B-Boy Workshop: South Korea's Champs...Last For One

It's a b-boy weekend on MTV

This weekend on MTV in the US comes a chance (well four to be precise) to watch "Planet B-Boy" one of the most engaging films about a b-boy's ascent to world champion. More accurately, this is a film about five b-boy crews repping their countries (France, South Korea, Japan and the USA), but you get up-close-and-personal with key members of the crews and their motivation to succeed. It's addictive viewing and real reality, not fake shite!

Tune into MTV
January 11th, 11.00am PST
January 12th, 12.00am PST
January 14th, 1.30am PST

Last summer, director Benson Lee was interviewed for UCLA Asia Institute. It's a dope interview that gets into the thinking behind the film. When asked about why he chose to focus on the "here and now" of b-boying, Lee said:

"If you're gonna do any justice to the history, you either just skim it, or you go for broke. The history...it's like a black hole. Once you get sucked in, it's kind of hard to get out. You are constantly walking on eggshells. And you are constantly questioning the authenticity of information and you know it's a scientific approach with no scientific evidence. It's all just like "I was there," "He wasn't there," or it's just constant bickering. It's very political, there's a lot debate within the community. I'm certainly not the person to go in there and say that this is the definitive history. It's actually much safer not to do that. The last group I want to disrespect are the b-boys."

Journey from hell?

"No pain, no gain" was a slogan I first saw in New York on a t-shirt. So, when my Supershuttle driver took me on a mystery tour for 1-hour 20 mins?! before finally dropping me at the airport I took it on the chin. But then, when Asiana told me there were no window or aisle seats on the flight?! I started to worry. A trip to Shanghai started to seem like a silly idea!

This was no cross-country, couple of hour jaunt, no, we're talking about a 10-hour epic to China via Seoul. But, you'll be glad to hear it wasn't so bad...I got 5-hours of zzzzs and caught a bit of a couple of films and watched the Euro2008 highlights (Switzerland and Austria are so beautiful!) And I have to say, Asiana's service and food is very good. It's the little touches, like not disturbing me as I was dozing during the food service. The attendant left me a sticker on my TV screen telling me to holla at her when I awoke (and read the note). So cooool! And that's in cattle-class.

The 4-hour transfer stop before re-joining my flight to Shanghai seems like a breeze now. I'm sat here in the airport on the free wifi now and actually I quite like early mornings in Incheon airport. Weird?

Asians running tings!

The South Koreans take the UK B-Boy Championship title in London this year...Wow!

You've seen the clips of Korean B-Boy battles before on my blog...don't sleep! But to beat the French champs and various other crews is a big deal. Looks like it's time for another Seoul visit for Stevio. Hmmm, I wonder if the Cathay AsiaPass reaches South Korea? (And I wonder if Emily Chang from CNN will join me... >:-) )



Here's the battle in South Korea in 2006 (it's hooot to death, but dude leave the edits out!)