The Iceberg

…presented on Wednesday.

Oops. Sorry about that. “Why so late?” you ask? Let me tell you.

I arrived back in Korea at about 5:45 Monday morning. I was originally scheduled to arrive at 5 a.m., but the flight from Hanoi was delayed due to some kind of medical emergency onboard the plane. Not sure what the issue was, because the person who had it sat about twenty rows behind me. All I know is that a member of the cabin crew led a man holding a first aid kit down the aisle and about five minutes later he left the plane.

Anyway, I had to be at work at 7:30, so what would have been an inexpensive and casual limousine bus ride back to Anyang turned into an expensive and rushed taxi ride. I arrived home in time to take a quick shower and showed up at work with a minute to spare.

Making matters worse, in the middle of the flight I dreamt that the pilot announced that we were preparing for the approach to Incheon. It was a very vivid dream, so I took off my eye mask, raised my seat and waited. And waited.

And waited.

For about two hours.

After thirty minutes or so of waiting I realized something was amiss, but at that point I was wide awake.

The point of all this is that after work I was dead tired. Fortunately, this is mid-term exam week at our school, so I only have to work half days. I slept all afternoon on Monday, woke up for a couple of hours in the evening, and then went right back to sleep.

Yesterday we had our teachers’ “Sports Day” in the afternoon and then a 회식 (after-work dinner) in the evening. We ate eel. It was the second time I had tried it. The first time I actually thought it was pretty good, but last night…not so much.

They say that eel - like about a hundred other foods in Korea - is “good for stamina”. I wasn’t able to test that last night, but I can say that I woke up with no hangover this morning, so maybe there’s something to it.

Now…on to the music. Here is The Kooks’ “Always Where I Need to Be”

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of the country again for a bit.  Be back soon.

Just as our man-in-the-field Niels reported yesterday, the official 2008 Pentaport website is now open for business.

And - as it turns out - Niels was actually 2-for-2 (when was the last time that ever happened?) because Hard-Fi, Scottish British band Travis, and others are part of the first line-up.

To celebrate, I give you Hard-Fi’s “Suburban Knights”

suburban-knights

and Travis’ “Selfish Jean”

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“Whistle for the Choir”, by The Fratellis

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Searcy, Arkansas, Olympia, Washington, Portland, Oregon-based rock band Gossip has been added to the 2008 Pentaport line-up.

The lead singer’s got a nice Mama Cass thing going on. Mama Gossip?

Here is the band’s song “Standing in the Way of Control” from the album of the same name.

Gossip

You can officially scratch Metallica off the list of potential performers at Pentaport. I just visited their official website and - unless they plan on squeezing a show in Korea between their July 25 date in Sofia, Bulgaria and July 27 date in Istanbul, Turkey - they’re not coming.

“My Little Japanese Cigarette Case”, by Spoon

My Little Japanese Cigarette Case

Spoon is booked for the Fuji Rock Festival…could they hop over the water to play in Korea?

According to their official websites, British band The Go! Team and American rapper Princess Superstar have signed on to perform at the 2008 Pentaport Rock Festival.

Here is The Go! Team’s “Grip Like a Vice”

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And here is Princess Superstar’s “Coochie Coo”

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The photo above was taken from the White House website. It’s one of a selection of photos of Dick Cheney that purportedly show the vice president frolicking in the great outdoors. The purpose is to present his friendlier, human side - you know, the side that’s not shooting fellow hunters.

However, a big debate has ensued among Internet users as to what the reflection in Cheney’s sunglasses is. Many feel that it is an image of a naked woman, thus explaining the rarely seen (genuine) smile on Dick’s face. Were it true, we could assume that Cheney is indeed human, but The Iceberg wasn’t satisfied with that conclusion. I had to KNOW what the reflection was. Thus, using modern technology, I blew up the photo one-hundred times its normal size. The result was shocking.

Here it is.

British electronic band Underworld and Welsh rock band Feeder will be performing this summer at the 2008 Pentaport Rock Festival in Incheon.

Lots of talk on Korean blogs that Metallica, Radiohead, Maroon 5, My Chemical Romance, and the Foo Fighters might also sign on, but for now it appears to be only that - talk.

UPDATE: There’s no way in hell that the Foo Fighters are playing at Pentaport - unless they plan to hop on a plane to Korea following their July 26 show in Pittsburgh and then head right back for their July 29 show in Rutherford, NJ.

UPDATE 2: Scratch Maroon 5 off the list as well. They are booked in the States throughout July and August.

Here is Underworld’s signature tune “Born Slippy” from the Trainspotting OST.

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Next is Feeder’s “Miss You”. If you like it, you can download it for free from the official Feeder website.

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