I recently discovered that the independent film "후회하지 않아" ("No Regret") was available through a US distributor. It is purportedly the first feature film to be produced in Korea by a gay director, and is one of the few Korean films to focus on queer relationships in Korea. Furthermore, one of the leads is played by the popular actor Kim Nam-gil, albeit under a pseudonym.

NY Times is carrying an article on an anti-abortion group in South Korea.

Reading the article, it just seemed to scream evangelical Christianity. Evangelical/Charismatic churches have disproportionately high numbers of professionals and every Korean doctor I've seen has had Christian paraphenalia in their office. The article claims the group "has support from Christian activists, but the group says its motivations are not religious and that it has non-Christian members." I'm unconvinced.

I had been trying to track this movie down for years, but it unfortunately passed out of currency within a few years of it's release. Hopefully it will become more available now that director Kim Ji-woon is getting more attention. The only version available through Netflix, and apparently Amazon, is the Chinese dub (what the hell?) and I never ran across it when I was browsing video stores in Korea.

I haven't been keeping up with my 130 Korean movies project, but I have seen some movies over the summer and fall (the last time I posted on it). I will try to make a brief comment on each.

4. "프란다스의 개" ("Barking Dogs Never Bite" or "The Dog of Flanders")

I'm very aware, to begin with, that Korean male pop stars often seem effeminate or homoerotic to Westerners while being very masculine and virilely heterosexual to Asians -- this is a matter of cultural signifiers not translating or mistranslating across cultural boundaries. In most cases, I think, the most glammed up, smooth-skinned, long-haired young men are, in the proper cultural context, very, very straight.

But when I ran across the Big Bang/No Brain collaboration, "Oh My Friend".

Kind of sad, but that's the truth of the music business. Korea's biggest pop act is playing for a dozen hardcore (KoAm) fans in a parking lot in the US.

Entertainment blog PopSeoul! published a list of the Top Ten K Movies of All Time (six through ten and five through one). The list is . . . unsurprising. If you're a moderate fan of K culture, you've probably already seen them.

[There are a few I haven't seen yet, but that's just because I'm stubborn.]

From Brian in Jeollanamdo, this.

Wow. Just, wow.

Models who failed to maintain appropriate dignity as representatives of the products they represent should compensate for the damages caused to their advertiser, the top court ruled.

I was just watching the US Senate remarking on the anniversary of Tianaman Square. A few short observations:

• What's up with Uighur's all of a sudden? I heard of them for the first time four years ago, and then only in the context of Asian Area Studies. Now, every time I turn on the TV, it's Uighur, Uighur, Uighur.