Clarence Hailey Long, 1949 - Another Landmark Image

This is C.H. Long, a 39-year-old foreman at the JA ranch in the Texas panhandle, a place described as “320,000 acres of nothing much.” Once a week, Long would ride into town for a store-bought shave and a milk shake. Maybe he’d take in a movie if a western was playing. He said things like, “If it weren’t for a good horse, a woman would be the sweetest thing in the world.” He rolled his own smokes. When the cowboy’s face and story appeared in LIFE in 1949, advertising exec Leo Burnett had an inspiration. The company Philip Morris, which had introduced Marlboro as a woman’s cigarette in 1924, was seeking a new image for the brand, and the Marlboro Man based on Long boosted Marlboro to the top of the worldwide cigarette market.

Check out The Digital Journalist's other Feature Presentations.  Of the 7 or 8 galleries I got a chance to browse, I particularly liked:  Requim: by the Photographers Who Died in Vietnam and Indochina, Tibetan Hunger Strike, Getting Beyond the Headlines, and Afghan Child Labor.

Afghan Child Labor.  Photo credit: Chien-Min Chung

R.E.M. and Dan Rather on The Late Show with David Letterman

This is a bizare event that only the 80's could produce!  Back in October 1986, Dan Rather was walking down a Manhattan street when he was punched from behind and thrown to the ground. His assailant kicked and beat him while repeating, "Kenneth, what is the frequency?"  At the time, nobody could explain the bizarre event.  Finally in 1997, Dan Rather identified the man that beat him up.  "The CBS anchorman said his assailant was William Tager, now in prison for killing an NBC stagehand outside the Today show in 1994. Tager was convinced the media had him under surveillance and were beaming hostile messages to him, and he demanded that Rather tell him the frequency being used, according to a forensic psychiatrist who examined Tager after the NBC shooting."  Apparently, Tager was not stalking Rather, but accidentally encountered him.  It's straight out of Conspiracy Theory.  The attack inspired the 1994 R.E.M. hit "What's the Frequency, Kenneth." [Listen]  Being a good sport, Dan Rather accompanied the band when they performed the song on Late Show with David Letterman.  Now, there's an

After reading this, it made me curious about that Phil Collins song, in the Air Tonight.  I've heard for years that it's about Phil Collins watching his friend drown, as he helplessly watched from far away.  In addition, there was a man who could have rescued the friend, but just stood idly by.  Then, Phil writes a song about the experience and give the man a front row ticket to the show.  While he sings the song to him, the spotlight is on the man in the front row.  Sound familiar?

You want to know why barber shop poles have red and white stripes?

The symbolism of the barber pole goes back to the barber/surgeon of the Middle Ages. In addition to cutting hair, he'd pull teeth, let blood, use leeches, lance boils. He'd hang his bandages out to dry, and they'd blow in the wind and twist around red and white together.

If you needed dental work, enemas, or wound surgery during this time, the barber/surgeon was the man to visit. A pole painted red and white (to represent blood and bandages) was an advertisement to potential patients. By the 19th century, barbers began focusing on hair styling and snipping, leaving the ER work to the doctors. The distinctive striped pole remained however.

It's not quite as clear what the blue stripe of a barber pole represents. One interpretation says the blue stands for veins. Marvey believes the blue stripe was added during the turn of the century as a patriotic gesture.

I just watched the trailer for Alexander.  I swear, sometimes Colin Farrell can sound like such an American.  "Conquer your fear, and I promise, you will conquer death!"  He sounded like some macho quarterback giving a pep talk to his team.

Alexander the Great, one of the greatest military intellects in history, conquered much of was what was then the civilized world. Taught by his tutor Aristotle to believe that the Greeks were the most advanced people in the world.  Alexander created a huge empire, encompassing Macedonia, Egypt, Syria, Persia and Asia Minor, but died drunk at the age of 33.

[On June 10th 323 BCE, Alexander the Great died. Historians such as Faure speculated that his death was caused by extreme consumption of alcohol during the celebrations after the defeat of Persia and India and died of a pancreatic ailment. Others wonder whether Alexander died due to fever from malaria inflicted from a mosquito bite (Theulé 56). Alexander's death is still a mystery.  richeast.org]

This last month, I haven't really been perusing as many fun sites, like I normally do.  So I did some of that today... caught up on entertainment news and browsed around.  Of course, the biggest thing happening lately has been Britney Spears wedding.  I wonder if she rapped during the reception.  

Britney Spears got married, but did she fake it?  On Ebay, somebody picked up a rose from the wedding, off the ground, and sold it for $560!  Insane!  I think I should just go back home to the States, live in LA with my grandmother, and just hang around town to pick up celebrities tossed out Starbuck's cups, used gum, cigarette butts, and anything else that stupid people on Ebay would buy.  Oh yeah, Eminem's condom wrapper went for a staggering $1.79.  Very sad...

The revolution of blogging is under way!  [The Blogger's Creed]

Ok, that's my entertainment fix for now.

Looking back at the entrance to the cave	Rocks and stuff
A waterfall inside the cave
Tom walks down "The Valley of Desire", one of many different areas of the cave	A spotlight shines on an object at the back of the cave, which is supposed to be the Virgin Mary.

