the favorite thing on korean television.

...is, without a doubt, the Starcraft channel!
As far as I can tell, 24 hours a day, this channel shows episodes of competitive video games. And as much as I (good-naturedly, natch) ribbed the Koreans for their obsession with starcraft, I have to admit that it makes riveting television, watching two hardcore gamers go at it live on television. It has it all: early game blitzkriegs, successful gambits, devastating rushes, diversions, etc... ha ha! And I can understand it all without knowing exactly what the announcer are saying!

The announcers, strangely, are always dressed more formally than even football announcers in Canada or the states. Shirts and ties, even though the target market is (I assume) adolescent.

One thing warmed my heart: during a playoff tournament, the camera panned over the studio audience, and I saw a couple supportive fathers cheering on their sons. Now, in the States video games are still vilified as the producers of heartless psychopaths... maybe what's needed is an American channel showing competitive games of Grand Theft Auto Deathmatch or the like. Imagine if America comes to understand the realm of competitive video gaming, or to know and cheer on their favorite players...!

By the way, yesterday our building had a small fire... one of the signs on the floor under our English hagwon caught fire right after the last class had gone home. So I got to see korean firefighters in their element. First an air raid drill, now a fire. What's next? A korean episode of COPS? Incidentally, the cops here don't seem very intimidating, except for the dudes at the airport with submachine guns.