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18 COMMUNITYTHURSDAYMARCH 27, 2008
Expat living is a page dedicated to the issues that affect foreigners' daily lives. It is your page, where you can share stories about your life in Korea. Send story ideas to Matthew Lamers at [email protected]
1. A Thousand Splendid Suns(Last week No. 2)Khaled HosseiniHard cover $25.95
2. The Kite Runner (1)Khaled HosseiniTrade paper $15.00
3. Water for Elephants (4) Sara GruenTrade paper $13.95
4. The Friday Night Knitting Club (3) Kate JacobsTrade paper $14.00
5. The Other Boleyn Girl (8) Philippa GregoryTrade paper $16.00
6. The Road (9) Cormac McCarthyTrade paper $14.95
7. What Is What: The Auto-biography of Valentino Ach-ak Deng (6) Dave EggersTrade paper $15.95
8. Duma Key (7) Stephen KingHard cover $28.00
9. No Country for Old Men (10) Cormac McCarthyIntl paperback ed. $7.99
10. Remember Me? (N/R)Sophie KinsellaHard cover $25.00
1. Brother One Cell: An Ameri-can Coming of Age in SouthKorea’s Prisons (3)Cullen ThomasTrade paper $15.00
2. Eat, Pray, Love (1) Elizabeth GilbertTrade paper $15.00
3. Three Cups of Tea: One Man’sMission to Promote Peace (2)Greg MortensonTrade paper $15.00
4. The Reluctant Communist (6) Charles Robert Jenkins$24.95
5. New Earth: Awakening toYour Life’s Purpose (7) Eckhart TolleTrade paper $14.00
6. The Secret (4) Rhonda ByrneHard cover $23.95
7. The God Delusion (5) Richard DawkinsTrade paper $15.95
8. Into the Wild (8) Jon KrakauerTrade paper $13.95
9. Guns, Germs and Steel (9) Jared DiamondTrade paper $16.95
10. The World is Flat (10) Thomas L. FriedmanTrade paper $16.00
Fiction Bestsellers
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Ongoing
The Leeum has a guest curator Henk Slager from the Netherlands or-ganizing the “Flash Cube” exhibition. For more information seewww.leeum.org
Thursday
A.G.E. is hosting the DJ Jam Asia Tour at Club Circle in Apgujong. Formore information see thecircle.co.kr
Today through Saturday is the International Seafood Show at COEX.Over 300 international exhibitors show off their best. For more informa-tion see seoulseafood.com or call 6000-2800.
Friday
Jason Mraz has a performance in Seoul at 8 p.m. ROKon Magazine hasthe scoop: rokonmagazine.com
Club Answer in Hongdae is hosting a Euro-techno party SpeKtra.SpeKtra bills itself as a full audio/visual event that must be experiencedto fully understand. For more information see myspace.com/clubspektra
Club Air in Apgujong has Liquid House, Seoul’s newest monthly party,hosted by Frqncy productions tonight. For more information see liquid-house.co.kr
Sunday
Will it be Hillary or Obama facing off against McCain in November?Come talk politics and the future of the Democratic Party with membersof Democrats Abroad ROK while enjoying a brunch buffet at Big RockBrewery in Gangnam. Everyone is welcome to come socialize, but onlypeople registered to vote in the U.S. are eligible for membership in theDemocratic Party. For more information see DemsAbroadROK.org
Ztravelbug is putting together a paintball outing. For more informationsee Ztravelbug.com
Today’s your last chance to see Brenda Stacechat’s photography atBuddha’s Belly Thai restaurant in Itaewon. E-mail [email protected] for more information.
Enjoy a walking tour of Joseon Seoul Architecture led by PeterBartholomew, an expert in the field. This trip is arranged by the RoyalAsiatic Society. For more information see raskb.com
Monday
Every Monday and Tuesday you can enjoy five drinks for 30,000 won atBlush (Grand Intercontinental Hotel — COEX) while enjoying a live DJperformance starting at 9:15 p.m. Call 559-7631 for more information.
SeoulSteves.com’s Top Events for this week
Shopping for home acces-sories in Seoul is never compa-rable to what one would expectto find back home. Like anygood expat, one must be creativeand work with what’s available.
