Yesterday’s downpour caused the Han River to rise and flood park areas along the Han River. The lower Banpo bridge was closed as of 1pm yesterday, forcing drivers and cyclists to find alternate routes. This year’s monsoon season is said to be record breaking, with Seoul receiving the most rainfall in the first two weeks of  July in 59 years. As of this morning, it looks pretty calm. Fingers crossed!

H1N1 flu fears are causing local governments to cancel events and festivals across Korea. The 10th Yeosu International Youth Festival has been cancelled, and the World Choir Championship was shut down early because 13 foreign participants and 1 Korean volunteer are said to be infected. The Uljin Organic Food Festival is set to continue as planned. The Korean Ministry of Health states that there are 535 confirmed cases of H1N1 infection in the country to date.

On the cyber terrorism front, the attacks may have orginated in the U.K. The guilty server is also said to be in Miami.

Comedy nights are popping up on events calendars more frequently than in past years.  From Seoul to Busan, it seems that expats in the  stand-up comedy genre are organizing and beginning to join the talented pool of bands, artists, actors, and DJs aready out there.  Saturday July 18th, Itaewon’s Kabinett Wine Bar & Restaurant will host a comedy night featuring three such local comedians: Chris Tharp, Ross Gardiner, and Brian Aylward.

On July 14th to 19th, the Seoul Cinematheque, in association with the Jeonju Film Festival, will be screening five films by Sri Lankan filmmaker, Dharamsena Pathiraja. July 18th at 3pm, his masterpiece “Old Soldier” will be shown and followed by a discussion hosted by Jeonju Fim Festival programmer, Yu Oon Seong. Pathiraja, now senior lecturer in Film Studies at the University of Colombo, was one of Sri Lanka’s most daring post-colonial filmmakers, and is considered a leader in  the country’s “second revolution” of cinema. All the films will be screened with English subtitles. Admission is w4000 for members and w6000 for non-members.  The festival comes in the wake of the bloody finale of Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war between the government and separatist Tamil Tigers.

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Podcasting has taken the world by storm with hundreds of thousands of podcasters popping up over the last few years covering every imaginable topic. Expat life in South Korea is no exception with dozens of related podcasts on life in Korea, learning Korean, ESL teaching,  and Korean culture and history. The One One Four has compiled a list of some of the best.

Just the fact the it’s not called Well-Being Expo makes me hopeful that this will be a good event. Check out the website and dig the cheesy flash animation and classical music.

In case you missed this video produced by Captain Lucus, Ltd. on Cool Hunting which, by the way, is a fine place to hear about cool shit so check it out.