The Bests

It's the Bimbo's "Bests" and "Worsts" of 2008 and how they were covered in K-Blogland.

Part 2. "The Bests", in no particular order....

1. Best International Territorial Dispute that No one gives a sh*t about

Do I really need to even tell you? Takeshima. Dokdo. Liancourt Rocks Of course. This has been going on for years and will continue to do so. But this year saw the advent of Dokdo merchandise that I thought was an ingenious reaction to the contentious issue. I definately want one of those fly Dokdo Caps!

Best coverage: Brian in Jeollanam-do

1a. Best Piss take of an International Territorial Dispute that No one gives a sh*t about

Zen Kimchi with the new line of Dokdo t-shirts:

2. Best Trip I took in 2008

A toss up between Taiwan / Singapore / Malaysia and The Great Southern Rail Journey 2008. Obviously seeing one's family after a couple of years was a good thing, though travelling with them was trying at times.

At the same time the historical sights of Gyeongju and Daegu (Huh!?) were of immense interest but were over shadowed by the beautiful vistas of The Boseong Tea plantation (very) early one muggy March morning.

Best Coverage: Me.

3. Best Seoul / Korea -centric Podcast of the Year

Seoul Survivors. The SeoulPodcast. In a year when I decried the lack of Korea-centric podcasts came this plucky little upstart (OK so it's a small pool of contenders, and I'm a bit biased). The SeoulPodcast has gone from strength to strength and had occasion to speak to some of K-Blogland's most prominent individuals (A group in which I DO NOT count myself).

Somehow the inclusion of yours truly as part time, fill-in co-host happened along the way and I've had the pleasure to work with Joe on some of the most popular and entertaining shows, including The Top 10 Things to Do and See in Korea, which, at time of writing, is approaching 1000 downloads and has an inordinate number of comments.

Best Coverage: Me, for the constant plugs and The Seoul Podcast / Zen Kimchi.

4. Best example (thus far) that their might just be a hint of a "foreigner community" in Korea

Actually this is borne out of a couple of sad events this year involving the deaths of a number of foreigners in Korea (Sorry, a number of foreign English Teacher deaths). Tragic and unnecessary as they may be the deaths of Michael White, Bill Kapoun, Nerine Viljoen and an unnamed Teacher "T.", saw the English Techer fraternity open their wallets and forward donations to the families of the three named above.

Leaving aside the circumstances this has been the first year (of the five I've been here) where there has been a palpable sense of community amongst E2 visa holders (and others) that hasn't been to do with the formation of one (failed) union or another.

I for one, expect a lot more in 2009.

Best Coverage: Brian. Wouldn'tchya know it. Obviously there isn't much to do in the evenings down there in Jeollanam-do except read the Internets and keep abreast of developments here in The republic.

On a side note, if there were such a category, I would probably give Best Blogger of '08 to Brian. He has his detractors, Korean Netizens among them, and perhaps he needs to cut down on the red meat a little, but he has been most informative and very funny throughout the year.

Brian in Jeollanam-do. (in Jeollanam-do is also the Strangest Surname of 2008.)

1.Best Tech News of the Year

Ding Dong The Witch is Dead! Twice! First news that the Government will get rid of Active X controls on it's websites and then the demise of WIPI which (from April next year) will see an influx of decent cell phones in Korea.

See rants here (Active X) and here. (WIPI)

Best Coverage: The Marmot's Hole and in particular comments from Brendon Carr.

Comments

[Brian]

Thanks for the love!

But you couldn't find a better picture? ㅠ.ㅠ

[Stafford]

Brian: A little birdie told me you looked different in every picture taken...So I was unsure which one to use!