But sometimes, we get tiredof decorating with the usualKorean knick-knacks and wantsomething different. Here arethree design stores in Kangnamthat carry imported, high-quali-ty, stylish home accessories to fityour every decorating mood.
If your home resembles an in-tricate mosaic of vibrant colorsand rich textures that lie in anaura of exoticism, then Dar isthe place for you. Dar meanstraditional townhouse in Arabic,which is contrary to the store’smodern and minimalist facade.
Dar is a concept store thatcarries many decorative items,from Moroccan hand-craftedlight fixtures in wrought iron tocolorful Berber area rugs.
Other merchandise includesChinese antique furniture andItalian crystal chandeliers. TheVenetian antique mirrors theysell are known for their framescomposed of cut glass in ornateshapes. The Lomonosov porce-lain they distribute was firstcreated in 1744 and is known asthe Russian Emperor’s porce-lain.
If that is not enough, they ex-
hibit an array of other productslike the interior perfumes ofAustralian Jaye Niemi andLaundress New York’s luxuri-ous line of fabric care that comein unique fragrances. Dar hasan eclectic collection that willhelp you create an exotic retreatfrom the hustle and bustle ofSeoul’s medina.
TeHome is a new shop thatopened near Apgujeong’s RodeoStreet. One cannot miss its gi-gantic, dark wood exterior. Thestore is composed of three floors.The main and upper floors carrymodern European furniture.
Unlike Dar’s rich and extrav-agant collection, TeHome pridesitself on their minimalist andclean designs. The kitchen mer-chandise includes a selection ofsmooth and stylish cuttingboards, magnetic knife blocks,and decorative bowls in wood.
Preferred by professionalchefs and cooking enthusiasts,the German company Trianglefeatured in-store is known forits innovative and functional de-sign of kitchen utensils.
Table top accessories includefaience plates made by Antheorand porcelain plates by Frenchmanufacturer Deshoulieres and
the German Rosenthal. The dif-ference between faience andporcelain is the proportion ofraw materials used as well asthe manufacturing process.Faience uses low temperaturescreating a porous and opaquesurface, whereas porcelain useshigh temperatures resulting ina translucent, smooth finish.
TeHome’s in-house designteam has also created a series ofKorean ceramic plates. Theyalso sell crystal quality glassesby the century-old Slovak com-pany Rona. If real crystal isyour preference, you can choosefrom the series of hand-blown
stemware by the Belgian arti-san Val Saint Lambert.
For other decorative pieces,TeHome has cool wooden vasesfrom Belgium that resemblepieces of tree trunks. Other vas-es in metal exist in a variety ofunusual shapes and sizes.
They also carry the luxuriousItalian hand-made candles ofLemani known for their finishededges of natural plant materialslike wood or flowers.
Plush bath towels and rugsare also available accompaniedby the collection of Frenchshower gels and soaps byMarius Fabre. If you need somereading material for the bath,TeHome has a great selection ofdesign books ranging from fash-ion to interiors, cook books,flower arranging and entertain-ing.
The last stop on my list was S-Gallery located next to JasengOriental Hospital in Apgujeong.It is owned by Space DecoAssociates, a design companyspecializing in creating and dec-orating model houses for con-struction companies. They donot work with private clients,but anyone can access their hid-den treasure trove located in thebasement of their showroom.
Upon entering, I felt like I dis-covered a modern version of Ali
Baba’s cave. In one corner, therewas a plethora of objects on salefrom plates, vases, pictureframes, lamps and other richesto discover.
These discounted items wereall used on display projects formodel houses. If you like rum-maging through things, this isthe closest you can get to a fleamarket — but much, muchcleaner.
The rest of the shop carriesnew, imported merchandise.The table top collection consistsof plates and glasses made fromeco-friendly, 100 percent recy-cled glass, manufactured by theSpanish company Vidreco.
Other stemware includes theItalian Casa K who designshand-painted glasses. The se-lection of stainless steelteapots and trays can be com-plemented by Parlane’s seriesof white porcelain tea cups tocreate a stylishly modern af-ternoon tea.
Most of all, they have thewidest selection of vases I’veseen — in every shape, size andmaterial you can think of.
