Christy, we know you love Korean building color schemes - so I am sharing this detailed close-up. Study this closely so that we can apply the same scheme to our Asian villa in Nova Scotia.This photo was taken at National Science Museum, located in Daejeon, a major city 100 miles south of Seoul. The bullet train makes the trip in 50 minutes. (And for those of you who have traveled in France, yes, South Korea runs the exact same TGV bullet train.)
This exhibit told me what the colors all mean (except for the green background, anyway). The meanings are as follows:
- Blue: east
- White: west
- Red: south
- Black: north
- Yellow: center
Personal updates:
- My road trip will start earlier than originally scheduled. In just over a week, I will start flooding this blog with lots of weird rural Korean artwork.
- I will also confirm my Hong Kong trip within the next week. I expect to travel there in early December.
- As a protest against the Repuke's negativity as shown in the McCain-Palin campaign and in California's successful gay marriage ban, I will be retiring my BMW when I return to Los Angeles. I will not only buy the Hyundai Genesis luxury car as a replacement, but I will order a vanity plate for it too. The plate will read GWAN EUM (Korean for Kwan Yin), and that will be the name I will give the car itself. I normally never name my cars, but I must take an exception this time. I've already checked California DMV for the availability, and yes, it tells me I can take the plate.
- During my road trip, I will certainly be on the lookout for automotive Kwan Yin ornaments, in the form of either a dashboard figurine or a necklace hanging from the rearview mirror. If I am gonna name my car after Kwan Yin, I better have ornaments to that effect. And yes, Kwan Yin is the Goddess of Safe Voyages as well, at least in southern China.
- Expect photos when I get the ornaments, when I get the car, and when I get the vanity plate.
10 comments:
Oh man. That is BEAUTIFUL!
Knowing what the colors mean, even better. I suspected they were code.
So the villa will be Asian? Nice Nice Nice. Can you email me some floor plans or maybe pics of a TYPICAL Asian villa, you know, something similar to what you are thinking ? I have never actually been inside an Asian structure, I am not sure of the flow of the rooms ect. I want to try to visualize the layout.
I assume you mean 'Korean' Asian or will you be blending in other Asian forms...?
I admit it, the green and reds of Korea have me smitten. There is something so damn... exciting, almost divine about it. It exudes luxury and wealth.
Not just in Asian styles, but any time that color combination is used it demands attention.
Beautiful Ally, just beautiful. I am so looking forward to painting your walls. If it is Asian though I will have to take a crash course in appropriate plants and trees to frame it all out in the proper landscaping.
But then again, the perfection of the Asian garden is a whole other artform in itself. I may need to seek expert advice on landscaping.
When you talk about driving in Korea, it makes me giggle.
That asshole who shall not be named I was married to once deployed to Korea for ayear.
The military gave him this big guide book to basicly warn him of cultural differences he would encounter.
It said all kinds of funny stuff, like how blondes should be careful if Koreans become fascinated by their hair and even CUT pieces of it off. And how males are allowed to hold hands, as a gesture of friendship, but male and females were not allowed to hold hands or kiss in public.
but the funniest thing was them talking about driving. They summed it up in just a few words. "Those with the largest vehicles has the right of way."
I don't know why but that still makes me laugh.
Christy
There is no such thing as a "typical" Korean villa. The best we can do is to look at some architectural websites for some examples, but from that point on, we will have to improvise and get creative.
And honestly, I would rather do a Chinese-style villa with Korean coloring, than an authentic Korean villa.
As for landscaping - I've shown you Chinese, Japanese, and Korean gardening - all three of them - previously. :)
Ally McRepuke
Christy
Never knew about one of your exes being deployed in Korea previously.
Those tips are quite outdated. Men holding hands are much rarer today than before; after all, machismo does exist here in South Korea, and homophobia is real (though nowhere near the severe Korean-American homophobia that got California to ban gay marriages twice). And a male-female couple holding hands is MUCH more common these days.
Women do hold hands very often even today, however. They surely are BFFs - whether they are of the Lindsay Lohan/Samantha Ronson types, or more platonic, you decide.
But yes, they are absolutely right even today about big vehicles always getting the right of way. Expensive imports (especially BMWs and Lexuses - fascist bastards) get the right of way even easier. I was gonna originally rent a Hyundai Elantra Touring, but upsized to a Sonata just to command some respect. An Azera would be even nicer, but its V6 engine will take a huge toll on the fuel economy. Gasoline has been ranging from $5 to $7 per gallon.
Formerly Ally McLesbian
More on the subject of my rental car...
I've ridden in a few Sonatas as a passenger here in Seoul. They are the same model as the ones built in Alabama, but while they lack the V6 engine used in Alabama (which is strictly for the North American market only), they are much better appointed.
