Funny Guy, Funnier Situation

So I've been watching these fancam performances of Jay Park during 2010 White Love Party Concert and though I think that the performances were amazing and that he's an amazingly talented guy a part of me can't help but laugh. From the fancams that I watched I gathered that the majority of the songs he did were in English. Okay....so what's the problem you may wonder. Well the concert was in Seoul. Seoul, South Korea. National Language: Korean. And though I got every bit of understanding that was pumped into the songs he was singing, I can't help but feel that his Korean fans missed out.....on alot.

For example, during one of the performances he had two of his fellow AOM members go out into the audience and pick a girl for him to sing to on stage. The chosen song? A cover of Usher's classic "Nice and Slow". Can I call that a classic? Should be able to. Whatever. Anyway can I get a moment's pause for the pure sexiness of that song?..................

So that girl gets up there and he starts his magic, and of course he can't really touch her alot cause this is Korea and its still really "conservative" with its views on guy/girl public displaces of affection/intimacy so that takes away from some of the performance. The other thing that takes away is the girl's expression. Of course she's all nervous cause she's on stage getting serenaded by a major celebrity, but that's all replaced by the confused expression she adopts when he begins to sing the English song. If it were me- and I'm not even that big of a Jay Park fan- I would be dying on stage. 1) From the sexiness of the situation and 2) From the sexiness of the lyrics, which enhances the sexiness of the situation. Wasn't the case here, because the comprehension of the sexy lyrics simply didn't exist.

Now to give the Korean audience credit were credit is due, during Jay's cover of Usher's U Got It Bad (is there a pattern here or is it just me?) while he was singing the part "You're my girl, I'm your man..." he turned the microphone to the crowd for the girl appropriate lyrics and about half the crowd replied with a very confident "Your my man". I was very surprised actually, though still it means that the other half due to a language barrier were clearly left in the dark. I want to say it'd be like the equivalent of me going to a Tokio Hotel concert here in the States and having them talk to the audience the entire time in English, but sing hit songs of famous German artists I've never heard of before. I can imagine myself in that case adopting a confused expression though in this case it may not have been all that dramatic since American music is really popular worldwide. So to say that most of the Korean audience had heard of the songs before hopefully wouldn't be an incorrect statement.

One thing that made me laugh when thinking about it was finally coming to the understanding and realization of how absolutely American Jay really is. Now I'm American. Some of my friends may not agree and even in playing sometimes I hate it when they do that, but at that moment watching the fancam I was like 'Whoa, he's so American. I'm more Korean than he is." Then of course he began speaking in Korean, which totally shattered that thought. Actually when he went from English song to Korean speech I almost burst out laughing, it was so funny. I had only ever known K-Pop idol Park Jaebeom- 2PM's Korean speaking, Hangul illiterate, short fuse of a leader- but at that moment it was Jay Park performing and the Korean, not the English was what didn't seem to fit him. It was almost, but not quite like I was watching a different person. In other parts where he was talking to the audience I could almost feel that he wanted to speak in English. Alot of his concert definitely would have been more effective in American as far as reaction from the crowd, because they really were amazing performances.

It makes me wonder though, as an American K-Pop fanatic whose Korean understanding barely goes passed "Oppa, Saranghae", exactly how much of the meaning of my favorite Korean songs is lost to me, because I don't understand the language. Surely I can look up a song's translation to get the general meaning, make sure nothing vulgar is being sung about, but I'll never truly understand the song word for word and word for word is exactly where things get lost in translation. I guess for that I'll always have Jay Park singing American songs at Korean concerts to make me not feel so bad for a lack of understanding :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TypkVKXpniM&feature=fvwk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhXmqUnNnew&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd9kPQA3cH8

Super Junior Dominates Twitter in the Kpop World

I'm an ELF so of course I'm Super Junior biased, but this has got to be the best article I've read all year! It gives proof behind my words that Super Junior's popularity is legit and not unwarranted. Their popularity is SUPREME!!! and its because they are talented guys with dedicated fans. TVXQ rules too! I wanna see them as a five member band again, though I'm really proud of JYJ and HoMin's success.

101108 Boyband mayhem in South Korea: Super Junior on CNN

I'm so proud of my boys. Yes, well put. Super Junior forever!

JYJ - Ayy Girl (Feat. Kanye West and Malik Yusef) [Official Music Video]

"Hello" is Right!!

Hey guys. It's been awhile I know. Back in school. Tryna stay motivated and all so this is gonna be a really short blog. I basically have two words to say about this new song by SHINee: IN LOVE!!! Yes, it's just that good, but don't take my word for it. Check it out for yourselves. My advice is to watch the live version first and then the video. I think their talent really 'shines' more in the live version. And I like the new style better here even though I still really wanna fire their 'stylist noonas'.

Live Version:




Music Video:


Enjoy!

YES!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! Suju. Suju. Suju. That's all I can say right now is Suju. The boys just released the repackaged version of their fourth album 'Bonamana' (which is complete hotness. go buy it) about a week ago. The repackaged version has a new song called "No Other" on it and I just finished watching a live version of their performance on allkpop. It's so cute. Check it out!



Upon first listen, "No Other" really doesn't seem like a dancing song to me. Not one that needs choreography at least. But as I started to listen to it more and more I caught a hold of that beat that makes you want to dance. Even still, I was really surprised at how intricate the choreography was for a pop song that disguises itself as a ballad. Oh is it a ballad that pretends to be a pop song? Doesn't matter. Either way the song is hot, the dance is cute, and my boys are fresh so I'm happy.

