Little Mr. Sunshine
A couple of milestones have recently been reached at the Iceberg. The first is that this blog crossed the 100,000 visitor threshold a couple of days ago. Thank you, Google Search.
The second is that I received my first hate e-mail this morning courtesy of a Mr. Dong-wan Kim. Two of them, actually. Here they are for your reading pleasure:
The first:
From: “dongwan kim” <kimdwan@yahoo.com>
To: scott@icebergkorea.com
goddamn it, another asiaphile in korea. if i ever see you here i will punch your nose into your skull. my do-hyoen? give me a break. go pick up a hooker or something. or go back to your trailer park in your country. loser.
The second:
goddamn asiaphile. also, i’ve contacted yonhap since you’ve been using their photos without permission. hire a lawyer loser. or get your ass deported. nice.
Thank you for your kind words, Mr. Kim. Glad my blog stirs you in ways previously unimaginable.
Here was my reply to my new friend:
Wow! You are one angry fella. 동완, you need to develop a sense of humor. You may not have gotten it, but the "my Do-yeon" comment was a joke. Of course she is not "mine". Feel better now? I'm sure Yonhap will be bangin' on my door any day now. Hahaha. Good luck with that...and good luck with your hatred. Thank god the vast majority of Koreans that I meet are not like you. P.S. - Check back with the blog. I'm posting your e-mail.
By the way, Do-yeon, if on the small chance you read this, if that whole marriage thing doesn’t work out, drop me a line.
Hey. Long time reader (ok, just a few weeks, but I’ve gone through your archives because I think your blog is great), first time commentor. I usually don’t comment since I love the voyeuristic nature of the web, but I seeing as how this dumbass Mr. Kim tried so hard to knock you down, I’d thought I’d post a little encouraging comment.
As an ex-pat Korean living in the states for 25 years (and not having gone back since), I love the Westerners-in-Korea blogs (especially yours) since they give me a decent idea of how Korea is through the Western lense, which I can appreciate and relate to more. And you’re sometimes funny.
Keep up the good work, my man. And if I ever see you on the streets, I’ll buy you a beer.
Thanks, Jim, for the (sincere) kind words. Especially the “sometimes funny” part. I’m working on being “often funny”, but I’ve just got too much on my plate.
By the way, the guy who sent the e-mail is an ass and that’s all there is to this issue. Nothing more and nothing less. I hope no one tries to extrapolate anything from it. No skin off my nose (or skull).
congrats on the hits, and getting your first hate e-mails!
the guy sounds like an ass, and has zero ounce of any humor in his body.
me love you long time. well, your sometimes funny blog.
You know you’ve ‘made it’ when you start receiving hate mail. I wouldn’t worry too much about it (which you clearly aren’t).
That said, it’s when you start getting stalked by obsessed readers that you may need to revise your thoughts on the issue.
mercy! you bounder, you hound!
Unfortunately blogging and hate mail tend to go together. Congrats on the hits and keep up the good work.
Thanks all.
Iceberg, it might be possible that Mr. Kim simply took what you wrote out of context, and was understandably put out as a result. Let’s check…
…
Nope - he’s an ass.
Seriously, I’m glad that you’re blogging - it’s a great page. Keep it going, ’cause there are plenty of folks reading.
Did the tough-guy ever write back? Where you at gangsta Kim??
He replied once to my reply and I replied to that reply (is your head spinning yet?) and then I blocked his e-mail address. Life’s too short and there are so many other more interesting ways for me to occupy my time.
How wonderful it is to receive idle threats from a complete moron. Work on developing yourself instead of attacking someone with a cool website.
Oh, and well, it would help if you developed appropriate English skills before attempting another hate piece of email. Try throwing in some vulgar racial slurs, and random profanity next time!
Good day.
I’m a loser and I only sound this tough in the cyber world. BTW I don’t know any english so I copied the email content through a web translator. nice.
I’ll be marrying her, after she divorces of course.