::A Geek in Korea::

My favorite transcoding and all around video editing program for my Cowon D2, Avidemux, has released a new “preview” version. I’m a touch wary to try out new preview level software on a program I use regularly, but this update came with one awesome feature I’ve been waiting for. Avidemux now has .FLV support!

What the hell am I talking about?

You know those flash video files you watch over at Youtube? The ones you can search for and easily download with Democracy Miro? Now you can easily turn those files into files for viewing on your Cowon D2. Following the screencast I made, you can easily have tons of videos available to watch on the go.

The new build doesn’t only add that useful feature. There is also .mkv support! (Matroska isn’t supported by the D2) Not only has .flv support greatly enhanced Avidemux, but there is also crash detection and recovery support. Now if you make a mistake, you won’t lose all your options! It just keeps getting better.

Tips:

Save Custom video settings:

Want a tip for speeding up your Avidemux usage? You can save custom settings so that you don’t have to go through all the menus each time you load a video! Here’s how (From Doom9 forums, Wiki) SadaraX posted this wonderfully helpful information:

1) Open a video
2) Select the video codec you want (like x264) (In our case, we’ll use Xvid)
3) Configure codec with the options you want (No B frames, 320×240 or smaller…)
4) Save the file as a Project file somewhere….
5) Open that project file in a text editor (like vim, notepad, wordpad, etc)
6) Now you need to edit and remove whatever you do not want to be loaded as a preset
** You must leave the line that says “var app = new Avidemux();”
** If you want to keep the filters, leave the //** Filters ** section, if you want keep the video leave the //** Video Codec conf **, and so on.
7) Save the file in $HOME/.avidemux/custom with a .js as the file extention

This should spare people of the tedium of working through the file settings every time for similar files.

Append: (Joining files of similar types together)

If you download a video in many parts, perhaps a series of files you want to watch by the same person, use the “append” option. As long as the videos are the same size and format (and they should be if they all come from Youtube or most other online video sources) then you can add them together easily. After you append the files, just save it as one large .flv file. Then you can use Avidemux to transcode it at once, instead of as a bunch of individual files. This would be an ideal way to watch, say, “Chad Vader” as a movie instead of lots of short skits.

Turbo Mode: (When quality isn’t that important)

In testing the new .flv mode out, I used the “turbo” mode (available in the Configure, encoding options for XviD files). This is a single pass encode. This isn’t as small or as good of quality as the two pass encoding available, but it’s faster. I was able to encode files faster than real time and watch them immediately. I’m not sure how much faster they are, but the quality of most files from Youtube aren’t extremely high in the first place. Even if you do multiple passes, you probably won’t see a significant difference from the turbo mode single pass encoding.

Enjoy the new features of Avidemux!

Two days ago, I was flipping through the television channels as I always do. My wife was using the Internet for checking something, so I was hanging out with Yoshi. Suddenly, I noticed a problem with the screen. The lower half of the screen was still working, but the image at the top was shrunk to two thirds the size, with large black bars going across the screen horizontally.

Hmmm.

I told my wife about the problem, but it’s not like we watch that much television anyway. We talked about it for a little bit, then forgot it until today. We were sitting around before we had to go to work, so I turned on the television to show her what I had meant about the television being “strange”.

This time, the two black bars extended down the entire sizes of the screen. It made the screen look better, like there was some sort of reverse wide screen effect going on, but at least things were proportional again. We probably would have been satisfied with a broken but semi-functional television for our needs, but then we both started smelling ozone and smoke.

Minor electrical fire in the belly of the television perhaps? The television was at least a decade old. We had picked it up years ago for my old apartment used. It had served me well, and I don’t feel I got ripped off even if it is now a large plastic shell sitting in my living room.

I unplugged the set. We’re planning on selling it to the electronics recycle truck the next time he stops by the apartment complex. Since it’s been raining, we haven’t seen him in several days. He’ll help us carry the set out and offer us cash for the scrap parts. That’s certainly better than paying someone to take it away.