In fact, the average domestic-market Sonata is nicer - much nicer - than my BMW back in Los Angeles. The only reasons for buying a BMW are (1) the performance on the racetrack, (2) the bragging rights from the hood emblem, and (3) support of BMW's homophobia and reactionary politics. Of the three, only (2) applied to me, but not anymore.
Looking forward to my road trip - and to getting rid of my BMW when I return to the US.
Formerly Ally McLesbian
I love that ceilings, eaves, overhangs are so ornately painted and decorated. Great to know the color codes. This green gets to me wherever it crops up in your architecture pictures. Absolutely gorgeous.
Ok I admit it, the fish drum/gong thingy freaks me out.
I mean, as art, it is beautiful, but it seems out of place there, it seems too 'gaudy' for the rest of the room. Like it does not belong there.
Maybe it is just the pic, the angle I see, but it just kinda freaks me out.
As for my husband, yes, he was deployed to Korea, right on the DMZ. Then he was deployed to Saudi twice, the second ending with the Khobar bombings.
So much went wrong after that, but honestly I blame Bin laden for the destruction of my marriage. I know that sounds stupid but it WAS his fault.
When my husband came home 9 days later...he came back something very different than when he left. Something that had, um, de-evolved.
I still say my husband was an asshole, but that bomb set in motion an unbelievable chain of events. Asshole or not, he could not help what he had become after, and I was too stupid and self centered to know how to help him.
My father did not have a thyroid, and when off his meds he would slowly go violently insane. I learned how to cope with it I guess, and now that I am older, I understand the pattern and the implications of his actual physical problem that could have been reversed with meds.
I mean, I can come to terms with it now, because I understand the medical problem. Unlike most people, he had an undeniable excuse.
But... watching my husband go slowly insane after the bombing, Watching it happen to someone who physically was in perfect health... It is still hard to understand those years of my life. It is still hard to come to grips with what I saw happen to him.
I have so many regrets about those years. He WAS an asshole. But then again, I guess being married to a dumbass did not help any.
BTW, bin laden.. if you are reading this... Kiss my ass you retarded son of a bitch. If I ever get my hands around your throat I am going to choke the life out of you, and keep choking you, until I am personally over it.
I am sorry, I probably added too much info into this discussion.
But in my own defense, you all know I have a bad habit of just saying whatever pops into my head....AND...AND....AND.... Something exciting has happened.
My sleep problem is SOLVED! THANK YOU GOD! I have slept more in the last 3 days than I think I have slept in the last 30 years.
And now I am just like 'WHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
I FEEL GREAT! I forgot how damn good it feels to sleep!
If I get too annoying just say 'Shut up Christy" and I promise I will try to giggle quietly.
Or I could just go take a nap!
I LOVE SLEEP! SLEEP IS GOOD! SLEEP IS MY NEW BEST FRIEND!
Whhheeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
HAHAHA!
Christy
I certainly don't blame you for blaming Osama bin Laden for your divorce. War really destroys your mind!
Hell, here in Seoul, even being a subway train operator destroys your mind, because suicides are such a severe epidemic! But when the union asks for extra counseling services for the traumatized train operators, they are dismissed as a whole bunch of Commies.
Such is the state of things when you have a whole bunch of neoliberals running the country and learning nothing from the failure of the Reaganomics in the US!
But you know what? The people of South Korea are still good. They just need to learn how to crank out good politicians for themselves. In the meantime, I'm going crazy over my car trade which will happen as soon as I return home next month.
Ally McRepuke
Oh yeah, ok, back to the landscaping.
Yes, the pics you posted of gardens, and the imagery I have seen in my life in pictutes, movies, art, ect, is really my only basis of knowledge of Asian gardens.
My problem would not be designing the garden itself, because I can visualize the overall formation/layout as integral to the artistic appearence.
What I can not do though, is tell you how to build an Asian type bridge or which plants to use. I am not familiar with Eastern plants. Not at all.
The paintjob I can do entirely off of photographic refrences even though I have never actually been in an Asian structure. The plants are different though because obviously they are alive and need a proffessional to say what will work and where.
I am going to look up Chinese villas today, get a feel for it, but if you can find some examples that are similar to your 'vision' give me the links so I can get a better idea of what you are seeing.
Also, once we hit on the right style/type it would fun and helpful if you could play with drawing rough floor plans.
Not a blueprint, just a rough sketch of how you NEED for the house to function.
Me. For example. I hate livingrooms that open up into the kitchen. It is a pet peeve of mine and I would never design my dream house that way. Just the living space and how you need/want it to function.
So, if you get to playing around with a pencil and napkin or whatever, draw me out the living space that would suit you best. Evetything else is just an add on and will be designed around the living space.
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