On June 03 2011 14:18 Torte de Lini wrote: Do you feel the career of journalism has declined into this turbulent whirlpool of sensationalism, instantaenous information (perpetuated by the access of the internet) and has lost its "lust", so to speak, of research, fact-checking and thoughts (instead of simply finding pieces that are entertaining either through the common phrase of: "If it bleeds, it leads".
It's been on my mind for years and I always feared that the ideals and goals of journalism are less nobler than once labeled in movies and in my notions of the early 60s to 80s (I'm pretty sure that sentence doesn't work). A common word I am hearing now is that journalists are more becoming infotainers.
Yes, in a lot of ways I can agree with that statement. When I started working as a journalist I did it because I'd found something that I could really dedicate myself to. Something I was willing to make sacrifices for, and something I genuinely fell in love with at one point. What depressed me about my experience was seeing the robotic way certain journalists tackled the stories, and their lack of interest in really capturing a moment, or an emotion. Whether it was through the use of words, pictures or other media.
I'm not really talking about my fellow eSports journalists, since a lot of their work still has that sense of personal passion. However, when it comes to a lot of the popular media reporting (especially things like Kpop) the photography is such low quality and the angles are so contrived that I wish more people could be brought in who feel a genuine sense of love for the things they are reporting.
I think it's a case of needing to find a balance between romanticising certain topics, and provided relevant and interesting facts. Trashy journalism has its place, and can even be pretty amusing, but my favorite pieces are things like TL's final edits which show everyone a clear sense of the writer's knowledge and interest in the subjects they're trying to share with others.
I sometimes feel the same way, what I dislike the most are these "Journoblogs" where faux-journalists post up trivial stories, potentially false ones, without any need to follow the "creed" of journalism or at least the basics. If called out, they just say: "it's a blog, I don't have any criterias or standards to follow".
My main example is the Gawker network that really just bothers the hell out of me, most of their articles are either empty remarks or jokes about something going on in the news now (and aren't really funny) or when something does actually happen, they litter it with opinion and snide remarks.
Whenever I think of journalism, I think of how a lot of people go through a lot of schooling to properly write and investigate, as a journalist is viewed and then there's the internet that completely sweeps away these "protocols" and just appreciates the rudimentary quality of the internet: Instantaneous news. Rapid quantity for less quality.
It's been almost a year since I did one of these, and I'm having a bit of a rough day. Does anyone remember me? ㅋㅋㅋ Anyway, if you're similarly bored then please go ahead and ask me anything about life post-eSports journalism living in Seoul. (Or about figure collecting etc.)
Is that supposed to be a rhetorical question? All the BW guys here absolutely adore you and stop bribing me specifically with cute kittens.
On June 03 2011 14:12 Spica wrote: Who is/are the most awkward progamer(s) you've interacted with? And your funniest experience involved with eSports or just Korea in general?
Well, it's usually the younger boys who are the most awkward. Horangi, Skyhigh, ZerO, Effort and BeSt were all pretty awkward to work with. Very polite, but kind of bemused/traumatised by my forthright style of 'direction.' I think the funniest eSports one was when my Mum inadvertantly terrorized BeSt. It was during a promotion where the boys had henna tattoos on their bodies.
My Mum (during a photo shoot with BeSt) rolled up her sleeve to reveal her full length arm tattoo and asked him in English 'Your tattoo, is it real?' He went all O.O and insisted 'No! NO! It's for team!' My Mum was a real terror around the gamers <3
My own personal weird/funny experience was getting roped into shooting as an extra for Secret Garden along with my friend at the end of an FTIsland concert. We had no idea what we were doing, or why everyone screamed when this guy came into the concert hall. It turns out it was a super famous actor >.>
On June 03 2011 14:25 atombombforpeace wrote: Which Starleague and/or Proleague final did you attend that you felt had the most "excitement", in terms of like overall crowd excitement I guess, sorta hard to explain.
Also thanks for all the photos you've taken, and I still remember the time you keep up updated and amused with stories while waiting for power outage MSL to wrap up. Thanks for all you've done (from a hold lurker someone forgot about), and hope you feel better soon.
The EVER OSL between BeSt/July was one of my favorites because of the pure dedication of the fans. The rain was so terrible that day, and yet the line to get in snaked right around the corner of the convention center.It was fun seeing a 'newbie' versus a 'veteran.' This was also my first experience seeing a player receiving the golden mouse. The crowd was really hyperactive, and it was fun seeing their cheer leaders (Guys with drums mainly.) really inciting them to get louder.
The biggest PL finals for me was Samsung/Sparkeyz on Kwangahli beach in Busan. I worked for about twelve hours non-stop taking photos/making articles right there in a tent on the beach. I cut my arm and didn't even notice, ruined my sneakers, and spent the night sleeping in a love motel with two other girls (nothing like that you dirty devils!) It cost me $200 to do that pl, and I'll never forget being front and center on the press line taking photos as Samsung won. The crowd was all restrained behind us in this massive wall of cheers and whistling. Afterwards we had a big dinner with all the journos, KeSpa folks and team managers. It was surreal, but fulfilling.
:D It was a pleasure to do that work for TL (and elsewhere.) I miss it, but I needed a change.
On June 03 2011 14:35 StutteR wrote: Are there any jobs in Korea for recent college graduates that don't involve teaching English?
The only other jobs I've heard about people doing are the following;
~ Military. ~ Working for a company based in Seoul (aka. being sponsored to work here by Samsung etc.) ~ Owning a private business (You have to be pretty well-off to do this.) ~ Working in diplomacy/embassies. ~ Married to a Korean (gives you a different visa series within which you have more options.)
