Wan
is the basic
currency of Korea.
Not yen as earlier misstated.
Yen is Japan's currency.
At least I think so.
Just as I think I'm in Korea.
South Korea to be exact.
Okay, the Republic of...
I was starting to feel embarrassed about any confusion I may have caused.
Well, about looking like an ignorant schmuck.
So I decided to set the record straight.
Now that's done I'm merely embarrassed with honor.
The name Wan is comical to me because it brings to mind a play on words which is completely out of context with anything having to do with Korea.
It reminds me of another play on words, in this case involving the Spanish name Juan.
It reminds me of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, a trio of underground comic strip characters created by the U.S. artist Gilbert Shelton. One of the comic books which he created was entitled, Mexican Odyssey.
In this story, the three brothers and their hippie chicks come into possession of a large amount of cocaine. This leads to a road trip (pun intended) in which their euphoric state leads them to Mexico where they purchased a beautiful Swiss Chalet-style house, high (not intended) among lovely wooded hills overlooking a gushing crystal creek.
Until they came down from the coke rush several days later.
Then they discover that the house is a dilapidated a-frame among ordinary dry scrub covered hills beside an empty arroyo full of old tires.
This good natured parody of a cocaine trip and the pleasant and often naive exploration of a kinder and more peaceful way that characterized the early hippy times of some of us, was funny as hell to me. I think it was, as the saying goes, right on,
man.
The humor also manages to make a wry comment on the chemical limits of euphoric sustainability when it comes to so-called normal reality that became clearer and more pronounced as rock n' roll morphed into rock, acid rock, and most sinister of all, disco.
Along the way, they encounter a couple of characters who’s names have stuck with me over the years. I'm smiling now both at the names, the characters, and the story itself, at least as much as I can recall this far down the road.
Also, from the unlikeliness of them showing up at this particular moment i.e. as I'm lying in bed just waking up watching my ever bizarre mind dramatize a small mistake into an embarrassing blunder needing public correction and forgiveness.
Wan, Gar. Not Yen!
What were you thinking?
Yikes! that's embarrassing.
Yikes! is making an exclamatory comeback, by the way.
Well, so in what is perhaps my survival instinct arising and a budding willingness to accept my own short comings as a human being, my mind says, "Wan... Sounds like Juan. As in, Don Long Juan." (Ha, ha. Get it?)
"General Douglas Disaster."
Furry Freak Brothers,
Mexican Odyssey.
I hear myself think, "These are a kind of comic stunt double for Castaneda’s benefactor Don Juan, and a great irreverent caricature
of the pretty theatrical General, Douglas MacArthur."
That's pretty good.
Go write that down.
I realize I'm actually enjoying watching this little odyssey my brain is on and so I decide to share.
Lucky you.
Anyway, just a few minutes ago I googled (not capitalized because it's become synonymous with "searching the internet" as "kleenex" is with tissue)The Furry Freak Brothers. I found not one reference to them...
There was/is a whole bunch!
Of course.
I'm not the only one with a weird sense of humor.
Just like I found it possible to get all the TAXI episodes,
And Arrested Development episodes,
And Firefly, and
Cheers, etc.
Voila, et. tu.
Furry Freak Brothers.
I may not be sophisticated but I know what makes me laugh.
I'm going to explore my Freak Brother options as soon as I post this.
And I'm excited because I fully expect to obtain the whole collection, not to mention it would be a great (hint) Christmas or (hint) birthday present (end hint).
So, I have a yen to stop now.
I won to get surfing before
I succumb to further punditry.
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