The Death of 1212?
As of this writing, neither I nor Lolita have an interest in opening “1212″ for the general public. For much of the month we have been closed on the Saturday evening or, more to the fact, have decided to close early on a few occasions simply because no one had come.
Since we are unable to advertise in the traditional manner (for legal reasons) we are continually relying upon word of mouth. To be blunt about it, the vast majority of foreigners in Korea are quite lazy when it comes to catching up with what they might verbalise. The old saying of doing what you say no longer seems to apply and has been bundled up and set aside in some musty museum where it shares a viewing room with Common Sense (which is sadly just not that common these days).
At present, we are discussing the time/money involved for us to keep opening “1212″ on the off chance that people might show up. When only one or two people show up it hardly makes for an entertaining atmosphere and for that reason it makes more sense for us to not open, save some money, and make better use of our time.
Lolita has a lot going on these days with university and the like. I, myself, could care less about the social ramifications of ignoring the foreigner scene and would rather spend my time writing (or even sniffing tyres if I had to choose between that and spending an evening with people I could care less about).
Harsh? Cold? Well, I would prefer to think of it as being honest. You know where I stand. Take it or leave it… it’s all the same to me. To ‘get along’ with someone because they happen to come from the same, or an English-speaking, country is absurd in my opinion.
The long and the short of it is, for the foreseeable future, “1212″ shall remain ‘closed’ and solely used as it was chiefly intended: a workshop for Lolita and I. Of course, should any new interest in “1212″ develop then we shall reconsider our stance with a view to reopening, if not permanently then just for the odd party now and then (we will be open for Halloween no matter what). All I can say is, please check the sidebar of our blog to see if we are open before making the trek down here on the off-chance.
Cheers!
May 26, 2008 at 9:34 pm
I rang the other night and hope I’m not lumped in with the “not doing what you say” crowd. I guess I found out about your place too late. I wanted to go to watch the Man U game as posted on Pusanweb, but since I was in Seoul that weekend I couldn’t make it. I live in the area and with the dearth of places to go to around here, I was looking forward to checking out somewhere different. Anyway, if you’re into watching football other than Man U, and don’t mind watching semi-professional football there are games being played in Gudeok (near Daeti) a couple of times a month.
Cheers
May 26, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Nah, I would never lump someone in if I haven’t met them or know of them (and I’ve come across quite a few in the 11 years I’ve lived in this country). Assumptions are indeed the mother of all fuck-up’s! Besides, anyone interested in watching football must be pretty decent…
Like I said, we might open “1212″ from time to time, nothing is set in stone and we are actually considering opening for the Beijing Olympics since we have the TV around now. I do know for certain that we will be open for Halloween!
June was always going to be a difficult month anyway since both I and Lolita will be out of Korea at different times which tend to overlap and then we hit July/August when most foreigners head-off for other parts of Asia on vacation. We just figured no one was going to be coming.
No one turned up for the Chelsea v Man United match and so I decided to not bother advertising the recent Champions League final midweek (even though I did open up for myself at 3am!). If the interest was around we might have looked into opening for some of the Euro 2008 coverage.
Anyway, keep checking the blog every now and then to see if we will open; if we do I’ll be sure to drop you an email.
Cheers!
June 6, 2008 at 9:07 am
That’s a shame mate
.
Sorry I haven’t made it there, My excuse is kids. Although now with Mi Gyeong quitting work, we might’ve been able to come sometime
June 9, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Well, feel free to come along on June 21st mate when we will be open for the book launch. I’m not sure who will be coming and I myself will only be around for a couple of hours just to help out setting stuff up, etc. I’ll be catching the red-eye up to Seoul later that evening! I can’t really vouch for who might show up to be honest, but you’re more tolerant than I am when it comes to people so you and 미경 might enjoy it.