and it's basically just for THREE games, one of which came out TEN years ago.

I am going to attempt to get out of this part of the city tonight, it seems like it's a little boring around here, sort of a business district. we'll see what happens. Hopefully there I can find a more traditional Korea restaurant...the only sort of old fashioned one around here is the BBQ place I've eaten at twice...everything else is sort of expensive looking "asian fusion", italian, or japanese places.

T-shirts I've seen:

A live concert shot of Patti Smith with the words "Hamcheese Rock City"

A pair of cartoon sunglasses with the words "It's a Syrup....ROCK THANG" (sic)

Bought the Mrs. a shirt that reads "CLUB SMART AWESOME PARTY" for $10

P.S. (To whoever asked Starcraft Ghost is dead, dead, dead)

Soju is great -- but yeah, wicked strong.

i'd describe it as a cross between good vodka and saki. it goes down more like saki, but fucks you up like vodka. dangerous business. i got crushed last night. a 16 oz cold bottle of it is only like 3,000 won (around $3) at regular type bars.

holy moly, that sounds to good to be true.

A live concert shot of Patti Smith with the words "Hamcheese Rock City"

i have friends who happen to be in seoul right now and i am going to demand they find me one of these.