Do you like it, or do I even have to ask? Did you catch the boys being their completely dorky selves in the video? Like Leeteuk mouthing the words behind the members as they sang their solo parts or Sungmin shaking Ryeowook during the 'naega michyeo michyeo baby' part. And seriously, what's with Heechul's hair?! Sorry, I just had to ask. That guy's so weird. But moving on, there were some honorable mentions in the video (i saw two) that I have to talk about. These two peeps were none other than Donghae and, surprisingly, Sungmin. When Donghae came up to sing his solo part, my eyes grew wide. I was thinking to myself, 'When did he get so cute?!' I mean I know he's cute, but wow....and Sungmin. Sungmin biased ELFs please don't attack my here, but the guy's not one of my favorites so I don't really look out for him much, but in this video, again I was thinking...."Wow. What the heck made him so hot all of a sudden?" And then he was smiling throughtout the whole performance, which made resistance even more futile. Those were just the two I saw, but let me know if you saw someone worth mentioning in the video that you don't usually notice.

7 Years of Love

I came across this song while I was reading a fanfiction on sj-world.net based on it. I'm more of a Yesung fangirl when it comes to vocal prowess over a Kyuhyun fangirl, but his voice with this song is a perfect match. I'm a bit late to it, but it is definitely something I have to share now that I've found it.

How's it Going!!?!

Hey fellow K-poppers. Just wanted to check in with you guys and assure you that, no I'm not dead. Fully kickin' it and livin' life. I really would like to say that the reason I've been missing in action for so long is because I've been busy with work and school, all that jazz, but alas I can't. As much of an excuse as school and work are, pure laziness is the root of all things that go undone in my life. But I don't want you all to think little of me. This was well deserved laziness. To be honest, writing a blog is work. It is! Figuring out what to talk about. Writing it down. Checking facts. Proof-reading. Editing. Re-editing. Linking. Re-re-editing (for those like me who are seriously bad at grammar). It all becomes a little overwhelming if you're not the type of person who is use to that sort of thing.

So the laziness I speak of was the massive downtime I got after working three days a week, going to class four days a week, having a test on Thursday, and baby-sitting my little sister between that time. Such was my week just past. Oh but speaking of my little sister, she watched Ninja Assassin with me last time I went home :) . I was super excited. She got sick at the end though. So much so that she had to excuse herself to the bathroom. I felt kinda bad, but she told me that she liked the movie and that she could watch it again now that she was over the initial shock of all the blood and guts. *Spoiler Alert Here* She absolutely cracked me up during the laundry mate scene. Her words: "Did he just stick her body in the washing machine?" ~washing machine starts oozing blood~ "That's nasty". And she said it with such a straight face too. That's probably what made it so funny. *End Spoiler Alert*

She thinks Rain is weird for always playing Japanese characters in American movies. She's like "Doesn't he get offended". I told her "Hey. He takes the gigs and its money soo...." plus, because of Ninja Assassin he's now certified badass material. Anyway. I'm digressing here. What was it that I wanted to talk about again. Oh wow. Nevermind. I just saw the length of this post so I'll do us all a favor and stop it right here. Til next time. Mwah (<-you know you love it).

Oh My Wow!!

It's been a minute cyberworld and boy do I have some stories to tell you, but before I get to that (and trust me, I will get there) I want to congratulate Korea's very own Rain for his awesome accomplishment. This pass Sunday Rain won himself a MTV....and woah woah woah not MTV Korea or MTV Asia, but straight up here in the States MTV Movie "Biggest Badass Star" Award for his work in the-not-so-much-a-hit-but-you-would-be-crazy-not-to-watch-it-action-thriller Ninja Assassin. Personally I like this movie. I have this movie. I've seen it twice. I made my mother watch it and I'm trying to get my little sister to watch it with me when I go home this weekend. And now as I can see from this award, I'm not the only one who likes the movie. Or Rain's performance at least.

He really is a good actor and according to allkpop.com he's the first native Korean to win a MTV Movie Award. *Sniff* I'm just so proud of him. Man, aside from him suddenly becoming cute he's giving me more reasons to like him. I'll have to kept my eye on this one. The ones that no they're bad are the hardest to handle.

Again. Congratulations Mr. Badass Star of 2010. Did we even have to tell him so? I'm sure he already knew ;)

Aww Nostalgia

While looking up information on 4-member Taiwanese boyband, Fahrenheit, I decided to do a general internet (*cough* Wikipedia) search of boybands and came across this picture of Super Junior-Happy. It made me smile so I felt like sharing it.

Victory Korea and the 2010 World Cup

Super Junior just released the full music video for their song 'Victory Korea'. It's in celebration of the 2010 World cup, which will be held in South Africa this year. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of sports in general, but if I could get into any sport out there, any one at all, it would have to be football (i.e. soccer for us dumb Americans). I played for two years during high school, (the lack of hand eye coordination prevented me from playing anything else) so "soccer" is really the only sport where I completely understand the goals of the game and how it works (<- ha, completely).

I've never seen a professional football match before (yep, it's football now. take that America.). Wait I take that back. I've seen one. I remember getting tired just watching those guys run up and down the field. Talk about stamina. Anyway, after seeing the teaser for Suju's song I began researching the FIFA World Cup and, oh crap, I'm so looking forward to this year's event. I even have three teams I'm going to cheer for this year: the U.S. (gotta stay patriotic), South Korean (it's the Kpop fan in me), and Germany (they've placed more than any other team out there). I'm even gonna keep my eye out for Brazil. Not root for. Just keep an eye on. Brazil has won the most titles since the World Cup's inception (show offs). If you want to know just how massive the world cup is, over 700 million people tuned in for the final game of the World Cup in 2006 when it was held in Germany. And you thought the Superbowl was big.

