Sunday, February 15, 2009

Clubs, Soju, and Shiny Things

It's no secret that drinking is very much apart of South Korean society. As far as the acceptable hour to drink, it seems to be reserved to late in the evening and very much reserved for the weekends. On some places you will see a list of upcoming events (or in this case past) with entry fees, dress codes, and who isn't allowed in the establishment (also in this case, military members).
The servers here are young, fresh-faced, and love the night life, which extends until 5 in the morning for most establishments. However, as I began to look around at the MANY places to go I realized the competition for business can be fierce in this city of neon lights. Most people are attracted to shiny things...and in Daegu...there are a lot of shiny things. With all of that sensory input, I started to look for a few oddities.
Now I know I can be just a bit of a 'semantics queen'. Club organ...with its techno house music had a couple of seemingly unrelated themes for me. First of which was the name. Organ...organ...organ...hmmm. I looked at the washing machine and over thought that as well. Was this a laundromat? Was it to imply brain washing? Was it just simply what the designer produced? I should have gone inside to check it out...but what threw me was the bizarre question about androids? I think I sleep and dream while I am sleeping...but there I go again...thinking.
Then you will find places that have a staunch, more adult feel to it, as to say...'no children allowed.' I smiled.
And then I ran into this place, which I will never go into, because to me...nothing spells depressing more than advertising that you are desperate. Perhaps they tried too hard to capture the Beatles sentiment...but it just doesn't work.

Yes. It is unfair. We judge by appearances. No matter how small the detail, we discern by what we are in the mood for. And since I personally don't care for Soju, I kept on walking.

2 comments:

Mike said...

We totally judge by appearances. When I looked at the pictures I started thinking "wow, I totally want to go to those places." Unfortunately we don't have anything like that Confucian statue or giant neon lights (at least not that I know of) in Boston, and the nightlife pretty much shuts down after 2 AM.

Marilyn said...

Oh Boston, I could tell you about an adventure I had in MA...all I will say...a procured military vehicle...in a mob run Italian restaurant...thank God no fish was on the menu...