Masculin Feminin

I was lurking Cassidy's blog and found this entry particularly interesting:

"In America, femininity is masculine. Our women are all fourty nine percent man. We like iron-thighed girls with sparkling impish eyes and firm handshakes. We die for them."

I have to say, being in Korea, I'd have to strongly agree with the sentiment. Maybe not 49%, but certainly a far larger portion of masculinity in women is found much more attractive in American women than Asia. Korea particularly I find myself feeling extremely masculine. Most every girl here truly fulfills the submissive asian girl stereotype. I was reading in a cafe today and a couple next to me were discussing what they like in individuals, and the guy flat out said "I can't stand girls with short hair" right next to me! All of the girls have long flowing locks, never leave the house without a pair of heels and a designer handbag. Women are shunned if they smoke in public. I haven't seen a single girl with tattoos or piercings. Many of the asian guys I've talked to (all of which drink and smoke) say they think girls shouldn't drink or smoke at all. Most are so thin and fragile they appear as if they're about to break. All of them just scream high maintenance, which I think is something that American culture now looks down upon. I think it's because the women have to be hyper feminine in order to balance the feminity of asian men. 

Darwinism

Last night I went out to the bars with a bunch of the friends I've made here and it turned into dramafest supreme. Woke up this morning really bummed out about it, but then went shopping and got a cute flapper dress and went to the Samsung art museum with my aunt. Saw some Andy Warhol and some really sweet modern art installations, including one by Yoshimoto Nara of a cottage filled with drawings of all his characters (one of which is the picture above.) Cameras weren't allowed, but I snuck a couple of pictures anyway, I'll post them tomorrow maybe. Now instead of going out on a Saturday night I am drunk in my little humid room finishing up a Moveable Feast. There is a lovely passage Hemingway writes about Scott Fitzgerald I thought I'd share.

" His talent was as natural as the pattern that was made by the dust on a buttefly's wings. At one time he understood it no more than the butterfly did and he did not know when it was brushed or marred. Later he became conscious of his damaged wings and of their construction and he learned to think and could not fly any more because the love of flight was gone and he could only remember when it had been effortless."

A Sentimental Heart

http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=5o2NLiAKYVQ

I've been listening to She & Him obsessively ever since I heard "Sentimental Heart." It's actress Zooey Deschanel's (who is GORGEOUS) band alongside with M.Ward who I opened for about 2 1/2 years ago. Her voice is really interesting and the lyrics are really sweet. Watching that video makes me want a rhodes more than anyone will ever know. I think the instrumentation sounds really great at the end. 

Love & Permanence

"Terri and I have been together five years, been married for four. And the terrible thing, the terrible thing is, but the good thing too, the saving grace, you might say, is that if something happened to one of us-excuse me for saying this-but if something happened to one of us tomorrow, I think the other one, the other person, would grieve for awhile, you know, but then the surviving party would go out and love again, have someone else soon enough. All this, all of this love we're talking about, it would just be a memory. Maybe not even a memory. Am I wrong? Am I way off base? Because I want you to set me straight if you think I'm wrong. I want to know. I mean, I don't know anything, and I"m the first one to admit it."

"Mel, for God's sake," Terri said. She reached out and took hold of his wrist." "are you getting drunk? Honey? Are you drunk?"

Raymond Carver - "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love"

This passage is the story of my life. I just finished the book. Some really great stories in this collection, like, really subtle and heartfelt and overwhelming kinds. He has this way of telling at least 3 stories in one story. He generally begins with one incredible story, then one of the characters tells a story to the other, distracting the reader with another incredible story, then ends the incredible story incredibly, then ties it back together with the beginning story with an even more incredible ending. My favorites would have to be what we talk about when we talk about love (where the passage is from, and the title of the collection,) Everything Stuck To Him, Tell the Women We're Going and Sacks.

 I've been reading a lot because I have so much time on my hands and haven't been feeling like hanging out with my fob friends. They're all really nice people, it's just hard because we don't have much in common, so I spend all my time reading. I did meet this one girl though that I had an excellent conversation about a lecture she went to in Soho on S&M and how she's reading the "Feminine Mystique." Awesome. She totally doesn't seem like the kind of girl to be into/talking about that sort of thing, but don't judge a book by it's cover I suppose. Everyone thinks I'm a huge nerd. Whatever. Reading is cool. It's kind of nice having no friends because I'm much more productive. I'm already 50 pages in on Moveable Feast.