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www.groovekorea.com / January 2014 16 A selection from our editors MUsT READs mUST reADS Winter’s silver lining Page 46 Riding a rickshaw with Roger Page 66 stickin’ with it Page 88 The beers of winter Page 36 Fermented photography Page 80 Trudging through slush and darkness to toil for 10 hours you might wonder: “Should I go on living? Is this living?” You are spoiling slowly, freezing but not preserved. And this will last another two months. But there is good news for you. Not far from your urban winter cave, there is a place where the sun shines over serene forest, towering mountains and frozen waterfalls, all blanketed in the purest, whitest snow. That place is Outside Seoul. On most travelers’ lists, India ranks near the top. It is a country so vast and varied, from lush tropical forests to the foothills of the Himalayas, it truly deserves to be called a subcontinent. Its culture and influence have radiated to the East and the West over the centuries, and for that reason alone, India is a place that keeps calling you back. Ed Leahey and Kurt DeVries had just led their team to victory in the first annual Yamato Cup in Tokyo in 2008 when they decided they wanted to keep the momentum going: They would turn their regular ball hockey group into a formal league. The pair already had a dedicated group of players who would meet every Sunday to play pick-up games in a parking lot at Ajou University in Suwon. But they wanted more. As the days grow short and darkness descends across the land, a beer drinker’s thoughts turn from the pilsners and pale ales of summer to something more substantial: a beer to stick to the ribs and beat back the winter chill. Join us, then, as we take a walk on the dark side with the biggest and best ales available on the peninsula to help tackle another long Korean winter. Unhinging Korea Page 72 Much of the current scene is divided between three demographics: the older fans, forced out of the scene due to societal restraints but still indulging in the odd show; the revolving door of younger kids who get in to practice their chops before getting sucked out to the familial pasture; and those who perpetually manage to walk the line between the two worlds. In a time period when it seems that everyone owns a digital camera and zillions of pictures exist online, it is inspiring to hear Lee speak about his careful work process. “Koreans like kimchi when it’s fermented well,” Lee says. “I like to compare my work process to ferment- ing kimchi. I take my images and put them away in a notebook … and later I’ll come back to these images, after they’ve kind of rested, and then I look at them again freshly. At that time, I can make a better judgmental decision on whether I like the images or not.”