Football Reality or Fantasy? It is hard to tell. A video has been posted on YouTube purported to be an Official North Korean news report about how they are poised to take on Portugal for the World Cup tomorrow. It could be a spoof someone made. However, considering their reported excuse for the NK women's team losing years ago, it is also believable that the NK's actually reported this.
It is a country that constantly tries to rewrite reality to inflate their own sense of being and importance.
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Hairy Bikers Asian Adventure
The Hairy Bikers did a series in Asia. The 6th and final episode was done in South Korea. I liked it.
Unlike a lot of shows that went to South Korea it didn't focus on the bizarre. It focused on what is normal there. Samkyubsal, fried chicken, traditional markets and street food. It was pretty good and had me reminiscing. Watching the market scenes had my mouth watering.
I liked how they talked about what food would be a hit back in the UK. And talked about what was actually popular in the West.
The kimchi making was well done. It reminded me of the time I made sauerkraut with my Great Aunt. Damn I miss her. :(
I really enjoyed the way they looked at Korean history too.
Strangely enough I even liked the way Gangnam Style kept showing up. :)
Damn I want some bibimbap now. And samkyubsal. And yangyum chicken. Sundae!!!!
Unlike a lot of shows that went to South Korea it didn't focus on the bizarre. It focused on what is normal there. Samkyubsal, fried chicken, traditional markets and street food. It was pretty good and had me reminiscing. Watching the market scenes had my mouth watering.
I liked how they talked about what food would be a hit back in the UK. And talked about what was actually popular in the West.
The kimchi making was well done. It reminded me of the time I made sauerkraut with my Great Aunt. Damn I miss her. :(
I really enjoyed the way they looked at Korean history too.
Strangely enough I even liked the way Gangnam Style kept showing up. :)
Damn I want some bibimbap now. And samkyubsal. And yangyum chicken. Sundae!!!!
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
What the ... bureautards?!?!?!? Part 3
And they wonder why people don't like dealing with Government?!?!? Following the rules? Or think that Government agencies are incompetent?!?!?
My issue with the International Tax Services Office (ITSO) of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has been resolved! Mind you they neglected to TELL ME! They sent me 2 letters to let me know it was under review. Notthing to tell me it was resolved.
It took over 4 months for them to "review" the issue. All they had to do was confirm that I entered Canada to stay on May 10th 2010. Something that I HAD informed the "mother office" of back in 2011. But momma don't tell the young'uns nothing it seems.
Now, finally, the issue is resolved. They confirmed I moved home on that date and became a full resident citizen of Canada then. Let the next phase of bull shit begin!
I got a letter from the GST branch of CRA today stating that ... wait for it ... wait for it ... I owe them money. Not only do I owe them money but they are withholding and garnishing what I owe from GST payments and any tax refund I may get. Nice of them to mail me and let me know there was a problem. Wait until GST payment time and deliver a fait accompli. Fucktards.
What is the problem? Well, now that ITSO acknowledges I have been a resident citizen of Canada since May of 2010 they informed the mother office. Who then informed the other babies. It doesn't matter that the mother office was informed of this a couple of years ago nothing is official until ITSO says so. Now they have spoken.
The GST office says wow! We now know, thanks to ITSO and not CRA that Flint moved back to Canada in May of 2010. We have no information on what he earned abroad for the first 3-4 months of 2010. He has to pay us back all of the GST payments he got in 2011! NOW!
As I said, there was no communication until the letter I got today which delivered a fait accompli. Nothing REQUESTING information. Nothing saying without said information this will happen. Just a letter demanding payment or else they will garnish it. With some bureaucratese on the last page of a 3 page demand stating that they need to know my "world income" earned in Canadian funds for the part of 2010 I wasn't living in Canada. (It makes me wonder how many people just see a letter like that and pay the amount without looking into things.)
They could have simply send a letter saying "Hey, we just found out you lived outside of Canada until May 2010. Could you let us know how much you earned in 2010 while living outside Canada?" That would be too easy. Too civil. Instead attack attack attack!!! Bureautards.
So, I called the 1-800 number and talked to a woman about what was going on. She was incredibly helpful and patient. GREAT customer service skills! Once again, as with ITSO, the solution hinges on mailing them a letter. This one stating what I earned abroad in 2010 and if possible 2009. Wouldn't it have been nice if they had just asked for that from the start?