Super Junior's Victory Korea:



Doesn't the video just make you wanna go and root for Korea during the World Cup? Other artists have also released their own 'Go, Fight, Win' songs. I don't know how successful Korea will actually be at winning the title. They've only ever placed once (and 4th at that), which was in the 2002 World Cup held in Korea and Japan. Did they have the home field advantage? Maybe. Was there an abundant amount of country pride? Oh yeah! If you ask me, more than anything that was the determining factor. The fans. They sparked a light in Team Korea that gave the players the energy to go all the way. It's a beautiful image if you really think about it. In that case should I put South Africa on the list of teams to root for too? I'm not even going to hold my breath when it comes the U.S. We haven't placed since the very first World Cup in 1930. 30! Talk about country shame. But Americans don't really care as long as they have their Fútball Americano they're fine. As for me, I'm going to go against the grain on this one. Yay Football! Real football! Hooray America! Go Germany! Victory Ko-re-a!

Is it weird that I'm going to cheer for more than one team? I hope not. As far as I'm concerned I have the whole Northern Hemisphere spoken for (North America, Europe, Asia). We're gonna get this thing going and keep it as competitive as possible. World Cup kicks off Friday, June 11, South Africa vs Mexico, with the final game schedule for Sunday, July 11 at 20:30 SAST (South African Standard Time). Mark those calendars!

Why, Oh Why?

So, a couple of days ago I decided to check out my friends blog to see if she posted anything new. She's not an everyday blogger (neither am i. promise it's just cause i'm on break). Anyway, the last post that I saw she had up was about Korean Mega-Artist Rain (비). It's really funny, definitely check it out. Toward the end she has these two links, one of ss501's Kim Hyun Joong and one of Super Junior's Shindong, both performing Rainism and ask you to choose which one you think danced it best. I've seem KHJ's performance before so it was little ol' Shindong's turn. Freaking Hilarious!!! He performed it on Strong Heart and right in front of Rain too, with Leeteuk and Eunhyuk as backup dancers. Not only did he perform Rainism, he also performed a part of this song called Love Song. Now I had never seen or heard of Love Song before watching this video, but Shindong's performance got me interested in wondering what the real version was like. I thought it was gonna be one of Rain's old back in the day songs or something (i'm really not up to speed with this guy yet). But no, it's one of his new singles from his current album 'Back to the Basic'. There's only one word to describe this music video- hotness.


That word is really surprising coming from me, because I'm not a Rain fan. My friend fell in love with him after she saw him in Speed Racer. I, on the other hand, wasn't convinced. She showed me his music videos. I thought he was a jerk. Why did all of his songs have to be about him? It's Raining. I'm Coming. Rainism (seeing any patterns here?). But one thing I had to admit was that the guy could dance. I can't dance. Yes. Yes. It's a common misconception that all black people can dance. My friend and I did have this reigning joke (pun intended) that Rain had stolen our blackness. We couldn't dance, because our ability to dance, by nature, had been given to a Korean. This was even before I knew the country was filled with talented artists just like him.

Nevertheless, all that's in the pass now. Maybe I've matured or Rain's image has improved, but I don't have a bad word to say about him anymore. The first thing I wanted to do this morning after coming to work, besides go to my school's clinic cause I felt like I was dying, was listen to Love Song (could've been into it a month ago, if it wasn't for my previous Rain biased). I think I even used the word cute to describe him when I was commenting on my friends page. He looks much better with a short normal haircut than his Speed Racer, Ninja Assassin styles (Lee Joon just looks better with hair period).

My sister tells me that 2PM's Junho looks kind of like Rain. I thought she was crazy at first, but now I'm beginning to see it in reverse. Is that a good thing? Well Junho is a cutie. So does that mean I think Rain's a cutie, too, by default? Maybe. Like when he smiles, he looks so Asian and gorgeous, who wouldn't melt (try getting me to say that two years ago). If you haven't checked out the video yet, do so now. You won't regret. Oh and just ignore his crazed out running face in the beginning. The chorus dance will more than make up for it. After you're finished watching the video check out TheBeatboxHitman's Love Song beatbox. It's really good. I've never heard him do a ballad before, but he proved to be just as talented as always. Gotta love people with true artistic abilities!

There are two versions of Love Song- Korean and English. So which one do you like better? No duh, it's gonna be the Korean version for, like, everyone. I think the Korean version is sexier, but that's only cause everytime I hear it I picture the music video too. The English version is really good. It sounds like one of those love songs (no pun intended) that was really popular back in the 90s. A truly classic feel. The link is to the Korean MV with the English words and subs, so you won't have a "the Korean version's sexier!!" cause of the music video bias like I had. Both versions are good, period, so I hope you enjoy!

