you’ve got a fan in me...

 My decision to purchase NHL Center Ice a couple months ago was one of the best monthly purchases I've made. It has proven to be better than any jam or beer of the month club, and slighty more attractive than an online porn membership, although Corwin refers to it as my porn addiction.

Justification for the purchase aside, I’ve found some advantages and disadvantages of cheering abroad. (I will also try not make this a blog-ritorial for NHL Center Ice). 

(+) The colossal time zone difference between Korea and N/A moves primetime on the Eastern United States to the start of regular business hours in Seoul. It’s very convenient; I eat breakfast as the puck drops for a handful of games. (-) This handful of games is usually limited to Eastern Conference teams. (+) although, since HBO’s 24/7 (Road to the Winter Classic) I’ve enjoyed following the Penguins and Capitals. (-) Daylight Savings Time pushed the start times back an hour (10am-11am or later for Flames games), as Korea does not partake in the saving of sunlight.

(+) Breakfast and Hockey is perfect on Sunday morning, especially because it is Hockey Night in Canada, my favourite Hockey Broadcast. (-) The Leafs are always the first game on HNIC (is there ever a Saturday night they don't play?). (+) The Leafs usually lose.

(+) NHL Center Ice basically works as a PVR, you can pause and replay live games. You also have access to all games played during the current regular season. (+) Thisarchive allows me to watch Flames games at night, like a normal hockey fan. (-) The NHL website forces me to shield my eyes as I log into it, the scores are all visible across the top of the screen. The process is tricky, as the whole site is filled with spoilers before I’m able to click full screen on a game. I’ve ruined several games through failed log in attempts.

(+) I found that I’ve become a well rounded hockey fan. I watch a couple of periods

of hockey every day. I skip between games I think will be good, and games I’m curious about. I’ve been exposed to some great rivalries and players because I can easily jump between games. (-) Again, most of my exposure has been with Eastern Conference teams, my tirivial knowledge of Western teams is becoming quickly outdated because their games don't get interesting until after I'm at work. (+) I've watched more Tampa Bay Lightning games than most people in Florida.

(-) Non NHL games aren't included, so cheering for Canada at the World Juniors was a tricky task. TSN owned the feeds and I could only watch the games live/streaming. (+) I was able to watch Canada beat the Americans in the semi-final. (-) However,The morning of the Gold Medal game I had a doctor’s appointment. I decided to wait until the game was loaded on Torrents to watch it. 48 hours after the game (and not visiting any hockey, or sport website) I found a torrent with the following tagline "worst collapse ever, Russia wins in third". (+) at least my heart wasn't ripped out, as I'm sure it would have been.

Even though I am thousands of kms away, my love for hockey still has an outlet. Instead of relaxing with my father in his basement watching HD hockey on a 92" screen. I'm watching HD games on my 19" laptop screen. What I give up in screen size I gain in the ability and flexability to follow my passion, I've watched games in coffee shops. Besides I don't need the giant screen, I usually watch the games alone. I have yet to meet another hockey enthousiast with whom to chit chat and share my $22/month passion with.

from ㄹ러스 to 아바타

(title explanation: From Alice to Avatar. Alice, and Avatar written in Hangeul.)

I’ve tried to embrace as much of Korea as I can, although I always find moments where I need to forget where I am. I’ve always used movies to do this. When I was in the Czech Republic last year I caught a midnight showing of Transformers 2, I then got lost on my back to my hostel, BUT that is another story. In Korea you have three basic choices for movies.

In a previous post I discussed how fast the internet was in this country. That is in essence the first, cheapest, and easiest option. The insane download speeds are incredibly helpful when you want to illegally procure entertainment.I've also done more than my fair share in Korea. Although sometimes watching a movie on a tiny 17” screen with tiny speakers isn’t the best option for experiencing a movie.

The Best choice when you want to experience a film is always the movie theatre. Korean’s treat their movie theatres much differently than they do in Canada. Seoul has one of the highest population densities in the world (people per square km). This means there is little in terms of sprawling megaplex cinemas, there is little room to put anything. They overcome this by putting theatres in strange places. For example, there are two movie theatres near my house. One is on the 9th floor of a shopping complex, and the other is underneath the Seoul World Cup Stadium.

The CGV (a company, like Cineplex) in the 2001 shopping outlet can be a pain in the ass to get to. The building has like 8 levels of underground parking, so by the time the elevator gets to the main floor it’s full. Although the view from the theatre is great, I’m not a huge fan of them high up in office buildings because of the long elevator wait times. I could take the stairs, but 9 floors? are you kidding me?