The letter is in the mail. I expect the next problem to be them wanting some form of documentation about this. The school I worked at closed down shortly after I left South Korea. That makes it kind of hard to get documentation. What can I say, dealing with the government has left me jaded. I expect this to be a problem that takes a while, a long while, to resolve and odds are I won't be informed of the outcome directly.
I am now officially sorry that I followed the rules. I did what I was supposed to. Filled out income tax forms for Canada the first 2 years I was away. Followed procedure and let CRA known when I was back. It has led to nothing but headaches dealing with the bureaucracy. As soon as one problem is cleared up with a branch of CRA another pops up. Problems which should either never have happened if the various branches of CRA communicated with each other or could have been resolved years ago if the branches talked to each other.
This is why people think the Government and it's attendant bureaucracy are a bunch of fucktards and don't trust dealing with them.
My issue with the International Tax Services Office (ITSO) of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has been resolved! Mind you they neglected to TELL ME! They sent me 2 letters to let me know it was under review. Notthing to tell me it was resolved.
It took over 4 months for them to "review" the issue. All they had to do was confirm that I entered Canada to stay on May 10th 2010. Something that I HAD informed the "mother office" of back in 2011. But momma don't tell the young'uns nothing it seems.
Now, finally, the issue is resolved. They confirmed I moved home on that date and became a full resident citizen of Canada then. Let the next phase of bull shit begin!
I got a letter from the GST branch of CRA today stating that ... wait for it ... wait for it ... I owe them money. Not only do I owe them money but they are withholding and garnishing what I owe from GST payments and any tax refund I may get. Nice of them to mail me and let me know there was a problem. Wait until GST payment time and deliver a fait accompli. Fucktards.
What is the problem? Well, now that ITSO acknowledges I have been a resident citizen of Canada since May of 2010 they informed the mother office. Who then informed the other babies. It doesn't matter that the mother office was informed of this a couple of years ago nothing is official until ITSO says so. Now they have spoken.
The GST office says wow! We now know, thanks to ITSO and not CRA that Flint moved back to Canada in May of 2010. We have no information on what he earned abroad for the first 3-4 months of 2010. He has to pay us back all of the GST payments he got in 2011! NOW!
As I said, there was no communication until the letter I got today which delivered a fait accompli. Nothing REQUESTING information. Nothing saying without said information this will happen. Just a letter demanding payment or else they will garnish it. With some bureaucratese on the last page of a 3 page demand stating that they need to know my "world income" earned in Canadian funds for the part of 2010 I wasn't living in Canada. (It makes me wonder how many people just see a letter like that and pay the amount without looking into things.)
They could have simply send a letter saying "Hey, we just found out you lived outside of Canada until May 2010. Could you let us know how much you earned in 2010 while living outside Canada?" That would be too easy. Too civil. Instead attack attack attack!!! Bureautards.
So, I called the 1-800 number and talked to a woman about what was going on. She was incredibly helpful and patient. GREAT customer service skills! Once again, as with ITSO, the solution hinges on mailing them a letter. This one stating what I earned abroad in 2010 and if possible 2009. Wouldn't it have been nice if they had just asked for that from the start?
The letter is in the mail. I expect the next problem to be them wanting some form of documentation about this. The school I worked at closed down shortly after I left South Korea. That makes it kind of hard to get documentation. What can I say, dealing with the government has left me jaded. I expect this to be a problem that takes a while, a long while, to resolve and odds are I won't be informed of the outcome directly.
I am now officially sorry that I followed the rules. I did what I was supposed to. Filled out income tax forms for Canada the first 2 years I was away. Followed procedure and let CRA known when I was back. It has led to nothing but headaches dealing with the bureaucracy. As soon as one problem is cleared up with a branch of CRA another pops up. Problems which should either never have happened if the various branches of CRA communicated with each other or could have been resolved years ago if the branches talked to each other.
This is why people think the Government and it's attendant bureaucracy are a bunch of fucktards and don't trust dealing with them.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
I wasn't surprised. Were you?
