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Master of R&D in Theater

Last week, I met Lee Breuer through "Heart to Heart." Lee is a master of experimental theater and is in Korea for a play, "Yi Sang Counts to Thirteen," a piece about the inner psyche of Korea's surrealist author Yi Sang and his friends in their 20s (for those of you who don't know, Yi Sang is like Korean Kafka).

Anyway, Lee was just a fantastic person. So full of energy, charismatic, and very eloquent. (Just couldn't believe he is in his 70s.)

During the taping...

He mentioned that an Avant-garde movement originates from the army tactics of "vanguards" (describing the foremost part of an army advancing into battle). They may be the cannon fodder and yet they are a group of most skillful soldiers who lead the rest of the troop.

In artistic sense, the Avant-garde movement in arts is all about experimentation and invention!

The Research & Development in theater! Just like business!

And he was literally doing that! He's reached an age for retirement and yet he keeps exploring for new ideas. Travelling every month around the world discovering new language, culture and literature.. and then putting together an experimental play for decades.. That's what I call dedication and commitment.

I've been invited to his workshop by the end of this month in Seoul. I am very excited to share my story from the workshop soon.

Did you know...?

Did you know that Korea is the only country that has hosted ALL of these world's top sports events in just 20 years?

Tada!

-The Seoul Olympics in 1988
-The 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan
-The Korea Formula One Grandprix (2010!)
-The Ballantine's Championship in Jeju (European Tour) Golf 2008, 2009..

And we just won the bid for:

-The IAAF (Int'l Assoc. of Athletics Fed.) World Championhips in Athletics in Daegu (2013)
-The Incheon Asian Games in 2014! (which seems SO far away from now!)

Great!

Now, why all the craze for sports events? Not to mention we are bidding for another Olympics in Busan, 3rd bid for Winter Games in Pyeongchang, I mean.. is Korea the only country so desperate for hosting international sports events?

I mean.. are we ready for all this extravaganza?

I guess it is a question of "Which one comes first: egg or chicken?" The bottom line is, the country (or at least the bidding committee) hopes to benefit from a national standpoint. I get that. Our high hopes to draw the rest of the world's attention to the Republic of Korea... But, hey, what about the public sports facilities we lack in general? What about the treatment of our very own athletes? And our promotion strategy? Are we promoting Korea, our brand, in a right, timely manner? To simply put, are Koreans ready?

I just think we shouldn't miss out the important details in preparation of these grand opportunities... We need to make sure we aren't just following a mirage.

The cities may be ready in physical terms. But the citizens may not.

"Thank you"

I was deeply inspired by the quote mentioned during the Oprah Show sometime ago. It was a quote by an American writer, Peggy Tabor Millin, saying "We never touch people so lightly that we do not leave a trace." It is just such a wonderful saying. I meet new people everyday. It comes naturally for me to follow-up with every guest I have on our show but every too often I forget to thank them enough for their work and accomplishments and their inspirations and... everything else! I should thank people more often. As they say, one should never complain about being too preoccupied with other things to forget saying "Thank you."