We went pricing new televisions today. No one is thinking of dropping two million won on a nice flat screen, but we saw some lower end units that could double as an over-sized computer monitor that I’d love to have. We’d have to snake wires through the house on the ceiling to get it to work, but I’m sure the delivery people would do that for us for a marginal fee. One wireless mouse and keyboard later, and I’ve got a new monitor for surfing on the couch!*

(A man can dream, can’t he?)

Due to the way schedules and deadlines work, we were expected to finish our books this week. I’ve finished books hundreds of pages we’ve been working on for months perfectly with this deadline. This deadline wouldn’t be a problem for most of my classes. I’ve been making copies and doing activities with some classes because I finished my books weeks ago. In lower level classes I had too much material to catch up from last term, which meant I couldn’t finish their books on time this term either.
I don’t go at an excessively slow pace, but I came to the realization that I had three classes that needed to finish several chapters in each of their books. Two of the classes needed to do testing just when I wanted to start increasing the per class page count, robbing me of time to try to complete the book. I would have been in a much better position if I hadn’t needed to give tests, or cover classes for other teachers preventing me from completing pages.

I told my director about the problem, and she told the teachers that I share the book with (Hello, pissed off coworker, here is more work for you!) I apologized for my mistake. Using my last class with my current “batch” of students for today, I went all out to try to finish the book I had for today to minimize the workload I was giving to other teachers. It’s a mad dash for the finish line instead of a leisurely stroll in the majority of my classes.

The material we had been doing wasn’t that hard. In fact, trying to fill out classes slowly enough in the beginning was the main problem with the material today. We’d spend fifty minutes on two pages to perfect it with the younger students. Review, review, review. I needed to do ten pages in fifty minutes to get their book done today!

We got down the business and started cranking out the readings. We did five units when we would usually only do one. My students were enjoying it, as we varied our reading. One half of the class would read one story, the other half would read the next unit. That meant they heard the same story fewer times, which makes them bored.

We’d read together, then individually. Even though we were covering five times the normal amount of material, everyone got to practice as much, or even more, than normally. I wouldn’t want to do it every day, but for a single lesson in an emergency, it wasn’t a bad time. We got everything done, the children practiced, and everyone understood as much as they normally do.

I finished the material in one book I needed to cover in one of the classes. Two more “emergency” classes tomorrow will be jammed back to back at the start of my day where I’ll do the same thing to minimize the material teachers will have to cover in extra classes.

This can be prevented by more cautious planning, as well as better book choices. I prevented this from happening in several of the next session classes. My director wanted to finish a 480 page book in less than 20 class hours. (That’s just insane.) If I hadn’t offered up some alternatives, I would have had to keep up this sort of mad dash pace for four hours a day for an entire month during summer intensive classes. No thank you.

To Play:

This game would be literally translated as “Stab Stab, the Butt hole Poking game”. Use the mouse to navigate. Use the left mouse button to shoot. Avoid the man crapping on your head, while you “poke” him in the ass. There is a power-up shaped like a man that will level up your poking power. You have 80 seconds.

What the…?

The “찔러” means “stab”. “똥침” means, “butt hole poke.” “똥침” is a childish game where Korean children wrap their fingers together to poke each other in the ass when they catch somewhere unaware. The only rule is someone has to gloat by saying “똥침” “Dong chim!” after they catch you by surprise. Depending on the person poked, you may or may not have to run like hell. This “free impromptu colonoscopy” is an occupational hazard in Korea for all foreign teachers.

But…why?

Korean children have an unhealthy obsession with all things involving butts. I don’t know how else to explain it.

It’s been a long time since there has was a blockbuster movie released that caught my interest. After seeing Spider-man 3 (Hated it.), and not being excited by the thought of even going to see Transformers, I was doubting that any movie this summer was going to get me in the theater. Well, other than The Simpsons movie.