South Korea's largest tobacco company is in hot water over their ad campaign for the new This Africa cigarette. The campaign uses monkeys instead of people.
Unsurprisingly, people are pissed off and consider the ad racist and offensive.
Unsurprisingly, KT&G (the company in question) never thought the ad would be considered racist or offensive.
Unsurprisingly, KT&G even tried to blame foreigners for the "problems" with the ad campaign.
I would have been surprised if the company just said "Yes, we fucked up. Sorry." But I know better than to expect something like that. Why accept responsibility when you can pretend to do so while blaming foreigners.
Unsurprisingly, people are pissed off and consider the ad racist and offensive.
Unsurprisingly, KT&G (the company in question) never thought the ad would be considered racist or offensive.
Unsurprisingly, KT&G even tried to blame foreigners for the "problems" with the ad campaign.
I would have been surprised if the company just said "Yes, we fucked up. Sorry." But I know better than to expect something like that. Why accept responsibility when you can pretend to do so while blaming foreigners.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
What the ... bureautards?!?!? Part 2
As mentioned in the previous post on this subject I mailed my info to the branch of the Canada Revenue Agency dealing with Canadians living abroad. Thus letting the branch know what the main office didn't, that I had been living in Canada, and filing taxes, since 2010. That way they would know I don't owe them a dime for having my Tax Free Savings Account ... since the main office doesn't see fit to keep the branches informed on peoples status changes.
That was around August 25th 2013. Today, October 3rd 2013 I received a letter from CRA dated September 27th. A MONTH after I sent them the information. Information that couldn't be given over the bloody phone to start the process. Information the main branch has but couldn't simply memo them about. It had to be mailed to them from me.
Stupidly, I kind of expected it to simply say everything has been cleared up. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. Of course it will be a longer process. This letter was to thank me for the additional information about my 2010 tax return (what about 2011? 2012? Everything was mentioned in the letter.) And to let me know that they will review the information and advise me of the results.
What a bunch of bureautards.
So, once again, to warn those who played by the rules and let CRA know you were a non-resident Citizen of Canada, YOU have to the specific department within CRA know when you have returned. Filing your tax returns is not enough. CRA itself will NOT inform them of your status change. Kind of makes me wonder if the BS is worth playing by the rules for.
That was around August 25th 2013. Today, October 3rd 2013 I received a letter from CRA dated September 27th. A MONTH after I sent them the information. Information that couldn't be given over the bloody phone to start the process. Information the main branch has but couldn't simply memo them about. It had to be mailed to them from me.
Stupidly, I kind of expected it to simply say everything has been cleared up. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. Of course it will be a longer process. This letter was to thank me for the additional information about my 2010 tax return (what about 2011? 2012? Everything was mentioned in the letter.) And to let me know that they will review the information and advise me of the results.
What a bunch of bureautards.
So, once again, to warn those who played by the rules and let CRA know you were a non-resident Citizen of Canada, YOU have to the specific department within CRA know when you have returned. Filing your tax returns is not enough. CRA itself will NOT inform them of your status change. Kind of makes me wonder if the BS is worth playing by the rules for.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
What the ... BureauTards?!?!?
I have been home for over 3 years. Filing may taxes. Working at the same job for 2 years. In 2012 I opened a Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA). Imagine my surprise when I got a letter from Canada Revenue agency (CRA) telling me that I owed them money for deposits I made to my TFSA. The reason? I am a non-resident Citizen and am putting money into the account that I made abroad. Really?
Like I said, I have been filing taxes since I got back. I actually talked to someone at RCA when I filed my first return because I hadn't made money that year, I was living off my savings. My 1st return also reflected my change in address and status.Which means, or should have meant, that RCA knew that I was living in Canada again.
I called the 1-800 number for RCA and after going through several options that were of no help talked to a real person. They transferred me to the department that handles TFSA. After waiting a while I got to talk to a person. I explained the letter I got and my situation. They immediately knew the problem.
One section of RCA doesn't let the other know what is going on with people. The main office doesn't let the one that deals with Immigration issues (that is the word she used) know about changes in status. YOU have to contact them and let them know. Would have been nice to know that. Seems kind of stupid since the main office knew my status changed but what the fuck, it is a bureaucracy and the stereotypes do have some basis in reality.