Super Junior's Boom Boom

Boom Boom is straight hotness. It's my favorite song off the fourth album after listening to four out of the eleven so far. I love this song so much that I even bought it on iTunes (yay! so excited. gotta support my babes). It was only a dollar though. Usually new releases and hot tracks are two dollars. I guess iTunes doesn't understand the power of Super Junior just yet. They probably think that if they raise the prices no one would buy the songs (i would buy the songs *pouts*). But really a dollar is nothing. That's only like a penny in each members' pocket, if that. A dollar a song on iTunes makes the whole album around ten dollars (iTunes doesn't have the eleventh track), but like I said before, I'm still trying to decide whether or not to buy the tangible fourth album. It's selling on YesAsia.com for $13.99 with no shipping and handling fee for international purchases. Plus it comes with a free postcard and some other stuff so it's a really tempting deal. I'm already the proud owner of Sorry, Sorry so buying Bonamana would just be adding to my Suju collection.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Boom Boom, or Nappeun Yeoja (meaning Bad Girl), is a hot track. I especially love the dance that goes along with it. I hope they make a music video for it soon, but until then I'm content with the live version.


It's positively sexy. And speaking of sexy, I have to give out an honorable mention to one of the members. That member is none other than Eunhyuk. I noticed this in Bonamana, but its increasingly prevalent in the Boom Boom dance that Eunhyuk has grown more serious about his dancing and it's made him sexier for it. I mean just look at the command of the dance moves he has. His aurora is so much different than the other members. They're good, but he's.......(insert own description here). I may not get the hat thing, his weird hair cut, or the line under his eye in the Bonamana video, but one thing I do get is that this guy is a beast at dancing.

I understand that it's part of Super Junior's edgier image for Bonamana and I'm loving every minute of it, but I hope that Eunhyuk is still his same old goofy, gulliable self off stage and off camera. That's the Hyukjae we all know and love. Actually, I think that's why I'm such a fan of Super Junior in general. Maybe I don't know their true nature off off off camera, but from the interviews I've seen and the reality shows they have it seems like they're showing their true nature and their true nature is silly. They are all silly little goofballs who no one would normally take seriously, but when they get on stage it's like a complete 180. They're all like "Yea, we got talent. Didn't know that, didja? What? What?" And sometimes they're even goofballs on stage. Oh and don't forget about the event that happened at their closing concert in Manila (i so wanna go to a Suju concert -_-). But, yea. Boom Boom. Hot song. Go check it out. Love it! And Enjoy :)

Gengfans?

So is that what we Hankyung..sorry Han Geng supporters are being called these days? Can't I just be an ELF and have that count for all 15. Like the twelfs website says "13 as a group, 15 as a family". Except for that traitor Kibum. The jerk. I honestly almost wrote 14 just then, instead of 15. He really makes me mad with the whole "I'm still in Super Junior" talk, but the not showing up act. If you're gonna leave. Leave! Express how much fun you had in Super Junior and how much you love your Suju brothers and go about your business. Don't keep lying to us saying your still there. That's why I won't supprt him. Claiming that he wants to focus on acting and blah blah blah. All that is, is an excuse. Look at Heechul and Siwon. Eunhyunk, Leeteuk, Yesung, and Kangin (when he was there) had various activities outside of Super Junior. Did they have to leave Suju to do all that stuff? No! Besides I heard Kibum's acting isn't that good anyway. He's been an inactivities part of Suju going on two years now, but I haven't heard much about any of his programs. Siwon gets put into one primetime drama and mysoju.com's updating it every week like clockwork. But still, I'd rather see Kibum happy, although scarce, in acting as opposed to miserable in Super Junior bringing everyone else down. And then there's my baby Hannie.

It makes me crazy when I think back to the slave contact SM had him under. For one, 13 year contracts shouldn't even exist. And then on top of that if he took off for any reason the contract would be extended!? The guy was nearing kidney failure being under SM. Oh no. He was totally justified, in my eyes, for leaving SM. There's no doubt in my mind though that he misses his Suju brothers like crazy. If it wasn't for SM's communication block between him and the members, I'm sure they would still be in contact. He seems to be doing pretty good for himself, though. He's got a milkshake named after him, he sang the theme song for Chinese culture for Expo 2010 Shanghai China (i wanna go to this TT_TT), and he also has plans to release a solo album. It would seem that our Hankyung has been very productive and continues to strive for success, despite past hardships. I bet the other members are proud of him and wish they could share in the happiness of his success (he probably feels that way too). As are we ELFs proud (is Gengfan really necessary?). Remember "12 as a group, 14 as a family", right! :)

KYAAHHHHH!!!!

Please excuse me for the random outburst, which is the title, but I almost died from spastic fangirling just a second ago. How? Glad you asked.

So, I'm checking my e-mail, deleting things and what whatnot, when I come across an e-mail of a video that my youtube friend msinternationalmusic decided to share with me. It's Super Junior's video for Bonamana with an e-mail date from last week. Now of course I've seem this video like a hundred times before, so I'm thinking about deleting it. But then I begin to read the title (gotta brush up on my Korean) and I think it's so hilarious what I see. I love the Koreans way of directly translating foreign words into words that they're able to pronounce. 뮤식비디오(a.k.a myusik bidio). So cute.

After having my laugh I decided to click on the video link. Really one can never have enough of Bonamana so there's no neeed for an excuse to listen to it, but I'm learning the dance right now (i suck, but i love it) and I was hoping to rock out with Super Junior during the chorus. Before I can stand up, however, what do my eyes detect? Underneath the video is a link to.....iTunes. i-freaking-TUNES (how come i never noticed this before)!!! Seriously though, I promise you for two seconds I was absolutely breathless. I'm the type of fan who whole-heartedly believes in supporting the artists she loves, but because Apple hadn't yet gotten a clue, I was forced to obtain certain songs through LEGAL methods of file sharing (piracy's never the answer). But it seems like iTunes and SM are finally answering the cries of many aggravated international Kpop fanatics. Just in time too. I was afraid that I was actually going to have to spend my iTunes gift card on American music. But now as luck would have it, I get to use my iTUNES (still can't get over that) gift card to support my Suju boys. But I still want the CD. I like tangible items that give me booklet's with their gorgeous faces and autographs, plus I have a car and nonstop Super Junior tunes while I'm driving doesn't sound like a bad idea. I hear iTunes is really strict when it comes to their digital music licenses so I have no idea what that means when it comes to burning music.

