Pop Goes Korea Goes E-Book

Fun news -- Pop Goes Korea is at last available as an e-book. You don't have to track down a physical copy, wait for an order, or kill any trees anymore.

You can get Pop Goes Korea for your Kindle here, or your Nook here.

Best of all, my publisher allowed me to make one small but important change to the e-book edition. At last we have the dollar-won exchange rate specified in the text. When I wrote the book, it was at the unusually strong 800 won/dollar level, which made some of the numbers seem a bit odd (soon after, it fell to 1,200 won/dollar, and today is still less than 1,100 won/dollar).

Big thanks to everyone who has already bought a copy. And thanks to all who read my articles and blogs -- I really appreciate the support and I hope to keep you interested.

More Pop Goes Korea Coming Soon?

I see by the time stamp on my last post that I am overdue for my annual Korea Pop Wars update. Or Pop Goes Korea update. Or something.

Anyhow, the good news is that, at long last, it is looking increasingly likely that Pop Goes Korea will be getting an e-book edition soon. Stone Bridge Press is even letting make a couple of small changes, to things that have long bothered me about the original book -- not a full-fledged update or anything so grand, but small things that matter to me.

It's been a fairly eventful year, since my last post here. K-pop has really started making a lot of noise in the West, in ways I never would have guessed a few years ago -- there were even concerts in Barcelona, Paris, Germany, and South America in the past year. In addition, I helped start the Korean Indie website (before leaving it recently). And so far, 2012 is shaping up to be the most successful years commercially for Korean movies since 2006, and could conceivably become the best year ever.

As usual, if you want to read more about Korean pop culture, my writing, or other random subjects, it is best to check out my personal blog, as I don't really update this site much anymore. 

Once a Year, Whether We Need It or Not...

Well, it has been over a year since I last made a post around here. I'm still around at www.markjamesrussell.com on occasion, and the Korea Gig Guide is doing better than ever. Feel free to check them out, if you are in the mood. And hopefully we will have some news about a new book before much longer...

Homepage Updates

Hi all. Just a little reminder about some updates going on over at my real blog -- some music updates from Korea, an interesting video about motivation and money, and a bit of talk about PiFan.

Pop Goes Korea in Malaysia

Okay, this is a little late, but I just found out that POP GOES KOREA received a very nice review last October in Malaysia's NEW STRAITS TIMES. (Sadly, I cannot find the link on the newspaper's website anymore, so must link to the Findarticle version).

Actually, it is more of a summary than a full review, but the author, Johan Jaaffar, calls POP GOES KOREA "incredibly informative" and is generally positive of my book, so one is appreciative of kind words and publicity whenever and wherever they can be found. Thank you very much, Mr. Jaaffar.

Musical Notes

A couple of interesting music-related items that I have recently run across. First, there is this amazing essay on songs about Seoul. Apparently there was a special exhibition at the Chunggyecheon Museum (just ending today, terrible timing by me) about some 1,400 pop songs about Seoul that have been recorded over the years. Some interesting tidbits about Patti Kim, Lee Mija and a lot of great singers from the past.

And then there is this interesting video about the Korean singer Hwang Boryung (who also performs as Smacksoft). Bo is a very cool woman and well worth a listen. I do not know Stuart Reece, the video creator, at all (although some Googling reveals that he is a deejay at TBS-eFM), but it seems that he is intending on starting a series about underground music in Seoul. A very promising start. I hope to see more soon.

Seoul Underground: SMACKSOFT from Stuart Reece on Vimeo.

Meanwhile, over at the other blog (cont'd)...

Just a reminder that I am not updating over here much these days. Over at my "real" blog, you can find:

Comments about the Seoul not-so-Foreign not-so-Correspondents Club and their latest anti-journalism controversy

A new film market in Singapore

A bit about the Barcelona Asian Film Festival

A round-up of reviews from Cannes for Im Sangsoo's remake of THE HOUSEMAID (and some other Asian films