See the rest of the Hwanseondonggul Cave Pictures

After making a half-hearted attempt to hitchhike a ride back to Samcheok, we admitted defeat and took another 24,000 won taxi back to Samcheok.  We had to get back to Kangneung as soon as we could to meet others for dinner at 8:30.  On the ride back, Tom and I sat next to each other, talking about different things, including my website.  From visiting my site, he said it was strange that he knew details about the kind of person I am, when we really don't know each other.  Later that night, Glyn said something along the same lines.  I gave him a hug goodbye because we wouldn't be seeing each other again before he left Korea.  He then went on to say that he felt that we're better friends, than we actually are, due to the fact he regularly visits my site and reads about what I'm up to.  I think it's great, but I'm also surprised by it sometimes.  On my birthdayy, Kiran bought me a drink, handing me a Pocari Sweat.  "It's your favorite drink, isn't it?"  "Yes, how did you....?"  "I read it on your website."  "Oh."  I also write that I madly want an ipod, but nobody's given me that, yet.  To quote the great hair band of Guns N' Roses, "Need a little patience... yeah."

So, we made it back at 7:30, with not much time to relax before meeting others for dakalbi at "The Cave" restaurant.  Afterwards, we went to Absolut for a drink and to blow out Christa's birthday candles. 



We then headed to The Warehouse for some dancing.  Unfortunately, there are hardly any times I go there, with people already dancing.  Most of the people there wanted to dance, but the hardest part is getting people to start.  At midnight, the hip hop started playing, which gets more people up, than techno.  The party then got started.

Christa and Carly
Ok, they're working it... but what is Teariki doing?	This was the intensity of the dancing there... dance so hard, that you fall down!

The rest of Club Night pictures

I love nights like this, because there's so much happening!  Unfortunately, with all the dancing and excitement, I didn't take too many good pictures.  Once the dancing started, it was intense.  There were dance-offs left and right!  The "Circle" formed, and the members of the Clon dance school were more than willing to show off their moves.  Christa's friends Kate and Carly also go in on the excitement (see above left picture).    There was more grinding going on than at a Starbucks!  The dance floor is a perfect place to check out what's going on in the room, without staring.  Hightlights from the night inlcude:

• "Keep an eye on Kiran.  Make sure he doesn't slip out without telling anyone."  -No problem, he hang out at the bar most of the night.
• Dr. Dan was in full form, scanning the room for new patients.
• I look over and see Mr. X and Ms. Y kissing.  "Oh my god, did I just see that?"  I turn away so I don't stare.  Looking back, I should have stared, to make sure that I could say under oath, that they were kissing, while his girlfriend is waiting for him at home.
• A certain Kiwi seems to have taken a liking to the new girl from Florida.  I see them leave together.
• One of the Toms takes a liking to a certain George Michael song that I love.
• An encore performance of "Crouching Boxer, Hidden Hunchback".  The giddy school girls chase each other across the dance floor, hiding behind tiny, Korean men.
• One of the staff is bouncing off the walls, after having taken codeine.

I finally leave around 4:00am, making a mental note to watch more MTV videos, so I'll be prepared for the next time I'm at a dance-off.

---

The next day is sunny and beautiful.  Rachael, Allison, and Chena don't want to go to the beach, because they have to get back.  I go downtown with them to McDonald's(!).  I only have a burger, no fries or drink.  They continue their shopping downtown, while I wait for Melvin and Na-kyung to pick me up, so we can go to the beach.  I'm then informed that there'll be 3 university students filming Melvin throughout the day, as part of a documentary on a foreigner.

Watch out, Michael Moore!	The guys go swimming: Dylan, Ras, Tom, Melvin, & Tom
Na-kyung and I spend a good portion of the day "resting"	Ras, Melvin, Stephan, Heather, Kiran, Christa

Of course, any sunny day at the beach involves drinking, talking, swimming.  I do all, except the latter - just too cold.  Dylan got interviewed by the film crew, and made up stories about Melvin.  His best line of the day was, "My Korean name's Dylan, but you can call me Heather."  Tom loved that line so much, I wonder when the first edition of the "I love Heather" newsletter comes out.

We end the day with dinner of "ahn chun saal".  Delicious.

A view of the lake, as we leave the beach.  See the moon?

Dinner downtown

On Saturday, I went to Christa's place in Yang Yang and had a girl's night.  Yolanda was supposed to come too, but she was sick, so it was just the four of us: Christa, Noreen, Megan, and myself.  There was a lot of food there.  It was a little strange at first, because I can't remember the last time I had vegetables and dip.  Noreen also made a delicious chocolate pudding cake, which we ate with ice cream.  We talked a lot and managed to put on some facial masks.  It was weird, because the mask was pre-treated, and all you had to do was put this fabric-like material on your face.  we were beautiful, as you can see.

The spread.  There's even dip!	Cake and ice cream
The masks.	Christa.  I think we can all agree she was the funniest of the mask wearers.  It didn't quite fit her face.
Noreen wearing a yogurt pack, and nose strip.	We hung up our used masks on Christa's door, along with Noreen's nose strip.  It was funny then, but looking back on it, it's a little disgusting.

I   love getting mail! 

One last thing...
I was leaving my house for work today, when I noticed this in the hall, in front of my neighbor's door.  It's a huge, dusty, Mashi Maro doll.  It might be hard to tell how big it is, but look at the door knob.  I felt a little sympathy for my neighbor, even though she usually stomps up the stairs in her clickity-clack heels every night at 3 or 4 in the morning.  (I'm still trying to decipher what her "job" is.)  Anyway, I felt sorry for her, because it was obvious that some boyfriend won/bought her this monstrosity of a doll, and she couldn't throw it away because he would notice if it was gone.  And it's not like other hideous gifts that you can stow away and bring back out when the gift-giver comes over.  There's no room to hide it anywhere! 

A note to men:  Only give your girlfriend a big doll like this if 1) she's 12 years old, or 2) she's a Korean woman under the age of 30. 
(Thank god I don't fall under those two categories)