The CGV in World Cup Stadium is buried underneath the stadium. It is the largest theatre that I’ve seen in Seoul. It also houses two of Seoul’s 4-D screens. What is 4-D you might wonder? Well the movie is in 3-D, the chairs move along with it. If there is a breeze or smell, you get to feel and enjoy, if there is water, you will get wet. It is the future of cinema with a futuristic price tag of 18,000 Won. Although they intrigue me I have yet to see a movie in 4-D yet. I’ll let you know when I cross that bridge. For the most part I’m fine with the 9,000Won it costs to see a normal movie.

The last option is a ‘DVD bang’, or DVD room. I have only just explored the ‘DVD bang’ option; you could say they have a reputation in Korea. They are in essence movie stores where you watch the movie in the store. You pick your movie,pay (6,000Won per person), and the attendant behind the counter will start it for you. He then takes you to a small room where you watch the movie. The room is a fully functioning home theatre, surround sound, subwoofer, and 80 inch projector screens. I checked out Avatar on Saturday night, I was more than impressed. I loved it, it really felt like being back in my parents basement watching movies, with some differences. The room was smaller, the screen closer, and these rooms are regularly used for Koreans to have sex. That's right i said sex...

The reputation that DVD bangs have earned is a valid one. The small room is equipped with a couch or a bed. They have become quite infamous as sex rooms. Young Koreans, students especially, use the DVD bangs as places to get it on. Most young Koreans still live with their parents, these places are about as private as you can get, and they are cheap. You might think that I’m joking, but there are a ton of these rooms around the universities in Seoul. I know that University kids love to watch movies, but they love to fool around as well.

One thing that I love is that the movie posters in Korea are written in Hangeul. The posters are not the same English posters that you get in North America. It can also make checking out the movie listings hard. You have to learn the Hangeul spelling for the movies. I’ll give you a couple examples, the Korean writing is phonetic english.

아바타 – Avatar (Aa-va-tar)
인셉션 – Inception (In-sep-sion)
아이언 맨 2 – Iron Man 2 (Ii-o
셔터 아일랜드 – Shutter Island
이상한 애 너라의 ㄹ러스 – Alice in Wonderland (although this is actually Korean not phonetic english, translated it means Strange Country’s Alice, This is because the novel was popular well before the movie)

This is not an admission of guilt...

I’ve become quite the hypocrite. I used to be huge on ownership, you know things and stuff, I started to shed that mantra about two years ago. I couldn’t immediately shed all aspects of the North American belief system. I held onto some last articles. Some possessions, mostly: music and movies. Many people know about my dream to one day have a CD and DVD wall in my house, completely alphabetized and enormous. I used to stand by my decision to support the movie and music industry with authority, almost to the point of scoffing at illegal downloaders. WELL… Korea does messed up shit to people.. I’d been downloading some movies and music at home before I left, but Korea completed the shift. How?? Simple..

The internet in Korea is continuously ranked as one of, if not the highest in the world for download speeds. According to a report published in February this year Korea ranked numero uno. Average download speeds in Korea are 12Mbps, Canada sits at about 4.25Mbps, and the Americans are at a lowly 3.88Mbps. While geography issues can be brought up in defense of the American and Canadian networks. Korea still beats them hands down, and there are many reasons why.

The first and perhaps the most important (yes i'm aware i should have kept this till the end.. but HEY my blog.. mine..). The Korean government is responsible for the creation of the network, basically they built it. The Korean government has invested millions of dollars to help ensure that Korea boasts the highest download speeds and fastest internet in the World. While the American and Canadian governments have sat on the sidelines in hopes that competition would drive the internet speeds higher. Competitive market forces have not won any medals here, in fact they sit broken and dejected like the Jamaican bobsleigh team.. The fact that Korea is a small country with large population density has definitely helped out, To use this as an excuse doesn’t really work, Similar to yelling at sports teams on tv, Canada and the US have taken a passive approach to building their internet networks. Korea is taking a more proactive stand. If the Canadian and American governments were not passive in their efforts, and tackled the issue a similar way who knows?

