Pops in Seoul

When people come over and see my television their first reaction is to laugh. It’s a boxy, wood paneled, relic of the late 80’s and it doesn’t get any channels. I like it because it’s a good place to set my drink down. I needed to set up the digital converter box my Mom gave me last week but I couldn’t figure out how it works. After about twenty minutes of struggling with the box and wrestling with the wires, I pounded on the TV and was finally able to get one fuzzy channel to come in. Having no choice in the matter I watched Pops in Seoul on Korean Global Television.

Beautiful, My Life by Kim Jung Min was the first video. A soaring power ballad described by the text on screen as being “rough, yet powerful.” Periodically, text will run across the screen with information about the artist or song. Beautiful, My Life, the text informs me, is a “song about never giving up despite hardship.” These little tidbits of information were helpful to me as I don’t understand Korean.

Pops in Seoul differs greatly from the average American music program. Unlike many American shows which often feature a live studio audience, there is no audience in the studio on Pops in Seoul. The music videos are much more simplistic than American ones. Here the singers are the stars of the videos, there are no giant casts of extras filling up space. Probably the most notable difference though was the fact that the entire music video was played. In America the video is usually cut short on TV so the host can blabber.

The hostess was also much different from what you’d find in the States. She was awkward, unfashionable, and probably not the cutest they could have picked. Her accent was strangely American but something was off. The show was in English, but the word choice led one to believe that it was first scripted in Korean and then translated, poorly.

The next video was by Ipani who the hostess described as having a “well shaped body and pretty face.” The onscreen data fills in the details again. The song, Oppa, is about a girl who is in love with an older guy. It has a “trendy, vocodor sound,” and Ipani has recently been recognized as a “sexy icon.” Then there was the music video for Luv by Memory from her album The Peacock 001. She was described as having a “lucid voice, and lucid melodies.”

Between music videos they showed the “News Flash” segment. Surprisingly, the news was relevant to fans, giving information about one star’s on stage injury and how it would affect his tour over the next few months, or another singer’s new show and the band he produces opening up for him. Not one mention of a scandal, no celebrity feuds, no trash talk. The “News Flash” included information that music fans would actually care to know about.

Watching Pops in Seoul was an unexpected joy. Although it wasn’t exactly a great show with the low production values, awkward English, and mostly terrible music, I found the detour from regular American programming refreshing. And best of all no commercials were shown until the show ended. So if you ever find yourself bored, without anything to watch just check out KGTV where you’ll find all your favorite KPOP stars like DJ Tukutz, Kim Jinho and Kim Jung Min.

The Aqua

From a distance it’s hard to see what’s so exciting about the new Aqua skyscraper overlooking Millennium Park. It looks like a regular building that really contributes nothing significant to the skyline. However, as you move closer you realize the daringness of the design. The curved balconies which are attached to this glass box give the building an undulating, wave-like appearance similar to the Wave tower in Australia.

The 80-story tower is placed in one of the most desirable locations in Chicago with an enviable view of Lake Michigan and Millennium Park. The building was designed by a young architect by the name of Jeanne Gang, already the winner of several prestigious awards. The tower is notable not just for it’s out of the box design but also for being the tallest building in the world designed by a woman.

The design is undeniably breathtaking, and its placement is complimented by the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. It is a highly original concept and represents a bold new look for Chicago architecture. The tower will house apartments, condos and a hotel. Inside, there is also a plethora of amenities: party rooms, indoor and outdoor pools, hot tubs, lounges, coffee bars, running tracks, fire places, garden terrace etc. There is also a curved stairway which allows access to the street from the garden terrace.

However, despite the allure of this bold and impressive building the fact is it isn’t selling. The condos remain empty for the most part and the hotel pulled out of the project before construction ended. What’s the problem? This building which appears to have so much promise seems to be stunted. Is it just the economy or is there something wrong with this building?

The answer is probably a combination of the economy, and the overall impracticality of this building. Yes, the building is astonishing to look at but what about actually living there? A one bedroom condo costs upwards of $250,000 with a balcony that not only takes up a lot of space but is essentially unusable, unless you want to get blown away. There just isn’t much incentive to shell out the cash needed for a place like this. There’s also the matter of maintenance. How are these balconies going to be maintained during the winter?

In the end, the Aqua is a gimmick. Yes, the design is fashionable, but the building fails as a work of architecture as it offers no practicality for the residents. Those who live in the building are more likely to feel as though they are in the middle of a Stephen King novel than a bustling hub of activity. In its current state, the tower functions quite effectively as a symbol of our economic decline. The facade is beautiful, the location prime, but the inside is empty, lacking in substance, providing the luxury it advertises to very few. Americans today still have the desire to see images of wealth and beauty, but are cutting back when it comes to acquiring it for themselves. It is truly unfortunate that the Aqua Tower is so beautiful because overall it is entirely impractical.

The Stages of Life

Caspar David Friedrich's The Stages of Life is an interesting, yet somewhat trite exercise in symbolism. Initially, the lighting in this painting is very striking. The color palette is ambiguous, and it’s hard to tell whether it is dusk or dawn. The colors range from light to very dark suggesting a passage of time, with the bright lights representing the children, and the dark for the older persons.

Also interesting is the way each member of the group on the shore corresponds with the ships in the water. The children (who have just begun their journey through life) are represented by the two small boats which are closest to shore; the larger boats for the adults which are placed further out to shore, with the old man’s corresponding ship being the furthest out to sea. The painting seems to suggest that life is a vehicle which moves us through time, similar to the way a ship is a vehicle that moves us through distance. Time and distance are both journeys that people go through in their lives.

While the painting has some nice qualities such as the lighting, technique and symbolism it is overall an inconsequential painting. It doesn’t have much to say in a historical context, it simply looks nice and posits a simplistic kind of symbolism which conveys nothing profound.

Self-portrait as Sick Bacchus

Self-portrait as Sick Bacchus is an early piece by Caravaggio in which he takes the classical figure of Bacchus the God of Wine, and puts his own spin on it. What you see in the painting is not a God, but rather a very frail, and sick looking young man, with a look of extreme anguish on his face. The ripe peaches, and grapes at the end of the table directly in front of Bacchus not only contrast with the dying fruit in Bacchus' hand, and the wilting leaves on his head, but also, with the way the fruit is drawn in the foreground, it comes out at the viewer, making it a focal point. By drawing the viewers into the painting in this way, and bringing attention to the ripe fruit that is right in front of them, while at the same time showing them the rotting fruit in the hand of Bacchus, the painting seems to be signifying the death of old traditions in art. In that sense, the painting has a sort of defiant attitude about it.

The painting has a slightly disturbed feeling to it. The way Bacchus is isolated in darkness brings an air of mysteriousness to the painting. Besides the table in the foreground, there are no clues as to where he is--the background is just a wash of color. Where is he? His face is turning blue; he is possibly dying alone in this room. And is that a smile on his face, or a grimace? He is looking directly at the viewer with that strange expression on his face, and it almost seems as if he's been interrupted. All of these things: The darkness, death, and overall uncertainty found in the painting have a very unsettling quality.

Self-Portrait as Sick Bacchus succeeds despite the subject matter being so old and overused during the time period. Caravaggio takes the traditional image of the God of Wine, spins it into his own characteristically twisted style, and uses it to foreshadow the decline of tired, traditional imagery in painting and the artist's desire for a new, more forward looking style.