Whatever your decoratingstyle, these shops will providethe ornaments you need tomake your home a reflection ofyour unique personality.
I’ve only ever photographed using adigital camera. Is it worth using filmcameras? — Nicole, Seoul.
The rise of digital was bound to bringwith it conflict between purists andmodern photographers. These days,however, few photographers disagreeabout the benefits of digital.
Actually, I wanted to answer thisquestion because I bought a film cam-era this week; a Leica. The reason Ibought it is because I grew up shootingand developing film. So a rediscovery ofsorts was in order for my old film pas-sion.
Even though I love my DSLR, thereis a different feel to film. There is nodoubt that doing it the old way willalso help with digital photographytoo.
The most important thing to under-stand is that there are a number ofmyths surrounding film vs digital.
The first myth is that digital is high-er quality. For printing, film is definite-ly higher quality than digital; especial-ly with bigger prints. Some digital cam-eras are catching up, but film still hasthe advantage.
However, on a computer, digital im-ages always look better. But don’tblame film for that; blame the poorquality and resolution of scanned im-ages. A photo scanned from a slide canlook absolutely amazing, even on a com-puter.
Another myth is that you are a betterphotographer with film. Film is defi-nitely a harder medium to work with.Film photographers need to trust theirability to get the shot, but digital offersthe benefit of instant feedback.
This can be great for dramatically in-creasing your photography skills andguaranteeing that you don’t miss thephoto. A lot can be learned from bothmediums, especially with fully manualfilm cameras.
There are some clear benefits to digi-tal, too. Digital photography can bemore creative, because it allows you tosee the results immediately and re-shoot where necessary. In the long run,
digital is also cheaper. The outlay on a camera is higher, but
there are no added costs for film and de-veloping. Digital images can all bestored on a few CDs. Film photogra-phers need to keep boxes of negatives,slides and printed photos.
One big disadvantage of digital is thetime it takes to process photos. Not onlydoes a serious photographer have tospend time downloading, sorting, delet-
ing, and editing, but they also need tospend money on expensive editing soft-ware and computers.
Digital requires proficiency withtechnology that isn’t required with film.I’ve rarely heard complaints from filmphotographers about their workflow.Yet digital photographers constantlycomplain about how much time theyneed to organize and edit.
Film’s big benefit is that film photoslook amazing compared to digital. Thiscan be explained by the crystals in filmwhich give a remarkably superior ren-dition of a scene, in terms of color fideli-ty, tones, and resolution. A slightlyoverblown shot looks terrible in digital.Film is a lot more forgiving in this re-spect.
Like all technology, there will be con-flict between the old and new schools ofthinking — Are CDs better than vinyl?The important question is: What do youwant to get out of photography?
If you want to take snapshots, or postall your images online, then stick to dig-ital. If you want to learn the old ways ofphotography, and put beautiful bigprints on your wall, get yourself a filmcamera.
Neither is categorically better. But ifyou’re serious about photography, whynot do both?
Happy shooting!
Send David a message at [email protected] or visit his websiteat www.davidsmeaton.com. If you wantto be a part of the weekly PhotoChallenge, join the “Seoul Photo Club”group at flickr (flickr.com/groups/seoul-photoclub). — Ed.
S-Gallery’s merchandise (top). The interior of Dar (right), a concept store that carries decorative itemsfrom Moroccan hand-crafted light fixtures to colorful Berber area rugs. Photos by Valerie Pergay
In focus: film vs. digital
PHOTO CHALLENGE — Spring — Spring is in the air. In the never ending cycle oflife, spring is not really a new beginning but a continuation of the vibrancy thatwas temporarily put into hibernation over the winter.
Photo by Ryan Chappell (lotuseaterphotography.com)
Dar Located near Cheongdamcrossroads664-12 Sinsa dong,Gangnam-guTel. 02-545-6591www.darboutique.co.kr
TeHome 664-12 Sinsa dong,Gangnam-gu Tel. 02-541-2082
S-Gallery 635-9 Sinsa dong,Gangnam-GuTel. 02-3442-6368www.space-deco.co.kr
Giving your home aneclectic, exotic touch
Valerie Pergayon Design
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What The Book ships anywhere in Korea. See its website at www.whatthebook.com