NEW BOOK PURCHASES AND ENGLISH NEWS KCTV EXPANSION, JEJU, SOUTH KOREA

I made two new book purchases from Amazon.com last night: Bowling Alone : The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert D. Putnam and The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson.

I also received an email from Nik Brountas of English News KCTV announcing their expansion. He explains:

KCTV Jeju is currently looking for TV reporters to join the English News KCTV team.

Anyone hired would be responsible for at most one report per week, about 2 minutes in length.

Those interested are invited to send a resume, cover letter, and current picture to newskctv AT gmail.com or drop them off in person at KCTV Jeju (Shin Jeju) by August 29. Cell phone: 016-9234-3107.

Residents with either an E2 or F2 visa are welcome to apply.

JEJU LIFE INTERVIEWS NIK BROUNTAS, ENGLISH NEWS ANCHOR, KCTV, JEJU, SOUTH KOREA

This morning I was up in Sin Jeju again to meet and interview Nik Brountas, anchorman for KCTV’s English News.

And what a nice morning I had.

The team were really welcoming and despite a bustling office sat down to answer my questions for a future Jeju Life story.

Production director Kang In-Hee also sat in on the questions, which were generally about Nik’s background and the work that goes into putting the broadcast together. Considering the short amount of screen time it has, there’s quite a bit.

I also quizzed them about who the broadcast is primarily aimed at - and was told first and foremost: foreigners. Secondly, it is to assist with English language learning.

The team were then kind enough to show me the studio where not just the English News broadcasts go out, but all KCTV news broadcasts. Nik posed at his desk for a few photographs and told me that he really does write things as the credits roll.

In a strange twist to the morning I became a story too as a film crew trailed us around the building. The spec: my visit to interview Nik. The piece went out this evening on the Korean news segment. I grabbed some screen caps and hope to have video footage soon.

So thanks again to Nik, In-Hee and Hye-Seon for your time this morning.

Keep up the good work!

STARCRAFT, KIDS ON JEJU, JEJU, SOUTH KOREA

With deadline approaching (Friday 15th August) we’ve been trying to get some new stories together for Jeju Life. Including a piece on playing Starcraft at a PC Room and getting a kids perspective on living here.

Starcraft and the industry that still surrounds the ten year old game is an often unseen aspect of life in Korea that takes place in smokey and darkened PC Rooms across the land. It’s something you hear about from Korean children now and again but very few of us take the plunge to play. The depth of which this game has permeated the social fabric of the country is quite astounding.

As for the kids perspective story, we’ve lined up a Korean and a foreign child living here to get their views. We plan to do very little editing on the stories, except for clearing up basic spelling and grammatical mistakes. Both are going to write about 250 words which we hope to put next to each other on the page.

New reads on the horizon include Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business, by Jeff Howe, which is due out on August 26th. The book attempts to explain why it is now possible “that the right community with the right incentives can often invent, write, and run research and business initiatives more effectively and less expensively than traditional enterprise.”

VISITING GAPADO, JEJU, SOUTH KOREA

There might not be anything to do there in the traditional sense for tourists (think museums, statues and memorials) but dive in among the houses and yards, talk to the people - you’ll have such a rewarding time on this little piece of isolated Korea.

It’s like stepping back in time to how Jeju once was before mass tourism arrived.

I hope to run a full story with details for the September issue of Jeju Life - so people can get out there and visit before the weather turns for the worse.

But for now I’ll leave you with an excerpt of what I’ve written so far and a collection of images from the day.

Back out on the main road that intersects the island I pass an assortment of residents going about their business. All stop to look at me as I pass. And I oblige them with more waves and smiles. Four old ladies with push carts occupy the whole road. I wave. They flash me toothy grins as they continue to the local church for a service. Next a father and daughter pass by on a scooter and say ‘hi’. A Haenyeo in full gear ambles down the street. A man in a pickup truck brushes by and offers us a lift somewhere. Making a stop in a store (almost someone’s front room) for ice cream a mother and son look up at me and the kid just can’t stop staring.