So know the onus is on me to contact a section of CRA and let them know what the main office knows. Fucking bureaucrats.
So, if you are one of the Canadian ex-pats who actually let the government know you are living and working abroad, which resulted in a change to your resident status, let CRA know when you return because they don't keep their own departments up to date.
You have to send them a letter explaining the change in your status. When it changed. Shit like that. send it to:
St. John's Tax Centre
ATTN T1 Speciality Services
290 Empire avenue
St. John's, NL
A1B 3Z1
HOPEFULLY, that will resolve the bullshit before I get another letter from RCA saying I owe them money.
Fucktards.
Like I said, I have been filing taxes since I got back. I actually talked to someone at RCA when I filed my first return because I hadn't made money that year, I was living off my savings. My 1st return also reflected my change in address and status.Which means, or should have meant, that RCA knew that I was living in Canada again.
I called the 1-800 number for RCA and after going through several options that were of no help talked to a real person. They transferred me to the department that handles TFSA. After waiting a while I got to talk to a person. I explained the letter I got and my situation. They immediately knew the problem.
One section of RCA doesn't let the other know what is going on with people. The main office doesn't let the one that deals with Immigration issues (that is the word she used) know about changes in status. YOU have to contact them and let them know. Would have been nice to know that. Seems kind of stupid since the main office knew my status changed but what the fuck, it is a bureaucracy and the stereotypes do have some basis in reality.
So know the onus is on me to contact a section of CRA and let them know what the main office knows. Fucking bureaucrats.
So, if you are one of the Canadian ex-pats who actually let the government know you are living and working abroad, which resulted in a change to your resident status, let CRA know when you return because they don't keep their own departments up to date.
You have to send them a letter explaining the change in your status. When it changed. Shit like that. send it to:
St. John's Tax Centre
ATTN T1 Speciality Services
290 Empire avenue
St. John's, NL
A1B 3Z1
HOPEFULLY, that will resolve the bullshit before I get another letter from RCA saying I owe them money.
Fucktards.
Sunday, July 21, 2013
What the ... reason to live in Seoul?!?!?!?
It has been a while since I have had anything to post here. Today a friend pointed out a BuzzFeed post. A "Community Contributor" named Alex Reichert posted a list of 11 reasons to live in Seoul. Thanks to the likes of Chrissy Snowflake, I am pretty jaded when I see that a list like this has been posted about South Korea. Sadly, Alex proved to be about as bad as Chrissy.
There are only 4 items that really deserve to be on a list like that, and 2 could actually be lumped together. None of them are actually Seoul specific, ok plastic surgery capital is but plastic surgery isn't. From his list;
2. Fastest Internet in the World. That is pretty spot on. He could have added inexpensive in there somewhere as well. It is one of the things I miss about not living in South Korea any more.
4. and 10. could really have been lumped into one category. (A category that would ignore 7.) Amazing Food. Koreans do a great fried chicken, but the pizza, meh. (Ok, have to say that Potato Pizza did make me go Mmmm.) And of course Korean BBQ. How he could rank pizza and chicken above Korean BBQ I don't know. Probably because he is a bit of a fucktard. You can find some great food in South Korea, especially in Seoul.
5. Insanely cheap and quick public transportation. I would have called it inexpensive and reliable public transportation. Potato Potato. I loved the inter-city bus system and from those I know who used it the city services were just as good. Taxis are pretty cheap too. This is a good one.
That is it. The rest of his list pretty much sucked hind tit and smacked of the ramblings of Chrissy Snowflake, although not as pedantic. Let's look at the rest of the list.
1. K-Pop. Really, the fuckwit listed K-Pop as the Number 1 reason to live in Seoul. The way he writes you would expect to see people randomly dancing Gangnam Style down every street in Seoul. What really made me shake my head was when he wrote;
"With cell phone shops on every corner blaring music, you’ll be in K-pop heaven."
He leaves out the fact that it isn't just cell phone shops blaring music. It is pretty much every shop. Or maybe every other shop. From my recollection on most bocks there were 4-6 shops with music on outside. Oh yeah, duelling speakers maxed out at 11 whether playing the same or different songs every 30 feet or so is heaven. What a fucking moron.
