Last weekend I went to a truly special museum. Housed in the basement of the War Memorial Museum is Rolling Ball. When my buddy and I went to buy tickets, the lady at the counter looked at us quizzically. "It's a kids' museum..." We knew.
Rolling Ball is a collection of Rube Goldberg type kinetic contraptions all of which involve marbles and spheres larger navigating a series of twists and turns. Track switches, jumps, secret turn-arounds, loops of the loop... It's amazing! These are the kind of pieces of Art I hope to one day collect. Most of those we liked were credited to Swiss-German named Deidre. Make what assumptions you will.
A good two hours there made for one of the most fun times I've had out in Seoul. And no poker was involved!
On another topic, today I prepared three 4th grade Korean guys for a future in drunken Karaoke glory. Frequent readers will recall I use song analysis as a way to explore literary device. Last week we listened to U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday. Today they wanted to hear it again. I obliged and was treated to the three dude singing along. When they inevitably go to the states to study abroad, they will find themselves in a karaoke bar and the seed that I have planted will burst fourth into magnificent tree of attention-getting. Also, it was just damn cool to see Korean kids diggin' on good music.
This weekend I am finally going into Itaewon, the part of Seoul where a tall awkward American-shaped man can apparently find clothes that fit. A winter coat is my goal. Wish me luck.
At the OMSI-equivalent in Philadelphia, there used to be a huge rolling ball contraption on permament display. I could seriously watch that thing for hours.
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