What is known, is that neither the Canadian or American governments have any plans to take over the internet network development in their respective countries. Both Governments rely heavily upon competition to drive the development of the networks. Both countries will however provide subsidies to develop parts of the network. They only provide a handful of these subsidies to the select providers in each country. Competition what? Rural areas in both countries are hindered by the lack of financing for their internet networks (was the story for me in Balzac). Government will usually hand out the subsidies to tackle these rural network issues. At least the Canadian and American governments at least realize funding problem, and try to help out.

The Korean government, on the other hand, has recently unveiled a $25 million plan to establish a faster network in Korea. Their ultimate goal is to have their internet download speeds running at 1Gps by 2012. This is an average speed btw, I have already experienced these speeds while downloading large files (They may or may not have been movies...no comment) and had them downloaded in a matter of minutes, rather than the period of time required for a good nights sleep. The Korean Government’s plan is to run a fiber optic cable into every building. This is a situation where Korea will benefit from its geographical situation. The population density and small size of Korea will allow it to undertake an otherwise enormously expensive venture. The government wants to kill two birds with one stone with this venture. Fiber optics will enhance the internet speeds for one, and it hopes to use fiber optics to launch a new HDTV network with 8 times the clarity of standard HD broadcasts. The potential for fiber optic cable is almost limitless. It’s the Tim Taylor response to the internet and television!

I have benefited from all this immensely; I haven’t been kept in the dark on new TV or movie releases. I’ve also been able to keep up to date with the music scene in North America. ALL while wasting little time! You’d figure I’d be paying a ton for this government sponsored internet. The opposite is true.

Internet prices in Korea are cheaper than both Canada and the US. Um...okay… cheaper is an understatement. Korean internet runs 4x faster than the US at 1/2 the price. The average internet price in Korea is $28/month (close to what I pay), compared to $48/month in the US. I couldn’t find average internet costs in Canada, but I checked out Shaw Cable for Calgary, and for a comparable internet download speeds to what I’m receiving in Korea, $95/month (Not including the dl limits). What’s the reason for the cheap price in Korea? Actually it’s kinda funny; Korean’s are paying less for their internet because of competition. There are literally hundreds of internet providers in the country. I think its hilarious competition is having the correct effect in Korea, and not in North America.

Due to the high download speeds intellectual property theft (Internet piracy) has become a major issue in Korea. The faster internet speeds crippled the countries music and entertainment industry in the late 90s. Recent changes to the law have allowed the Korean government to attempt a crackdown on this crime. Similar laws in Canada and the US don’t exist yet. Like the development of the networks, North America is a tad behind!

While I realize my recent shift into hypocrisy, I’ve attempted to defend my current situation with government sponsored initiatives. I also realize the efforts in Korea aren’t universal, and the path Korea has followed could not be easily followed by North American governments (the whole massive expense thing). I still believe that some effort should be exerted, the armchair has a great butt groove, and governments should get off their ass. I dread my return to the world of slow ‘high speed’ internet. Perhaps I will resume my possession crazy mantra instead of battering keyboards and wasting time waiting. For now however, I’ll enjoy downloading files faster than it would take to buy them.

Canadian porn...

There is a point in life when you get tired of updates, and when you reach that point you just want to see things for yourself. Well the past three years i've lived off of updates on the NHL playoffs. I would follow the playoff race via boxscore windows on my computer, and occasionally the office computer (sue me.. whatever). For the case of malaysia i would listen to the live play by play on the computer (while supposed to be working). I would sit down and find the web feeds of the audio. I'm strange, yet that fact almost landed me a hockey dream job.

Well i got tired of all that, i got tired of living life behind. Streaming video seemed to be the answer. It took me the better part of a day to find a site that regularly worked for streaming hockey video, and not just any stream. CBC, The holy grail of hockey broadcasts. Versus does a good job, but CBC makes Versus look like a bunch of amateurs screwing girls in a van (the porn analogy at work, ANYWHO).

The day i found this site i had two games streaming AT the same time on my screen.. i was simply in heaven, giddy like a 5 year old child, i felt a massive sense of completion. I really don't need anything else now, i can watch the hockey games live before i go to work. I get my fix, i'm a satisfied junkie.

My excitement for hockey has been forced into a corner. It has become the little dirty thing i do behind closed doors. For the most part my coworkers could care less about Hockey. At first i would constantly attempt to start conversations based around my addiction. I've settled with simply spurting out results as we eat lunch. It probably falls upon deaf ears, who cares, i'm entertained.

I really don't mind the comparison to porn. This year's playoffs have provided me with a ton of 30 second clips to loop, and supplied me with enough pleasure and glee to have me jumping around my apartment.