3. Plastic Surgery Capital of the World. Yeah, that makes a city great. Easy access to plastic surgery. Better yet, the following comment;
"You can’t walk a block in Gangnam without getting the feeling that you just saw the same girl walk by a half dozen times."
It could be because Koreans tend to dress the same and style their hair the same. It must be plastic surgery. Or maybe he is just a racist twat who wants to say most Koreans look alike to him without appearing to be a racist twat. Or he is just a fucktard.
6. Make an unreasonable amount of money teaching English. Up to this point I was thinking, nay hoping, that this was just a tongue in cheek attempt at satire. Then this anal nugget popped up including links to other stuff Alex wrote about teaching in Korea. It included this gem;
"You can easily save $15k by the end of the year if you’re not trying to save, or $20k+ if you are."
Wow, did the bullshit alarm in the Flint Cave ever start blaring when that showed up on my screen. At first I thought the fuckwit was playing K-Pop on his page Then I realized it was just the BS alarm. It looks like I wasn't the only one to have such an alarm go off.
This was picked up in the comment section. Todd Parker wrote;
You're not going to get rich teaching English in Korea. I've looked at the rates pretty carefully when I was considering doing it myself. It's not poverty-wages - it beats the hell out of working minimum-wage in the States - but it's not going to make anybody wealthy.
Well said, Mr. Parker. Speaking as someone who worked there I saw people who did make oscene amounts of money. They were Ivy League graduates who worked insane hours at the most expensive hagwons in Seoul. NOT people who could just speak English fluently and had any old degree.
To which alex replied;
You won't get rich, but considering how "qualified" the teachers are and how much you can make tutoring, it's a pretty good gig. Teaching in Japan is much less lucrative. You can easily save $20k after a year in Korea.
Easily saving 20k a year isn't getting rich? Your stupidity is showing.
Matthew Cross pretty much finished swabbing the BS into the outhouse where it belonged when he posted;
no you really can't. Most people with effort can save on average about 1 million a month. That's only $882/month x12 + severance. Unless your severance is $10000 you aren't going to make $20k in one year, unless you are also working illegally. Face it, your list is awful.
Well said Mr. Cross. Well said.
I could go on and talk about numbers 7, 8, 9, and 11 but why bother. None of them are specific to Seoul. None of them are really things that would entice someone to live in a city let alone make it great. As I mentioned above, I had hoped this was an attempt at comedy. A pathetic one but still an attempt. However, when Alex tried to back Number 6 up with links to "serious" posts/pages he made off of BuzzFeed it made it seem less like comedy and just plain fucking stupid.
Alex also tried to defend himself later in the comment section when Mr. Cross posted what he thought of the post and Alex. He wrote;
I'm sorry, you're completely right. I just finished a teaching contract in Korea and thought it would be fun to throw together a list of quirky things I've come across there, but I'm far from being an expert. It's only purpose was to entertain, and I apologize if it offended you.
So, he did try to play the "comedy" card. It was just quirky things meant to entertain. It wasn't meant to offend. I highly doubt it offended anyone, it just made you, Alex, look like a fucktard. When you actually tried to defend your make unreasonable amount of money comment it kind of puts the lie to saying the list was just in jest. Regardless of your intent, it is a terrible list.
P.S. FYI Alex, it is NOT an article. You are not a journalist. It is a post about a list.
There are only 4 items that really deserve to be on a list like that, and 2 could actually be lumped together. None of them are actually Seoul specific, ok plastic surgery capital is but plastic surgery isn't. From his list;
2. Fastest Internet in the World. That is pretty spot on. He could have added inexpensive in there somewhere as well. It is one of the things I miss about not living in South Korea any more.
4. and 10. could really have been lumped into one category. (A category that would ignore 7.) Amazing Food. Koreans do a great fried chicken, but the pizza, meh. (Ok, have to say that Potato Pizza did make me go Mmmm.) And of course Korean BBQ. How he could rank pizza and chicken above Korean BBQ I don't know. Probably because he is a bit of a fucktard. You can find some great food in South Korea, especially in Seoul.
5. Insanely cheap and quick public transportation. I would have called it inexpensive and reliable public transportation. Potato Potato. I loved the inter-city bus system and from those I know who used it the city services were just as good. Taxis are pretty cheap too. This is a good one.
