Seven Korean Pitt alumni receive University of Pittsburgh Medallion Awards.

Via 동아일보.

University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark Nordenberg was in Seoul on the 8th, at a reception at the JW Marriot Hotel "to celebrate Pitt’s continuing progress and the accomplishments of its distinguished South Korean graduates." Seven people received university Medallion Awards, given to distinguished alumni. They are, as seated in the photograph:

왼쪽부터 남궁근 총장, 김학준 동북아역사재단 이사장, 김신복 가천학원 이사장, 김신일 전 교육부총리, 노덴버그 총장, 이상주 전 교육부총리, 권병현 한중문화청소년협회 미래숲 대표, 정재희 포드코리아 대표이사.

Romanizing Korean names is an inconsistent, imprecise task, so the hangeul will have to suffice for now. The group consists of: 남궁근, principal of Seoul National University of Science and Technology; 김학준, journalist and president of the Northeast Asian History Foundation; 김신복, Seoul National University professor; 김신일, former Education Minister and professor; 이상주, former Education Minister; 권병현 (Kwon Byung Hyun), former South Korean ambassador to China; and 정재희, president of Ford Korea.

They have to fix the mindset of white people like that.

Telling Kim Rae-won to get out, Episode 1.

Yesterday The Digs, a Post-Gazette tumblr that combs the newspaper's archives, profiled Pittsburgh native Frank Gorshin, best known as The Riddler on the 1960s "Batman" TV series. Gorshin may be best-known to some readers of this blog, though, for his role on the 2004 Korean TV show "Love Story in Harvard" ("러브스토리 인 하버드"), where he played an irritable, old law professor helping to assault the English language and American academic culture.

"Bo ssam Wednesdays" in Garfield.

Salt of the Earth in Garfield (map) is still holding "Bo ssam Wednesdays" from 10:00 pm to 1:00 am (or whenever it runs out).

Bo Ssäm Wednesdays: start tonight @10pm 2ppl 35$ 3ppl 52$ 4ppl 70 17$ per extra person Kimchi Gochujang Lettuce Oyster Scallion Pickles

— Salt of the Earth (@saltpgh) June 12, 2013

Bossam (보쌈) is a Korean dish consisting of pork wrapped (쌈) in lettuce with kimchi, rice, and garlic. Like with the ramen it served last year, Salt of the Earth's bossam is its own interpretation of it, with some obvious variations on the traditional ingredients.

Both Korea Garden and Green Pepper include bossam on their menus, too. For some pictures of what it often looks like in Korea, here's what they sell at Nolboo Bossam, a ubiquitous restaurant chain.

"Kawaii Wa: The Code of Cuteness", July 6th through 27th in Shadyside.

The Gallery 4 on South Highland Ave. in Shadyside (map) will present "Kawaii Wa: The Code of Cuteness" from July 6th through 27th. An excerpt from the gallery's webpage:

"Kawaii Wa" opens Saturday, July 6th, 2013 and runs through Saturday, July 27th, 2013 at The Gallery 4 (206 S. Highland Ave., Shadyside, 412-363-5050). The opening reception will take place Saturday, July 6th, 2013 from 7-11PM and will be opened to the general public with complimentary refreshments and hors d'oeuvres provided by The Gallery 4. The Gallery 4 is open Tuesday through Saturday 1- 8PM .

The Gallery 4 is pleased to welcome HIROMI to Pittsburgh! HIROMI was born in 1958 in Hachioji, a suburb of Tokyo, Japan. After her creative childhood, HIROMI studied drawing, painting, design and craft in Tokyo Metropolitan High School of Arts. In 1982 she started her career as an illustrator of corporate advertising, calendars, magazines, and children's books. At the same time, HIROMI also started to work as an independent fine artist in 1987, and has participated in numerous solo and group shows in Japan and abroad.

Gwangju students to visit Pittsburgh again.

Thank you, Geun-ae.

Students from the Gwangju National University of Education will visit Pittsburgh on July 5, part of a four-week teacher-training and cultural-immersion experience with the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council. According to a June 26 university press release, 60 students will visit San Bernadino and 20 will come to Pittsburgh from the 5th through August 3rd, with another 20 students participating in shorter programs in Vietnam and Malaysia.

The GPLC hosts these students twice a year, and posts updates on its Facebook page. Readers of Korean can learn more about the trip and the students' experiences by reading the trip reports prepared by the students each term, hosted on the GNUE website. The school magazine also published interviews with a couple students in 2011 and 2012 (issues 414 and 422), but they aren't interesting enough to reprint or translate.

These training and immersion programs have been going on between GNUE and Pittsburgh since 2009, shortly after Park Nam-gi was named school president. Park earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in 1993, and worked two stints as a visiting professor at Pitt in 1999 and 2000-2001.


(Left) Poster for study abroad information session; (Right) At PNC Park, via the GPLC GNUE Summer Institute Facebook page.

Cloud Atlas at Erie Art Museum, July 10.

The 2012 film Cloud Atlas will play at the Erie Art Museum (map) on July 10. A German film, it features a number of household names in its ensemble cast and is the English-language debut of Korean actress Bae Doona. It also includes a year 2144 Seoul as one of its many settings.