I was listening to NPR:movies podcast, which is now my once a week source for finding out what is worth watching in the theaters. They talked about the reviews for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I was surprised to hear that most of the people were exceedingly positive about the movie.

The book was the first in the series that I really disliked. It was very angst driven, what the kids like to call “emo“. Half the book was Harry being a complete dick to his friends. Then he would whine when Voldemort was bugging him in his sleep. “No one understands me!” Yeah, yeah, he’s a teenager. I get it.

While the book wasn’t my favorite, I’d say the film actually was the best of the series so far. It worked as an actual movie instead of feeling like a movie adapted from a book. There was no lame Scooby Doo style “twist” where someone reveals their evil plans just in time to be stopped by some pesky kids. For that, I’m thankful.

[spoiler]

Dolores Umbridge, the new “Professor of the Dark Arts” teacher, and all around bad person, was perfect. You remember that same uptight administrator at your school that just didn’t understand your angst.

Also, the kitten plates in her office? I was laughing the ENTIRE time a scene took place in that location. The juxtaposition of her cruel treatment of Harry while the cute kittens looked on in the background was great.

Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange? That’s PERFECT casting. Even if she only went around cackling and looking evil, she was perfect. I loved her interaction with Lucious Malfoy, who plays one evil mofo.

[/spoiler]

The film felt much more “grown up” and spent far less time on the charming things of the wizarding world. It’s more dark and brutal. Sure, there was angst, but it was very well acted.
I liked the direction the series is headed. After five films, I’m actually more excited about what’s to come on film, rather than the last book due out in a few days. I want to see the story finish with these actors as soon as possible. Waiting for the next two movies is going to be tough.

I’d recommend the movie for any fans of the film series, or books. It’s the best one yet!

Yoshi plays favorites with both me and my wife. Most of the time, he can be found at my feet, sleeping. If he’s not bringing his toys over to me for a game of fetch, he’s probably sitting in my lap at the computer. When I go over to the couch, he usually hops right up and sits next to me. I don’t mind. I feel guilty leaving him in the apartment all day when I go to work.

If I’m particularly busy, or have shut the door, he’ll usually sit outside and wait for me to return. Sometimes when I go out on errands, my wife tells me that he’ll sit by the door and wait for me to return. Only after I’ve been gone for a while or have stopped giving him attention will he go hang out with my wife. They watch television together, but if I get up and move around the house, he’ll follow me.

This is probably because she’s got the jobs that are most stressful for Yoshi. While I feed and walk Yoshi, she’s shaving him, cleaning his ears, or trying to keep him clean. We both wash him, but he immediately hops in my lap to be dried. He just likes hanging out with me, but I think it’s more about the food.

Today, while feeling particularly lazy watching some Star Wars Rifftrax, I thought of Salacious Crumb, that little annoying thing that laughed at everyone in Return of the Jedi. You know, the Kowakian Monkey-Lizard Jabba the Hutt had on his sand barge (I’m not making that up. Wikipedia said so.) Having a little underling following you around the house is a lot like that relationship. I’ve always wanted an underling, so I enjoy having Yoshi hang around.

Anyway, if Yoshi is indeed Salacious Crumb, hanging around a more cruel and fatter person, that would make me Jabba the Hutt. Hmm. Bad analogy.

In Gwanghwamun (On Subway line 5) in Seoul,  there is a Kyobo bookstore.  This is particular bookstore is close to the iconic Yi Sun Shin statue. I hit this bookstore about half the time I go to Seoul. It’s got a large foreign book section. Like every bookstore in Korea that have a large foreign book collection, it can be rather pricey to pick up a number of books for casual reading. Check out my books.

When we were at the counter, the clerk asked my wife if we had a membership card. We don’t give out personal information to people as a habit, so we weren’t interested. That is, until they mentioned that foreign books (possibly only from the USA?) would be discounted 10% for members. They handed us a membership pamphlet and told us to go to an information center near the entrance by the revolving door to the subway.