I could always buy both. That's always an idea. Tisk.....decisions, decisions. Well while I ponder these choices, you guys should head on over to iTunes and check out Super Junior's digital 4th album for yourselves.

Angry Khun....lol!

You know. I'm seriously starting to get why people post multiple times a day. I saw an article on allkpop.com about what Nichkhun, the "innocent" member of 2PM, does when he is angry. Personally, I thought it was hilarious and would love to see it in person, granted I'm not the intended target of said angry. Basically we Kpopers, Kpop fanatics, netizens (i'm not fond of this word), whatever, discovered via Wooyoung that Nichkhun is a hot little button when he's angry. "It's always the quiet ones!" people exclaim in the comment section. "The quietest are the scariest. They're the ones you really have to look out for," others continue. Oh, whatever. I've always known Nichkhun was a maniacal little devil since the first time I laid eyes on him. Just look at that face, pretending to be all innocent and clueless.

When Nichkhun is angry, not only do you want to stay your distance, but you might wanna brush up on your foreign languages as well because (direct words from Wooyoung, minus the translation part->)"...He speaks English, Korean and Thai all at once." See! Isn't that hilarious? Honestly, I wonder what's going on in his head at a moment like that. I wish I could do that, but then again, when I think about it.....don't I? I mean I can't remember the last time I was truly in your face angry, but when I get upset, annoyed, or flustered the first thing to come out of my mouth is either Korean or French. I'm not fluent in either of the two by any means. More French than Korean, though.

Instead of a stream of words in either language coming from me, it's mostly those words, phrase, sounds, or expressions related to exasperation. Once I've exhausted that list it's back to English....unfortunately. Why do I do it? Hmm....well mostly it's because I feel like the language in question has exactly the appropriate expression that displays my frustration that doesn't exist in English (ha, that's kind of funny. anger that gets lost in translation). And now it's become so much a force of habit that it would be weird for me not do it. Zut Alors. Je ne sais pas quoi faire. 나 어떡해 (Na oetteokhae). These are the phrases that keep me sane. So, if that's the case, maybe in some weird way I do understand Nichkhun's mentality. It's either that or he just doesn't want others knowing what he's saying. One more time. Look at that face!

Doesn't it just scream "I'm up to something"? No? Geez, I can't win today. Seriously though, how can someone be that cute and not be up to something?

The Boys of Big Bang

So I just got finished watching the music video for Big Bang's new single "Tell Me Goodbye" from the IRIS Japanese OST (yep that's the same pic from allkpop.com, lol) and I have to say that.....I like :) It's really good, but honestly do you know how long it took me to realize that the first verse was in English. Well it didn't take that long really, but anything over not realizing it immediately is enough to make me wonder about myself. It wasn't until the end of the song that I realized they were saying the sound title "Tell Me Goodbye" in English. I know. Slow, right? But in my defense it's not everyday that I hear Korean artists song in English, and well. That's something I can always count on Big Bang for. Their English is really good. The best I've heard from any K-pop artist who wasn't born in and/or lived in an English speaking country for any number of years. It makes me wonder sometimes if they are actually fluent, like how well would they fare in conversation if someone randomly came up to them one day and started speaking in English.

Their Japanese on the order hand.....it sounds funny. Honestly, though! Like I have the right to say someone's Japanese sounds funny. I don't know Japanese....yet. If life goes according to plan (which it never does), I'll hopefully be taking it in Spring semester...hopefully. But comparing them to native speakers I've heard, I can heard their cute little Korean accents in their Japanese pronunciation like I do in English. But again their English is the best. And they don't even used proper speech. The way they talk is very vernacular....almost....heck, it's just straight up hood. They'd fit right in, here in the south. More than me even, but then again I know how to adapted to my surroundings. I can turn my "AAE" (African-American Ebonics) on and off depending on who my audience is. Like Sunday for explain surrounded by a whole bunch of kin folk. Oh no. You better believe I wasn't watchin my words in that atmosphere. But, I digress. Back to Big Bang.

I like the way the members looked.

G-Dragon seems to be stepping back to the normal side, kinda. I really liked his hair in this video and I don't know why.

TOP looked down right sexy. Don't ask. I just don't know myself right now. Normally I don't go for guys who smoke, but there's always an exception to every rule. And notice the little red streaks in his hair when you watch (if you haven't already). Aren't they cute?

Taeyang is sporting that little mohawk thingy, as always. Personally, I think he would look better without it cause it doesn't do much, but just make his head look pointy. It doesn't matter, I suppose. He still has a good voice. That's all I really look for. I don't expect much eye candy from him.

Seungri is interesting in my opinion. I know he looks good. I know it, but all I ever see when I look at him is ok. He's ok (boy if anyone ever actually read my blog, I'd probably get serious flames for that comment). He kept himself together in this video though. He did his thing with the rest of the members and that's really what counts.

Daesung looked really good and let me just say I'm proud of him for that. I normally only remember him as the guy who just can't seem to open his eyes. Don't think that's racist or anything. It comes from a misunderstanding I had while watching Big Bang on Intimate Note. Anyway, he was playing up the sex and I saw it. And I could really hear the power of his voice in this song, which really adds to the sex appeal.