I'd try looking on Dave's ESL Cafe and Waygook.org for more information.
On June 03 2011 14:25 atombombforpeace wrote: Which Starleague and/or Proleague final did you attend that you felt had the most "excitement", in terms of like overall crowd excitement I guess, sorta hard to explain.
Also thanks for all the photos you've taken, and I still remember the time you keep up updated and amused with stories while waiting for power outage MSL to wrap up. Thanks for all you've done (from a hold lurker someone forgot about), and hope you feel better soon.
The EVER OSL between BeSt/July was one of my favorites because of the pure dedication of the fans. The rain was so terrible that day, and yet the line to get in snaked right around the corner of the convention center.It was fun seeing a 'newbie' versus a 'veteran.' This was also my first experience seeing a player receiving the golden mouse. The crowd was really hyperactive, and it was fun seeing their cheer leaders (Guys with drums mainly.) really inciting them to get louder.
The biggest PL finals for me was Samsung/Sparkeyz on Kwangahli beach in Busan. I worked for about twelve hours non-stop taking photos/making articles right there in a tent on the beach. I cut my arm and didn't even notice, ruined my sneakers, and spent the night sleeping in a love motel with two other girls (nothing like that you dirty devils!) It cost me $200 to do that pl, and I'll never forget being front and center on the press line taking photos as Samsung won. The crowd was all restrained behind us in this massive wall of cheers and whistling. Afterwards we had a big dinner with all the journos, KeSpa folks and team managers. It was surreal, but fulfilling.
:D It was a pleasure to do that work for TL (and elsewhere.) I miss it, but I needed a change.
That was the day I lost the liquibet title to Cruiser. Damn him.
It's been almost a year since I did one of these, and I'm having a bit of a rough day. Does anyone remember me? ㅋㅋㅋ Anyway, if you're similarly bored then please go ahead and ask me anything about life post-eSports journalism living in Seoul. (Or about figure collecting etc.)
Is that supposed to be a rhetorical question? All the BW guys here absolutely adore you and stop bribing me specifically with cute kittens.
On June 03 2011 14:12 Spica wrote: Who is/are the most awkward progamer(s) you've interacted with? And your funniest experience involved with eSports or just Korea in general?
Well, it's usually the younger boys who are the most awkward. Horangi, Skyhigh, ZerO, Effort and BeSt were all pretty awkward to work with. Very polite, but kind of bemused/traumatised by my forthright style of 'direction.' I think the funniest eSports one was when my Mum inadvertantly terrorized BeSt. It was during a promotion where the boys had henna tattoos on their bodies.
My Mum (during a photo shoot with BeSt) rolled up her sleeve to reveal her full length arm tattoo and asked him in English 'Your tattoo, is it real?' He went all O.O and insisted 'No! NO! It's for team!' My Mum was a real terror around the gamers <3
My own personal weird/funny experience was getting roped into shooting as an extra for Secret Garden along with my friend at the end of an FTIsland concert. We had no idea what we were doing, or why everyone screamed when this guy came into the concert hall. It turns out it was a super famous actor >.>
LMAO.
I'm evil. I miss my cat ;_; I called my Mum a couple of weeks ago, and apparently she's still terrorizing the local neighbourhood kitties, and acting like a diva. (My cat, not my mum.)
On June 03 2011 14:42 GTR wrote: Why am I being ignored =[
*Sends you a kitten too.* Oops, I missed your question!
Well tbh, since the overdose of new groups I've sort of lost interest. I feel like a lot of the new bands are being thrown together just for the sake of making money at the expense of finding a new angle, or an interesting concept. This goes for both girl/boy pop groups. I've been focusing more on looking at the less 'mainstream' acts which have a little more creativity up their sleeves, and less concentration on looks always coming first.
Plus the whole U-kiss thing pissed me off so much I ran away to Japanese music again.
On June 03 2011 14:43 Hyde wrote: What is your favourite place to visit in Korea? And what would be your perfect day be like?
TBH I spent so much time working on eSports for the first two years that I barely did any traveling at all. I really enjoyed visiting Kwangahli for the PL finals, but I spend a lot of time in Children's Gran Park in the evenings. It's really pleasant to just wander around watching the fountain show (they use a light show, music and co-ordinated water jets to put on a show every 30mins-ish.) during the warmth of the evening when not many people are around. I really recommend visiting the parks in Seoul, as well as the Royal Palace park and any more rural temples.
Right now, my perfect day would consist of getting on a plane, flying to Tokyo, spending a horrific amount of money in shops like Mandarake, going to some kind of Tokusatsu live event, and then heading home the next morning. I'm planning a vacation to Japan with my Mum in the near future :D
Thanks for answering my first question. Can I ask another? I heard that being Korean-American or looking Asian or "non-Western" hurts your chances of teaching English in Korea. Thoughts?
On June 03 2011 14:48 StutteR wrote: Thanks for answering my first question. Can I ask another? I heard that being Korean-American or looking Asian or "non-Western" hurts your chances of teaching English in Korea. Thoughts?
It definitely depends upon the school, and the parents it is catering towards. Some places are only really looking for blonde, blue-eyed and North American teachers who demonstrate the idea that the students are being taught 'proper' native-english. However, I wouldn't discourage people who don't fit this mold from looking for work here. I've known several Asian-americans who've found jobs here. You just need to shop around, and find a place that fits you personally.