That is it. The rest of his list pretty much sucked hind tit and smacked of the ramblings of Chrissy Snowflake, although not as pedantic. Let's look at the rest of the list.
1. K-Pop. Really, the fuckwit listed K-Pop as the Number 1 reason to live in Seoul. The way he writes you would expect to see people randomly dancing Gangnam Style down every street in Seoul. What really made me shake my head was when he wrote;
"With cell phone shops on every corner blaring music, you’ll be in K-pop heaven."
He leaves out the fact that it isn't just cell phone shops blaring music. It is pretty much every shop. Or maybe every other shop. From my recollection on most bocks there were 4-6 shops with music on outside. Oh yeah, duelling speakers maxed out at 11 whether playing the same or different songs every 30 feet or so is heaven. What a fucking moron.
3. Plastic Surgery Capital of the World. Yeah, that makes a city great. Easy access to plastic surgery. Better yet, the following comment;
"You can’t walk a block in Gangnam without getting the feeling that you just saw the same girl walk by a half dozen times."
It could be because Koreans tend to dress the same and style their hair the same. It must be plastic surgery. Or maybe he is just a racist twat who wants to say most Koreans look alike to him without appearing to be a racist twat. Or he is just a fucktard.
6. Make an unreasonable amount of money teaching English. Up to this point I was thinking, nay hoping, that this was just a tongue in cheek attempt at satire. Then this anal nugget popped up including links to other stuff Alex wrote about teaching in Korea. It included this gem;
"You can easily save $15k by the end of the year if you’re not trying to save, or $20k+ if you are."
Wow, did the bullshit alarm in the Flint Cave ever start blaring when that showed up on my screen. At first I thought the fuckwit was playing K-Pop on his page Then I realized it was just the BS alarm. It looks like I wasn't the only one to have such an alarm go off.
This was picked up in the comment section. Todd Parker wrote;
You're not going to get rich teaching English in Korea. I've looked at the rates pretty carefully when I was considering doing it myself. It's not poverty-wages - it beats the hell out of working minimum-wage in the States - but it's not going to make anybody wealthy.
Well said, Mr. Parker. Speaking as someone who worked there I saw people who did make oscene amounts of money. They were Ivy League graduates who worked insane hours at the most expensive hagwons in Seoul. NOT people who could just speak English fluently and had any old degree.
To which alex replied;
You won't get rich, but considering how "qualified" the teachers are and how much you can make tutoring, it's a pretty good gig. Teaching in Japan is much less lucrative. You can easily save $20k after a year in Korea.
Easily saving 20k a year isn't getting rich? Your stupidity is showing.
Matthew Cross pretty much finished swabbing the BS into the outhouse where it belonged when he posted;
no you really can't. Most people with effort can save on average about 1 million a month. That's only $882/month x12 + severance. Unless your severance is $10000 you aren't going to make $20k in one year, unless you are also working illegally. Face it, your list is awful.
Well said Mr. Cross. Well said.
I could go on and talk about numbers 7, 8, 9, and 11 but why bother. None of them are specific to Seoul. None of them are really things that would entice someone to live in a city let alone make it great. As I mentioned above, I had hoped this was an attempt at comedy. A pathetic one but still an attempt. However, when Alex tried to back Number 6 up with links to "serious" posts/pages he made off of BuzzFeed it made it seem less like comedy and just plain fucking stupid.
Alex also tried to defend himself later in the comment section when Mr. Cross posted what he thought of the post and Alex. He wrote;
I'm sorry, you're completely right. I just finished a teaching contract in Korea and thought it would be fun to throw together a list of quirky things I've come across there, but I'm far from being an expert. It's only purpose was to entertain, and I apologize if it offended you.
So, he did try to play the "comedy" card. It was just quirky things meant to entertain. It wasn't meant to offend. I highly doubt it offended anyone, it just made you, Alex, look like a fucktard. When you actually tried to defend your make unreasonable amount of money comment it kind of puts the lie to saying the list was just in jest. Regardless of your intent, it is a terrible list.
P.S. FYI Alex, it is NOT an article. You are not a journalist. It is a post about a list.
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