But hey don't take my word for any of this stuff. Good check it out for yourself and if you already have. Check it out again. Yea, its that good :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE_4RtpVVaw

Enjoy!

Bonamana

I don't think I've expressed yet how completely and utterly proud I am of my Suju boys right now. Bonamana is an amazing song, and I even have this as my current Twitter status, but I still haven't been able to figure out if I like the song, because it's just awesome, Suju's just awesome, or both. I think it's both. I'm going to learn the dance to it even though it looks really complicated.

Miina, which is the Korean name of the song, means beauty, but I've yet to figure out what Bonamana means, if it means anything. But what's in a name? For now it matters not. What does matter, however, is this list of hopes and wishes I have for the success of Bonamana and Super Junior.

1. I hope that Bonamana blows every other come back song/album out the water in both success and sells.

2. I wish Bonamana was still trending on Twitter. When I saw it last some girl marked it at 36 hours, but I know it was much longer than that. It had a good run. I hope it'll start trending again. ELFs, where ya'll at!!?!

3. I wish Hankyung could be a part of Bonamana and SJ-Funky (hehe, funky), but I know that wherever he is in China, he is happy and proud of his fellow Suju members.

4. I wish SM would wise up and stop pissing people off. Make the Bonamana promotion a world tour. Heck, forget the world. Just come to America (east side, say what?).

5. I wish that Henry and Zhou Mi could be added to Suju-Funky. Kangin's doing military service. He's gonna be gone for two years. And I've counted Kibum gone since before Super Show 2, the jerk. With Suju-M on hiatus what else have they got to do.

*6.* I hope that Suju stays Suju for a long time, because what would my life be like without the world's largest boyband in it to make me laugh, cry, smile, scream, and totally spaz out fangirling. Sad! That's what it'd be. One sad life. Ha. I kid, but seriously let me put it like this...

If and when that time comes (cause nothing last forever. i have to accept that) I will morn the breakup of Suju like the loss of a good friend. And personally I blame technology for the fact that I can feel so close to guys that are literally on the other side of the planet and at the same time I'm not complaining. Honestly speaking I love these guys and I love their music. So please, if you're as big of an ELF as I am, or at least you think you are (lol), then share with me your hopes and dreams for Bonamana, and how you really feel about Super Junior.

Bonamana Fighting!!
Super Junior Fighting!!

Korean Music On Demand.....Is it here to say?

UGH!! Big fat yes? I hope it's a big fat yes. Last friday I blogged about my sister discovering Super Junior's Sorry Sorry Answer On Demand. Well, a couple of days later I once again get another excited text from her about her discovery of 2PM's Heartbeat and SHINee's Ring Ding Dong. And there are many more. However, after going to the internet about this interesting little phenomenon I discovered that this event is nothing new. It's apart of an even bigger event known as APAHM or Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and Comcast has been doing this in recognition/celebration of the event for I, think it was, the past two years. Sooo....if APAHM is the case then will I be able to find Japanese music on On Demand? Chinese? Thai? How about that good ol' Tagalog for your pleasure, hmm?

These are questions that I don't have the answer to, because I am currently not in the vicinity of a TV with Comcast, sadly. One thing I wonder though is that if this awesomely cool access to K-music is because of APAHM doesn't that mean that after May all the music will go away :'( ? Aish, least we not think about this until necessary. My advice to everyone, and myself, is too watch as much of it as possible (without frying any brain cells) and just be happy that it's here. Hooray if it's here to stay. Na oetteokhae if it's not. We could always: A) Be thankful that it was here to begin with and look forward to next May or to a world in general that's ready to accept kpop for the awesomeness that it is or B) Storm Comcast with petitions for why they should make kpop available all day everyday. Sound good? Well you diehards can grab your track shoes and clipboards. I've already established the fact that I'm not nearly as motivated as I need to be. I'm not into all that leg work, but contact me if or when you need a signature. I'll either be right here, laptop in hand, or somewhere dancin it out to Bonamana.

Blog Reformation

Not even a week into my summer vacation, or just about a week into it, I've had a bit of time to think about the future of this blog and what I want to do with it. At first I wanted it to be this broad thing about everything Korean Entertainment had to offer people and how it's expanding and starting to affect the entire world (mostly America). However, there was kind of a big hole in that mindset i.e. me and what I like. On a regular basis I'm not exposed to the entire k-wave thing. Heck, I don't even care about all of it. I care about what I care about and from now on that's how I'm going to write. No more trying to inform or entertain others. This blog is simply going to be about the parts of k-ent that I enjoy. No more structure either. I'm not always the most motivated person. I only write when I'm inspired to write, when I'm not I don't.....meaning I could post anywhere from twice a day to twice a month. It all depends. Sporadic I know, but humor me. And with that I sign off by officially welcoming you to K-Wave My Way formally known as Korean Wave Anyone. Hope this journey proves more exciting than the last.

Sorry Sorry Answer On Demand

Hello my peoples. I know that I said that the next post to go up would be one of your choosing (and wouldn't involved SM artists), but I just had to write this quick fast and in a hurry. Early this week my sister called me utterly ecstatic with the news that she found the video for Sorry Sorry Answer under All Videos M-Z on Comcast's On Demand. Of course the first thing I wanted to do was share the news, but this week I had finals :'( Doesn't matter, though. I'm free now. YES!!!!
So what does this event mean for the Korean Wave? Everything! It's more proof that this thing is real and that it's not going anyway. So for all of you Comcast subscribes hop on over there to On Demand and watch Super Junior's Sorry Sorry Answer before it expires. For the poor deprived souls who are without Comcast and in turn unable to celebrate in this stepping stone for the advancement of the K-wave, the video is linked below for you all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a507jISnumU

Enjoy!!