The movie starts at 7:00 pm, and tickets are available online and at the door.

Researching Chinese soldiers in American Civil War.

Joseph Pierce.

With the country commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, it's timely to pass along the "Association to commemorate the Chinese serving in the American Civil War" website, which collects research on Chinese soldiers who fought in the American Civil War and "would like to honor the Chinese people who fought for freedom for their host, in this new country, the United States of America". A Department of Defense website provides more information about Chinese soldiers in the Civil War, including Joseph Pierce, pictured above:

Pvt. Joseph L. Pierce was age 21 when he enlisted in the 14th Connecticut Infantry in August 1862. It's unclear how Pierce ended up in the United States. One story has it that his father sold him to Connecticut ship Captain Amos Peck for $6. Another story was that his brother sold him for $60. Still another was that Peck picked up the lad, who was adrift in the South China Sea. Peck, a lifelong bachelor, turned the 10-year-old he called "Joe" over to his mother in Connecticut.

Young Joe went to school with the Pecks and formally became Joseph Pierce in 1853. He picked up the last name from President Franklin Pierce.

At the time of his enlistment Pierce was a farmer in New Britain, Conn. He listed his height at 5 feet 5 inches, dark complexion with dark hair and black eyes. His birthplace was Canton in Kwangtung Province, China.

His regiment participated in the Battle of Antietam, Md. Sept. 17, 1862.

He suffered some sickness during his time around Washington and was in the hospital for a time. He was assigned to the Quartermaster Department for a bit and rejoined the 14th in time for the Battle of Chancellorsville, Va. in May 1863.

The 14th had a distinguished role in the Gettysburg campaign. "It fought on the north part of Cemetery Ridge on July 2 and was one of the units that helped repel Pickett's Charge," said Gettysburg Historian John Heiser. "The 14th was primarily responsible for turning back Brig. Gen. James Pettigrew's North Carolina division." Today, you can see the 14th Memorial to the north of the grove of trees marking the High-water Mark of the Confederacy.

The 14th's regimental history says that during Pickett's charge, Pierce appeared "pig-tail and all, the only Chinese in the Army of the Potomac." But he wasn't.

Ryoji Ikeda's DATA.TRON at Wood Street Galleries, from July 12.

A previous incarnation, by Liz Hingley.

Japanese sound artist Ryoji Ikdeda's DATA.TRON will open at the Wood Street Galleries downtown (map) on July 12. From the gallery website:

data.tron is an audiovisual installation, where each single pixel of visual image is strictly calculated by mathematical principles, composed from a combination of pure mathematics and the vast sea of data present in the world. These images are projected onto a large screen, heightening and intensifying the viewer’s perception and total immersion within the work.
Ikeda's website has fuller descriptions of this and similar installations.

On July 12th at 10 pm will be a Test Pattern live set:

This test audiovisual work from Ryoji Ikeda, presents intense flickering black and white imagery, which floats and convulses in darkness to a stark and powerful, highly synchronized soundtrack. 
Through a real–time computer programme, test pattern converts Ikeda’s audio signal patterns into tightly synchronized barcode patterns on screen. The velocity of the moving images is ultra–fast, some hundreds of frames per second, so that the work provides a performance test for the audio and visual devices, as well as a response test for the audience’s perceptions. 
test pattern is the third audiovisual concert in Ikeda’s datamatics series, an art project that explores the potential to perceive the invisible multi–substance of data that permeates our world.
 Taking various forms – installations, live performance and recordings – test pattern acts as a system that converts any type of data (text, sounds, photos and movies) into barcode patterns and binary patterns of 0s and 1s. The project aims to examine the relationship between critical points of device performance and the threshold of human perception, pushing both to their absolute limits.

The live set will be held at Pierce Studio on Liberty Ave. (map) and tickets are $10. The exhibit at the Wood Street Galleries will run through September 8.

YouTube has plenty of examples of his installations, if short videos on small computer screens count as examples. Here's a bit from 2012's The Transfinite in New York:

Hong Kong based consultant among top candidates for Port Authority CEO.

Charles Monheim, currently working as a consultant in Hong Kong, is among three top candidates for the vacant Port Authority CEO position, writes the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Korean movie Two Weddings and a Funeral wins People's Choice Award from Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival.

The Korean movie Two Weddings and a Funeral (두 번의 결혼식 한 번의 장례식') was awarded the RAGS Foundation People’s Choice Award from the 2013 Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival. It was announced by Silk Screen on the 17th, but the news didn't really break until Korea's StarNews picked it up today

김종광수 감독은 26일 낮 12시께 자신의 SNS 페이스북을 통해 수상 사실을 알렸다.

김조광수는 "제 장편 데뷔작 '두번의 결혼식과 한번의 장례식'이 미국 피츠버그에서 열린 실크 스크린 필름 페스티벌에서 관객상을 수상했습니다. 축하해주세요. 헤헤"라고 밝혔다.

from his Facebook's private Timeline and his Twitter on the 26th:

기쁜 소식. <두결한장>이 미국 피츠버그에서 열린 Silk Screen Film Festival에서 관객상("Audience Choice Award")을 수상하였습니다.

— 김조광수 (@kimjhogwangsoo) June 26, 2013