Author Archives: authorbengarrido
Looking Back on Looking Forward
Hi, this is 29 year-old Ben and I’ll be writing in italics for the duration of this article. I’ve lived in Korea four years now. This means a lot of the things I found fascinating and amazing at first have become entirely mundane. This normalization of what, four years ago seemed very exotic, makes it […]
Photos From the Yeongam Race Weekend
Here are some photos from my weekend at the Yeongam Formula One Circuit. I should explain the classes before we get going too far. There is TT100 for weak diesel cars and 1.5 liter gasoline cars. Above that there’s the TT200 class for stronger diesels and naturally aspirated 4 bangers of larger displacement. I want […]
Context in Foreign Language
I had gotten to the point I was feeling pretty cocky with my Korean. Granted, I am perhaps a bit (okay, a lot) more prone to bouts of cartoonish egomania than most, but this particular run of overconfidence wasn’t entirely my fault. You see, on the morning in question the nice lady selling me coffee […]
Gravitational Pull
. A review of the film Gravity and examination of scary fiction. Gravity combines scary and beautiful in ways I’ve never seen. That the director is able to keep his characters dangling in the abyss the entire length of the film without straining the audience’s suspension of disbelief is, certainly, a sign that Alfonso Cuaron is very […]
The Tale of Bob
Tale of Bob, The Blue Collar American Worker Ben Garrido Bob was driving his one ton duly pickup truck out of his highly mortgaged driveway to work when he received a call from his employer, Global Bicycles. “We’re sorry, Mr. Bob. We regret to inform you that your position is no longer available.” “How did […]
Making the Reader Hallucinate
Good, evocative writing is very much a drug. You, the benevolent (or not) narcotics dealer, deceive your readers’ senses to the point where they taste, smell, hear and feel through, of all things, their eyes. This doesn’t seem so fraudulent at first, but really think about how you are creating those sensations. At its most […]
Ghost Hunting
This article originally appeared, in an altered form, in the Reno News and Review. This is a story about ghosts. According to the Most Holy Book of Cultural Cliché, I’m supposed to either tell you about how the ghost hunters are a bunch of superstitious charlatans or passionately defend the paranormal possibilities of the universe. […]
An Open Letter to Sinead O’Connor
Dear Sinead, First of all, I would like you to know I think the attacks Miley Cyrus launched at you were unfair. I don’t know if I’d be as open as you are about potentially embarrassing psychological problems but, honestly, it’s probably a good thing you aren’t ashamed – I’m sure you are an inspiration […]
We the Translation, Habitually Done.
As many of you know, East Asia is a wonderful source for colorful mistranslation. If you are unfamiliar with the specifics, engrish.com will surely avail you of all you need to know. However, lest you think the language barrier only works one way, lest you think all your base are belong to us, I submit […]
Woopsies I’ve Made Trying to Speak Korean
Bad subtitles in Kung Fu movies have made the woopsies of Asians speaking English well known. However, what many westerners do not know is that the Placenta and Teeny Weeny stuff goes in both directions. Stuff I’ve said while trying to speak Korean: In conversation with an older woman. “I speak politely to you because […]
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