Korean TV: Dramas

Sorry this is a bit late. Initially I had about a page worth of writing, but then as I thought about it more I realized that most people wouldn't want to read a novel length blog post like alot of my others have been. I'll try to cut them down in size more, without taking away any of the good stuff hopefully. Anyway, I've broken this topic down into the three list you see below:

Completed Dramas:

~The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince (2)

~Take Care of the Young Lady (1)

~You're Beautiful (3)

Currently Watching:

~Oh! My Lady

~Personal Preference

~Princess Hours (Goong)

Recommended Dramas:

~IRIS

~Boys Over Flowers

~Creating Destiny

~Full House

~Shining Inheritence

~East of Eden

~Loving You A Thousand Times

For the completed dramas, I listed them based on the order in which I watched them. The number to the side is my opinion of the shows from greatest to least and I've hyperlinked the numbers so you can check out their summaries and see if they might interest you too. I didn't do that for any of the others, but looking up the show links is as easy as going on mysoju.com or if you just want the summary and a full list of the characters just travel on over to dramawiki.com. It has tons of K-dramas listed there, and J-dramas, Taiwanese dramas, Hong Kong dramas. You know, just in case you wanted to broaden your horizon a bit. Well that's all for this sections. Look out for the next part; movies. I feel that the movies and variety shows posts will be longer because I've watched so many of them. Oh well. I guess that just means more recommendations and amazing stuff for me to take about. Later :)

SM Entertainment: WHY!?

I have many great post coming up in the future. My finals that are coming up in a few weeks. Despite the fact that I should be studying right now I really had to write on this subject first. Here's the question: SM why don't you promote your artists better?

JYP is currently promoting his artists 2PM, 2AM, Wonder Girls, and himself in the States. While I'm all happy to see these barriers start to break down that keep the Korean Wave from crashing well into the U.S. mainland, to be honest these aren't the people I want to see. I support them. Don't get me wrong, but why can't it be a Super Junior concert or a DBSK concert. It makes no sense. It's not like they don't have fans here just waiting to snatch up tickets to have a, possibly, once in a lifetime chance of seeing these amazing artists perform live in the States. Now, I realize I may be a little SM artists biased, but I don't think it's something to apologize for. SM has some amazing, amazing artists and even the numbers will agree with me. DBSK for one, (if there is still a DBSK) has been in the Guinness book of world records twice, to my knowlegde. Once for having the largest official fanclub in the world- Cassiopeia. And again the following year for being the most photographed celebrity in the world- individual and group photos both included. In Japan, even this year they continued to exert their power as one of the best bands out there by creating numbers of new single/album sell records and crushing old ones set by no joke big name like Elton John and Bon Jovi. One doesn't get these numbers or have these successes by being terrible at what they do.

Super Junior, too, has made some major achievements as well. Concert after concert whether its nine of them or all thirteen they continue to sell out 15,000+ seated areans all across Asia. Their impact is so big that you just can't miss it. 2PM and 2AM of JYP Entertainment only exist today as two halves of the band One Day, because JYP wanted a band large enough in size that could revival Super Junior's awesomeness. No lie. I don't know the numbers, and I so wish I did, but I remember reading somewhere that Super Junior has the second largest fan club in the world, only lagging behind that of DBSK (*cough* not for long, though *cough*). I remember my friend coming to me one day-this is one of the ones who got me into K-Ent (Korean Entertainment)- while I was still a fledgingly fan of the whole thing and asked me why I still liked Super Junior. She told me that she was still a fan, but that there were much better artists out there. People with more talent. So I was curious, tested the waters a little. I got into 2PM some, Big Bang, F.T. Island, U-Kiss, all that jazz, and these are good artists, but to say that they are better is a stretch for me. Of course I believe that each band is gifted in theit own right, but after checking all their music out and going back to Suju (Super Junior's nickname) I became increasingly aware of the talent that Suju possessed.
At first I liked Super Junior, in part because of their singing, but also because they were drop dead funny. I'm guessing, because there are thirteen of them (yep, thirteen) it was harder for SM to keep track of their moves like they would with DBSK or H.O.T or Shinhwa, (when these guys were the stuff), so Suju had more freedom to be Suju. Perfect formula. Whenever I would watch a Suju variety show or something with Suju being their weird selves, then go back and watch one of their videos it would make me love them even more. My mindset would be "These clearly flawed, goofballs are international superstars? Yes!" They never tried to act serious or tough, from what I saw and to my knowledge all that I got from those shows was raw "this is who we are" Super Junior. And you know their -ness just pours right out, onto the stage. They don't pretend there either. No "hey look at me. i'm cool cause i can sing and dance at the same time without falling". At a Suju concert it's more like "hey look at me. i can sing AND i have a moose hat on" (lol Kyuhyun). Oh and by the way, they can sing. I don't know how many youtube videos I've watched of their live concerts, just smiling, staring in amazement at how awesome they sound. It's just love. And they're so involved with their fans too. The last concert of Super Show II looked less like a concert or work and more like an interactive party that the Super Junior members just happened to throw for their fans. I want that party feel here in the States.

