겹다 !!
Before I turn this wee hamlet into a Springeresque hotbed of controversy, I thought I would try to disarm my critics by showcasing the artistic, discerning and sensitive side of this humble correspondent. To that end - a brief photographic essay.
I believe that I have entitled this post 'cute' in Korean, and if I am mistaken, I beg the pardon of my faithful Korean readership (# confirmed : 0 -ed) who may perceive that I am still a novice, and heartily making egregious errors of spelling and grammar. * (Is it spelling in Hangul?)
*This is the way to enlightenment, devoted philosophiles - dance like nobody's watching, type like nobody's reading, because (almost) no one is. Self-consciousness can only lead to contrivance! Then again, a moderate self-censorship might help me keep my friends and job, and avoid a lynching back home.
The theme of this montage is East Asian fascination with the cutesy cartoon ambassador. It took me no more than a 5 minute stroll outside my villa to record all the logos you see in this photo. Most of them are straightforward, if whimsical depictions of the food one can reasonably expect to dispatch within the establishment. There is a certain unsavoury compact between the mascot and the viewer, the one urging the other to sample the delights of its 3D brethren. A hospitable grin becomes a fiendish leer as the damnable traitor's complicity in entreating us to devour his compatriots emerges at the forefront of our conscience. And yet, the lure of gastronomic delights overcomes all objections in the end, doesn't it, friends? We won't tell, will we? No, for we are hungry, so very hungry. (reptilian susurrations here)
One might think that with such an endless environmental barrage of the cutesy and saccharine that the Korean mindset is frivolous and higgledy-piggledy. Not at all! Possibly higgledy, but definitely not piggledy. Let no man say I ever even hinted at piggledliness in the national character. (I must pause here to determine if the screaming woman in the apartment immediately across from mine is being beaten to death or merely beaten to histrionics. Why are there no AFN commercials on what to do in the event of almost witnessing horrendous domestic abuse? Gawd, I wish I could call the police. )
Speaking of which -the usefulness of cartoon symbols in Korea is not limited to restaurants and bars, since the symbol for the Seoul metropolitan police force is none other than a helpful, optimistic and friendly rat. The ever-vigilant and industrious SMPF could not have possibly chosen a more fitting representative.
posted by Vivec at 2:00 a.m.
2 Comments:
Is it a rat? I think it looks like what someone who had babies with a dog would look like. It must be a universal Korean symbol. The Daegu police symbol looks like an experiment in cartoon species crossbreeding too. It really makes you feel like you can rely on them in a desperate situation when they look like lost children stations logos at disneyland.
Nice photoessay.
I didn't read anything from your clever little post, but I DID look at the pictures half heartedly while listening to 'A place called home' by P.J. Harvey. So WTF? Cops are pigs and anyting can become cute to the point of SUCK.
yay! turn down the suck and turn up the good
Ok.. I actually did JUST read your post. Man, it's interesting how you paused in your post, like I paused in my comment to read your post.... creepy. Alas, your Asian photos frighten and confuse me as I am just a simple unfrozen caveman.
Peace out nefro.. tokyo breakfast rulez.
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