it was muddy and it was festival-y

ahoy maties! (or métis)

i saw Pirates of the Caribbean : Dead Man's Chest last Friday and OH MERCY was is good. I'm telling ya, everything Jerry Bruckheimer touches turns to gold...except for Horatio Cain. He was a bad idea all around. Anyway, as surprising as this may sound, Orlando Bloom was not actually annoying in this movie!! wooohooo with the excpetion of LOTR, where his elvishness was lovely, all other subsequent roles have left me to wonder whether or not he had castrated himself to play an elf more effectively. I'm happy to say that in this movie he has grown an pair. massel tov, Orlando.

among other things, the sound track was lively, entertaining, exciting and ever so Hans Zimmer. I enjoyed it so much that it inspired me to go on my very first iTunes online shopping spree. Not only did I acquire the soundtrack to the movie, but I also found myself buying some Sigur Ros, Muse, and the sound track to Fight Club. Apple people are geniuses because it's RIDICULOUSLY easy for me to buy music and not realise the monetary damage EVER. With shopping online and banking online, it's like I'm spending money that i never really saw anyway. It awesome and awful...AWFULSOME!!!
--------------------------------------------------
The MAIN EVENT - Mud Fest 2006

Last weekend was the Mud Festival in Boryeong, which is a place that's about 3 hours north of here by car. I went with my friends EJ and Stu. EJ is a Korean who teaches English and is one cool cat. Stu is an Aussie who came here in April and who is simply delightful. We were quite the eclectic car-full.

Anyway, we arrived late afternoon on Saturday, got settled and immediately jumped in a pool of mud and muddy people...is was, in a word, mud-tacular.

The mud was greyish and a bit runny. When it dries on you it turns grey and is kinda difficult to get off. For some reason the mud in Boryeong is different from elsewhere and they use it for all manner of beauty products like masks, scrubs, cleansers, soaps, etc, etc.

The Festival began in 1998 I think and is probably the most popular Korean festival among foreigners. In fact, I havent' seen that many foreigners in the same place since being in Canada. To be perfectly honest, I don't care to see that many in the same place in Korea ever again. For some reason, people thinks is OK to act like complete idiots and represent themselves and their countries poorly. For those of you who went to UWO, or know something about it, picture the idiocy that happens once a year on St Patty's Day when everyone drinks their faces off starting at 8am. Now transplant them to Korea and cover them with mud and that's kinda what it was like. I had a Korean girl say to me "I don't understand...I thought Canadians were supposed to be polite?" my response: "When you take people in their early to mid- twenties and add alcohol, Canadians turn into Americans." Yeah, I fully admitted to being "one of those guys" when I have a few in me...but mostly in the company of good friends. Anyway, that's my little rant on foreigners in Korea. If nothing else, they were super entertaining to watch and mock.

Sunday and Monday South Korea was pummelled by heavy rains, so that kinda put a damper (pardon the pun) on the festivities. Thankfully, in the rain mud just gets muddier. EJ, Stu and I spent the day alternately eating, chilling inside, sitting on the beach, getting muddy, playing cards, drinking, eating and hanging out with some other people from Seoul etc etc. It was quite a relaxed, low-key affair, which I'm not at all disappointed about.

you wanna see some pictures?!?!

Here you go! (all photos courtesy of Stu. the one with just the head and the sky...that's Stu)
MudFest Pics
-------------------------------------------------------------------
In other news:
I GOT MY AIRTICKET HOME YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!
let me see...only 11 more sleeps. w00t.