magazines, magazines, magazines... and books

jbook at the bottom right just got an awesome marketing strategy!

okay, I have to confess: one of my favorite activities here in Korea, thousands of miles away from home is actually not visiting museums (not yet, I still feel too much working therefore not touristic engough), going out partying or jump into the masses on the weekends. It's actually reading magazines and books. The pile of paper has grown up to I guess about 10 kg and is now filling one whole shelf of my rack. Even so the term "reading" may not be the right one to use since I'm definitely not really reading them but rather flipping through the pages. What's special about magazines here in Korea is that they don't really come handy but are rather big and really heavy. Buying just one or two magazines gives your arms a good training... As well another speciality: if you buy 'em you often get a goodie... over the times of mickey mouse magazine which kept me craving for the plastic soon-to-be-broken-or-forgotten-under-my-bed-stuff, here's the adult version, yay!
When you stand at the section of the magazines -at least in my shopping heaven Kyobo about which I will tell you more sometime later- there's a plastic box containing sorts of little goodies, like as for women magazines cosmetics or little cases, or a lemonade... Next to those goodies there's a little label giving you a clue which magazine the special item comes with. At least if you can read them, but I proudly can say that I mastered this obstacle, but also I'm not really the child anymore buying a magazine solely for those goodies, so I do have some kind of maturing development if that's not worth a little hurray (relapses are not impossible though). If the magazine comes with one, which is not always the case (in fact I just go an item once this time) you get it at the counter after paying... But back to those magazines, they are way bigger than german ones and I now do definitely understand how a korean girl I know got her nickname as a magazine junkie... But it's not like korean magazines wouldn't already have gathered quite some international attention. In the global digital world pictures and articles of the Korean Elle, W, Allure, Dazed or of course Vogue are found regularly(Also it's all just a offset of the big american magazines it has its very own twist, as you can always see on the Vogue empire...). Compared with other countries the korean magazines just seem to feature more fresh ideas and looks and of course it's exotic view towards it. You find other combinations and can sense another attitude as it's rather daring and more looking forward to experiment with fashion. This you can also see in the streets here and also I have to say I can be a very shy person and in these moments I really am but I started asking some people on the streets if I could take a pic of 'em so the obligatory street-style post is also going to appear here somewhen....
As none of my posts seems to go without pictures, here are some mags of my current collection...
Since I wrote about Vogue and Elle etc. JBOOK, Cracker your wardrobe and High Cut are some Korean mags...

a pencil to give you a scale

A nearly-perfect day at the moment for me is about going round on a day off, while every one else is still working taking pictures and then ending up in Kyobo, buying stationary and a magazine (if in the mood for it make it an additional s) and then make your way to the metro but not without buying these mind-boggling good sweats which are called Deli Manjoo and then (mostly in the evenings already) go back to your little room and start the already elucidated reading process. This also includes the use of the bought special colored pos-its to mark the most interesting pages...
(yes, I got a new hobby here :)


Sorry, but the issue Korea and fashion and magazines is still not finished, so from time to time you just might have to deal with such posts ...

But it's not only korean magazines, that are really interesting, every time I go to book stores I also just have to stop at living and photo books as well.