We wouldn’t have signed up for the membership card for my wife, because you had to sign over your Korean identification number and lots of other prize information. However, as a foreigner, I had to offer only my name, address, and a phone number. They didn’t even check my identification card to see my name, so I could have even provided even less identifying information (AKA, lied my butt off) if I wanted.

For the effort involved in signing up for the card, and the 10% discount, it was worth it. It even came with a 18k gold bookmark! Nice. It’s not Half Price Books, but it’s better than nothing.

Does anyone know if the bookstore in COEX Mall has a similar program?

My wife and I had a very odd day shopping for supplies for our European vacation. After going to a camping and outfitting shop and being blown away by the prices in Daejeon, we decided to go to Dongdaemun in Seoul, which has a dedicated “camping shop district”. Hopefully a little competition, as well as a larger market would drive down prices.

We brought our list of items to purchase and hit the first shop we saw when we got down to shopping. There were places selling obvious knock offs we tried to avoid. We ended up at a store with two people that must have warmed at the sight of us. We only generally had an idea of what we needed, but hadn’t narrowed down any brands or specifics. They pulled out books, bags, and lots of accessories for us. We spent about an hour working our way through the things we wanted. They were very pushy and high pressure, like everyone in Seoul tends to be.

Eventually I had settled on a bag, boots, and some needed accessories. My wife wanted a bag they didn’t have in stock, so we headed off and found what we needed at a different location. After getting her bag, we returned to the first store and picked up our loot. We packed our old bags inside the new bags, put on our new boots, and set off for a test run with out new gear. Big bright overstuffed bags, new boots, and a subway map pointing us to our next destination. We were totally tourists in Seoul for the day.

While walking around with large packs in Europe doesn’t draw any attention, people in Seoul looked at us like we were insane. There isn’t enough room for the people living there, and adding a large bag on our backs made the space all that much smaller. My wife walked around smacking people with her pack every time she turned around. People push you out of the way when in a hurry in Seoul. It was somewhat satisfying to push back for once.

On the subway, people looked at us like we were completely clueless tourists. This is true to a degree, because we try to keep out of Seoul as much as possible. Walking around with stuffed bags doing some shopping only made us stand out more. We were stared at far more than usual today.

Case in point, An elderly man came up to us while we were waiting for a subway to arrive. He asked us where we were from. He even asked my wife that, so I guess he thought we had just arrived. I told him I was from the States, and he asked where. I told him I was from Ohio, and he started pulling out his wallet. He didn’t ask how long I was here, which is almost always the follow up question. I think this was because of the bags.

I assumed I’d get his card, or some sort of picture related to his questioning. He told me he had been to LA. “You know LA? I’ve been to LA.”

I told him I did know of “LA”, and he went on unfolding something from his wallet. The people around us were bothered by this old man and did their “stare of obliviousness”, but he kept on talking to us. If an old person comes up to talk to you in Korea, it’s either ignore them totally or nod in agreement to everything they say if you want to be polite. We had nowhere to go until the subway arrived at the platform anyway, so he had us captive. What was he up to?

He asked about our religion, then handed us both a single dollar bill out of the fold of paper from his wallet. We were baffled. We refused the money, handed it back to him, then tried to force him to take it back. He kept giving it back to us. Why would we want money from this old man? He said he wanted us to go to church tomorrow.

We got back to Daejeon with most of everything we need. We aren’t planning another shopping trip outside of the city to prepare at any rate. Also, I now have two American dollars and no where to spend them.

Today my director was scheduled to go to an information meeting about owning a school. The meeting was canceled due to protests that blocked the entrance into whatever building the meeting was to be held. She still canceled her classes, but called parents instead. I had her class added to mine, so I had 15 hyperactive children in a large classroom.

The manner in which we break down levels in class means that students can study in the school for three terms before learning their first dedicated grammar lessons. These are the students I’m teaching now. They are on the cusp of moving up into where the school gets “tough” and starts actually teaching the finer points of grammar construction. The parents of the students in the level above them have said that the transition between levels would be easier if we did some basic sentence construction before they moved up to learning grammar. Now I have to do daily sentence testing.

