Taking local politics global

October 24, 2010 2:13 PM

Cross-dressing bass-playing Korean otaku endorses Meg Whitman for governor of California!

Meg Whitman's spokeswoman posted a cryptic tweet slamming Whitman's opponent. Unfortunately, the shortened URL at the end of her tweet was truncated, so instead of pointing to a new press release on her campaign website (http://bit.ly/bNCAVr), it redirected followers to footage of Hyunmo Kim [previously] rocking an anime theme song dressed in his usual impeccable drag (http://bit.ly/bNCAV).

When informed of the error, the spokeswoman replied, "oops." The tweet remains up, undeleted.

posted by ardgedee (22 comments total)

After clicking on the mis-link in the article, thats the most unexpected [previously] link I've ever seen on Mefi.
posted by SirOmega at 2:18 PM on October 24, 2010

He's been linked on metafilter, previously, btw
posted by yeoz at 2:23 PM on October 24, 2010

oh. it was in the topic. fuck me :(
posted by yeoz at 2:24 PM on October 24, 2010

Goddamn, I love the internet!
posted by Blasdelb at 2:31 PM on October 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

I heard about this on the radio, and I thought "The original video of the cross-dressing bassplayer was probably on Metafilter months ago." It's nice to be right once in awhile with those random little thoughts in my head.
posted by marxchivist at 2:46 PM on October 24, 2010 [2 favorites]

That's a pretty good bass line.
posted by saturday_morning at 2:52 PM on October 24, 2010

Hyunmo Kim kicks ass!
posted by bitteroldman at 3:56 PM on October 24, 2010

Not sure about impeccable drag, but I'm mad that he rocks those gartered stockings way harder than I ever could.

Part of my brain denies that this could possibly be a mistake. The other part wonders what epic videos other recent cryptic tweets secretly link to.
posted by efio at 3:57 PM on October 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

Kim commented humorously about this in his blog, albeit he seemed to consider it less important than his upcoming travel plans starting with Japan.

Rough translation:

P.S. Big to-do in the U.S. right now.

http://gizmodo.com/5668013/one-politicians-incredibly-unfortunate-tweet

I'm on Gizmodo heh

Republican California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has become an unwitting victim(?) of moe proselytizing activities.

Because of this I gather that current governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has also seen my video heh
posted by needled at 4:00 PM on October 24, 2010 [4 favorites]

IMHO, one of the best things about this is that a good percentage of the English Youtube comments from guitar aficionados amount to "Man, you are weird. Really weird. Can you lose the tutu? But you're a damn good bass player. Is that an 8 string bass?!? And you're slappin' it! Dude, you rock! You could wear nothing but panties and you'd still be badass. I'd jam with you."

Either that or "JOHN LENNON, IS THAT YOU?!?"

Best twitter fail ever.

(Also, thank you for the blog translation, needled. Arnold Schwarzenegger, awesome.)
posted by anthy at 4:41 PM on October 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

This guy will know what to do when Aqua Buddha comes. I haven't filled out my absentee ballot yet. I think I might write him in.
posted by planetkyoto at 5:36 PM on October 24, 2010 [2 favorites]

This makes me profoundly happy.
posted by moss at 5:48 PM on October 24, 2010

He just looks so content. And the glasses just make the man.
posted by spinifex23 at 6:04 PM on October 24, 2010

I just had to explain to my wife, who was looking at my monitor over my shoulder, what I was watching on youtube.

Thanks, MetaFilter!

And, I'll amend what I said in the previous Hyunmo Kim thread: You had me at "awsome bass playing"; you lost me when he was playing a 8-string and endorsing Meg Whitman.

posted by elmer benson at 6:50 PM on October 24, 2010

Wait, wait. It seems to me this is more Meg Whitman endorsing a cross-dressing bass-playing Korean otaku than the reverse.
posted by MikeKD at 8:00 PM on October 24, 2010

I only wonder if people will be as surprised when the Republican party merges with 4chan as when they merged with the fundies.
posted by b1tr0t at 8:39 PM on October 24, 2010

I heard about this on NPR while driving the other day, and forgot about it by the time I was near a computer again, thanks for posting!
posted by HotPants at 9:13 PM on October 24, 2010

That bassist is so damned sweet.
posted by Drexen at 3:22 AM on October 25, 2010

I missed the last time Metafilter did Hyunmo and I started wandering through his other videos.
This bass tune set to anime is so soulful. I found myself swaying and getting into the storyline even though I cannot read Japanese :)
BTW, I agree with MikeKD that this seems more like Meg endorsing Hyunmo.

(OT is he a crossdresser or is she trans?)
Also otaku seems to be a *lot* more negative in Japan then in the US. Does Hyunmo call himself otaku or is it other people? Just curious.
posted by Librarygeek at 5:49 AM on October 25, 2010

BEHOLD! Our New Leader is risen!

May his armies march across the face of the earth, destroying all who oppose them in a bloody rain of hellfire and brutality, leaving nothing but fancy underwear and rocking in their wake.

Join us brethren! Join us, for you have nothing to lose but your underpants!
posted by aramaic at 5:50 AM on October 25, 2010

Love 'im. (And otherwise hate this election season.)
posted by Zed at 7:42 AM on October 25, 2010

This says to me: I'm not a witch. I'm you.

Finally, a congressperson as weird as me!
posted by MuppetNavy at 10:57 AM on October 25, 2010