May 27th, 2016 | by weshareinterests | published in FEATURE, LITERATURE & VOCAB | Comments Off on Shinji & Obachan Go West
| On a warm evening in 2005, I was walking the girlfriend home and had just stopped by the neighborhood Family Mart for some Jeti, a beverage apparently for children but that I’d grown addicted to because, well, it’s chocolate so it’s good. On our way out of the store I witnessed something strange to […]
July 21st, 2015 | by weshareinterests | published in FEATURE, LITERATURE & VOCAB | Comments Off on Esther Lee and Remmington Chow Got Together
| 2010. Olympics year. 30 year. Back in Vancouver after nights and days in my “F”th floor apartment on Bangbae’s Café Golmok (방배 카페골목) thinking about culture shock and how I would ever bring myself to working in Canada. Here would be no there. English education isn’t a pillar of the Vancouver economy unlike Seoul’s […]
October 9th, 2014 | by weshareinterests | published in FASHION, FILM & MUSIC, FEATURE | Comments Off on VIFF – Hill of Freedom (Korea)
I went to the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) recently and saw Hill of Freedom (자유의 언덕) by Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-Soo. A while back I wanted to know more about Hong’s work and asked a friend for a description. “Well…” and then she laughed. I wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean and […]
August 12th, 2014 | by weshareinterests | published in FEATURE, LITERATURE & VOCAB | Comments Off on Gavin Meet Garrett, Hmong
955 pm. It’s 2005. Fall. Or was it spring? Evening classes end on Pyeongchon’s Hagwon-ga. Rows upon rows of buses (some like Greyhounds, others like mini-vans) are lined up against the curb. Drivers are standing around, smoking cigarettes, wishing they had cigarettes, bumming cigarettes. They’re there to wait. Wait for…it. Within minutes, hundreds of bodies […]
August 5th, 2014 | by weshareinterests | published in FEATURE, LITERATURE & VOCAB | Comments Off on Ji-Hye and the Station
Photo Credit: Davide U. | A lot of people think too much even about decisions that should be easy to make. Often this is out of fear of the unknown. And sometimes it just takes one moment to convince us to move ahead, take a chance, and understand that we’re doing the right thing. Today […]
July 21st, 2014 | by weshareinterests | published in FASHION, FILM & MUSIC, FEATURE | Comments Off on Review – Fly Me to Minami (2013)
Osaka-based, Chinese-Malaysian writer and director Kah-Wai Lim’s 2013 Fly Me to Minami (Koi suru minami or 恋するミナミ) is a well-executed, fun film with an organized story that leaves behind no loose ends. It looks at the intersecting lives of a fashion magazine editor from Hong Kong, a flight attendant from Seoul, and two men from […]
July 2nd, 2014 | by weshareinterests | published in ARCHITECTURE, HOME & GARDEN | Comments Off on Cityscapes-Night-Part 1
There’s nothing like an evening metropolis. Hong Kong, Seoul, Taipei, and Tokyo take the stage for this feature showcasing their magnificent skylines. Indie rock in Shimokitazawa, spoiled brats trashing Hong Kong’s Four Seasons again, art viewing at the chairman’s penthouse in Gangnam? Whatever is happening at ground level, we leave that to your imagination. Hong […]
July 2nd, 2014 | by weshareinterests | published in FOOD | Comments Off on My Seoul-Central Asian Village
From February 2004-February 2010, I lived in Seoul as one of those twenty-something Chinese Canadian Vancouverites. Being there in my formative 20s constituted some of the best years of my life. I thought I would share some of my experiences as a tribute to the country that did so much for me. My biggest surprise was the city’s […]
July 2nd, 2014 | by weshareinterests | published in FOOD | Comments Off on Seoul Food-돈 day
Coming from a multicultural city like Vancouver, I thought I had been exposed to cultures of all kinds. I had, but not to the extent I thought. It was amazing being able to experience so many new dishes (both Korean and non-Korean) in my time Seoul. 돈 day is a BBQ restaurant. “Don” (pronounced with […]