Office Space

Everyday, every single day, I see hundreds of people hustling about at speeds no person should ever feel the need to walk at. Looking as though they being hunted down by Omar, these people really feel the whip of their masters. To be completely honest I have recently started to feel the same way. It is for that reason I decided to relax and watch the movie “Office Space”. How hilariously sad it is to be stuck in a cubicle not knowing when you've been replaced. Working for weekends and holidays, waking up in the morning and realizing “Shit it's only Tuesday..”. With no intention of being disrespectful towards the working man (and woman), I have to say that is just wrong. Now I am not naive, I understand how the world works and that everybody can't get what they want or work with what they want. It is still messed up though. That is what makes “Office Space” a good movie, the glimmer of hope that everything might work itself out someday. That you can find something that doesn't just mean a paycheck, but also something you can put your name on and be proud of doing. In ode to that movie I give you the bad ass “Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta” by the Geto Boys

Geto Boys
 “Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta”

'cause real gangsta type brothas can't run fast

Travolta said it pretty good in Be Cool, “If you're important, people will wait.” Everyone is important.

The Doors

Trying to find a bar that fits you perfectly amongst the millions available here is literally like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I found my needle in the form of an establishment  by the name of “The Doors”. It is owned and operated by a man named Mr. Pyong; whom I consider to be the coolest bar owner in the planet. This man is down to earth and knows how to make you feel at home. He treats every single one of his customers like family and has a sincere interest in getting to know them. The place looks like an old run down bar with LP covers filling up the walls, and their collection of records on wax is a lifetime achievement. The Doors is a music request bar, which means they play the songs you want them to play. Like a jukebox that doesn't take coins. You write down the songs you want played and they try their best to make it happen. The people who work there love what they do. Being happy with genuine smiles all over, singing a long with the songs, getting drunk with whomever wants a piece of their minds; that is their job description. I would love that job too. What really makes the place great though is the variety of people you meet. People who have an incredible infatuation to music and don't want to sit at home and listen to it. They burst out into song and drum on the tables like madmen, they feel the music in their spines and it drives them out of the dress coded prison they call offices into a world of blues and rock. It is all of the above that makes The Doors into my needle.

For you who don't know who The Doors are (shame on you) they were the band led by Jim Morrison. Morrison died at the age of 27, just like Janis and Jimi, but before croaking the man wrote some good songs. I give you one of the more famous songs they performed.

The Doors
“Light My Fire”

Try to set the night on fire

Great song, great place.. if you ever make it over here, go there.

노래방

Who does not love to sing while taking a shower? Holding on to that make-believe microphone (in my case the nozzle) and just letting passion take over. It's an amazing feeling to sing, not because you want to bless someone with the angelic pitch of your voice (if false would be an angelic trait) but because you want to experience the feelings provided by that particular song. For a brief moment being Freddie, being Dio, being Otis, Stevie, Pickett, Mick, Bruce. Picturing yourself in place of Roger Daltrey backed by Townsend and Keith (also by the bass player but I keep forgetting  his name). Well Korea allows you to step it up a notch. Everybody knows about karaoke but here in Seoul you call it “norebang” and it is a little different. It literally means song room and what you do is sing. You can find one everywhere in Seoul, and I mean everywhere, The establishments have different rooms ranging in size to fit your party. You go there with a group of friends and pay for an hour, then the manager takes you to a room with a karaoke machine and  you start choosing songs. The selection of English songs is a bit limited but not bad at all, you got most of the classics and even a couple of rare ones. It is not about how good you sing it is about how much you enjoy doing it. No one cares if your off pitch, there is no Simon there to judge you, it is all about getting involved with the music and feeling every single one of those misplaced notes. Seeing yourself being in Journey while belting “Don't Stop Believing”. 

Journey

“Don't Stop Believing”

Hold on to that feeling

This is probably the song I have sung the most while staying here. Hope it inspires people to stop fearing the limelight and just sing for the love of the song.

Seoul Man

It might be hard to imagine a world without music, but it is for that sake I am writing these insignificant entries. I need these words in order for hope and sanity to reach me when I am doubting the hands dealt to me by the oh so unpredictable world we live in. You see they mean everything to me, though they might be in many ways insignificant to everyone else. I guess you realize by the title, it being an obvious pun, that what you are reading right now is supposed to introduce me. My name is Alex and that is as intimate as it needs to get when comes to background information. I am now, as douchey as it might sound, on an enternal quest to find myself and for that reason I do as the great Ace did on one of his more recent trips to the silver screen; I say yes to most opportunities. I love music with disgusting gusto and find that everywhere I go a song seems to fit the scene, but just like the score of a movie the soundtrack of any city needs to be great. Seouls is no different and this is my attempt at making a soundtrack..

To start it all off I decided to give you Sam and Dave's (made famous more recently by Elwood and Joliet Jake)

"Soul Man"

Coming to ya on a dusty road, good lovin' I got a truckload

You really did come on a dusty road and it will be interesting to see if good lovin' is what you got in store for me.