This is fine, as the book we are doing tends to run very short. Adding a testing and checking period caused no problems. However, with double the number of students to test and check for the day, I was going to have some problems. I handed out the papers and wrote scrambled sentences on the board. It was the job of the students to recreate the sentences that had appeared in the unit we covered today. I didn’t have time to answer every single questions students had about the exercise. They knew what to do because we do this every week. Most of my students got to work right away.

The copying and writing portion of this exercise takes about five to ten minutes. All of the students, save one, had completed the entire test in that time. This boy had written nothing on his paper, and had poked his thumb through the middle of his test sheet. No time to waste, I collected all the papers, and redistributed them. One girl ended up with his blank paper. Lucky her.

After writing the answers on the board, the students checked the tests, then handed them back to me. I had the students checking answers write their names to prevent fraud, but since two sets of classes were together there were no problems save the boy that hadn’t written anything.

After the class,  I pulled him aside and asked him why he hadn’t written anything. Was the test too hard? Was someone in the other class making fun of him? He tends to be an immature and unpredictable boy, so I was worried someone had picked on him and he was too flustered to work. He simply put his hands up in an, “I have no idea what you mean” gesture.

After sitting him down on a wall, my director finally got off the phone to talk to the boy. I explained he hadn’t done anything in class, and wanted to know why he was behaving so strangely. He answered, to her, that he had no pencil, so he was absolved of doing any work for the day.

She asked him why he hadn’t asked me for a pencil. I had handed out several through the class, and students around him had something to write with too. He said that he didn’t have any pencil, so he shouldn’t have to do any work. He didn’t want to bother me because I was so busy.  He totally didn’t get why asking for a pencil was better than doing nothing the entire class.

She walked him out of the office and over his shoulder mentioned to me, “Sometimes, even he doesn’t know why he does the things he does. He’s just immature, and he has an emotional problem. Just let it go.”

I wasn’t too concerned. He wasn’t bothering anyone else, despite his talkative nature, so one more failed test won’t worry me much. Still, that’s a strange excuse.

My wife seems to think I have an excessive number of clothes. I use more of the closets. I have more shirts, more pants, more socks, more everything. This might be because when I moved out of my parents house, I progressively managed to haul my entire wardrobe of clothes to Korea. Even though I rarely buy new things, I never toss anything out unless it has holes in it.

This morning, I got out of my sleeping clothes and changed into my running shorts and t-shirt. I perspire enough that it’s not a good idea to try to wear the same clothes through the day if I go to walk Yoshi. After my walk, I came back, showered, then changed clothes for work.

The problem was, I was cooking lunch this afternoon, and we were eating something loaded with gochujang (red pepper paste). I accidently got a piece of rice on my white shorts, which I had to take off and wash to prevent it from staining. I ended up having a hard time with the stain, soaking my pants. I needed to change.

As soon as I put on new shorts, my wife found a spot on my shirt. Off with the shirt! Having changed my outfit three times today, my wife complained that I took up far too much of the laundry that she had to do. She refuses to let me do most laundry related tasks. She’ll buy clothes knowing the only way to clean them is to hand wash them on the floor of the bathroom, scrubbing them like mad.

I tell her to use the numerous dry cleaners available that will pick up and deliver the items to our house, but she decries this as a frivolus waste of money. She’d be happy with a rock and a stream and some soap if it saved her a few won.

Anyway, I never considered myself fashionable or clothes obsessed, but I refuse to turn up in dirty clothes at work. Is this too much to ask? I’ve never, ever, asked my wife to scrub my clothes for me by hand either. Still, she loves to complain about all the clothes I wear.

Next time, I’ll cook with my sweaty old house clothes, then change into my clothes for work before I leave. That way I can minimize the annoying red stains of sloppy eating.