Stupid SM. Why don't you wise up for once and stop depriving all the ELFs, Cassies, and Shalwols (those are SHINee fans) of the States? Great you've promoted in China, Japan, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Sweet, you've conquered East Asia, now take that train and continue east until you come into full contact with the Western Hemisphere. Don't stop! Keep it going and let's get this party started.

Korean Music and a Healthy Lifestyle

As it grows closers and closer to summer I have developed this desire to want to live healthier. After finals kill me and all of the work from the pass semester is done I'm going to have alot of time on my hands. Not much more, but surely more than I have had. However, despite that this is the time where students like me find themselves free from the burden of school, summer is funny in the sense that the blazing sun keeps the majority of us inside for the better part of the day.

One of my professors is a specialist in Environmental Science. He says that to protect your lungs from ozone, which plagues the southeast due to bad air quality, during the summer you shouldn't go outside between the hours of 2 and 6 pm. From a beauty specialist I heard that in order to protect your skin from the harmful effects of the summer's UV rays during the summer you shouldn't go outside during the hottest period of the day, which she said is between 11am and 2pm. Now of course life won't allow us to stay homebound for most of the day. I'm taking summer classes and I also work, but for the most part, I'm going to try and heed their warnings.

But what to do? What to do? That's about seven hours a day, especially on weekends that I'm stuck inside. Of course I have K-Ent (Korean Entertain), to keep me company. Even my first thought was "Stupid summer. Just another incentive to sit around the house doing nothing", but then I thought about it. Just because I have adopted a hobby/interest that keeps me glued in front of the computer for hours on end doesn't mean I have to gain weight from it due to limited exercise.

My mindset is exactly the opposite of that. While amping up the Korean enthusiasm I plan on shielding pounds this summer. How you might ask (glad ya did). It's simple: dancing!!! There are so many amazing dances out there in the k-music world and this summer I plan to learn as many as I can starting with these few:

~Chu

~Tell Me (full. i know some of it already)
~Love Like Oxygen

~Because of You

~Heartbeat (full)

~Abracadabra (sans that slutty floor dance part)
~Wrong Number
~Sorry, Sorry (full)

For those of you who are new to the k-wave all of these songs and their respective dances are searchable. With "Because of You" you might have to add the artist which is After School and "Wrong Number" is a DBSK song. As you can see from the list I'm totally impartial to whether or not the dance is by a girl or boy group. As long as it isn't anything too crazy or out the water I'm game for it all. I'm also putting together a workout playlist for when I do hit the gym in the morning or at night. What better way to feed the addiction than have the addiction help you slim down and tone up. I'll definitely make sure to keep you posted on my progress.

Korean TV: Dramas, Movies, Variety Shows and More

It seems that me and my friends have been full of good ideas lately. My friend Tae Hee (no she's not really Korean- wishful thinking) read my post about my newly discovered Korean husband and apparently, I must be a darn good writer, because she thought my idea was so good that she decided to "borrow" it. She even had the nerve to write in it that my hubby was cheating on me with her. That girl. Anyway, she uploaded another post recently about Korean Dramas. Now it's me who is inspired and I feel like writing my own post about k-dramas, except I won't only be talking about k-dramas. To be honest, I've only ever fully completed three. I'm not much of a drama watcher it's true (you can seriously waste away by watching those things. they're so addictive @_@), but it doesn't mean I haven't taken in my fair share of Korean TV. I have. Just through different media. Variety Shows for one. They are the best! Movies are good too. Game shows, guest interviews. They all fit. Honestly, I could write a novel on all the Korean TV goodness there is out there. But I won't.

Instead what I have decided to do is create a three part segment on k-tv. Dramas will be first, then movies, and variety shows and more will make up the last segment. In each I will tell you the shows (or movies) I have watched, the ones I'm watching, and the ones I want to watch. Even shows that I don't feel compelled to watch, but that I feel are interesting or vital to a Korean Wave goers knowledge will be mentioned. So just keep checking in on the site. Expect the first segment up by Thursday or Friday. Later!

Korean Husband

I have found my Korean husband. I know what you're probably thinking, "Geez, girl. You've been into K-pop for this long and you've only now found you're ideal type?" But that's not the case. I already have a K-pop husband. That would be Han Geng, a.k.a Hankyung of Super Junior (click his name to found out why). So yea, I have a K-pop husband already, but Hankyung is Chinese, so I feel that I'm entitled to another ideal type. A Korean ideal type. I currently have alot of Korean ideal boyfriends, like if this person asked me out I wouldn't hesitate to say yes. There's Big Bang's T.O.P and G-Dragon (when he's showering us with his cute side), Super Junior's Leeteuk and Eunhyuk (don't tell Hankyung), SHINee's Minho (though he's kinda young so I waver with him alot. Somehow I always let that masculine voice fool me), and possibly F.T. Island's Hongki. Those are all my Kpop boyfriends, but no K-pop idol has ever made it to the husband standard until now.

Who is that person, you ask? Should I be dramatic for this part? Well if you haven't figured it out from the massive picture that smacked you in the face right after the title there, that person is none other than DBSK's (TVXQ's) Shim Changmin (internationally known as Max). Since the Mirotic video where I saw this guy coming out of the water, I pegged him as my favorite DBSK member. This was before I even knew his name and now that I know more about DBSK, even though I think Jaejoong (Hero) has the best sense of humor and Junsu's (Xiah's, pronounced "shi-ah". geez what's with all these double names anyway @_@) voice is so cute and amazing, Changmin still remains in that immovable number one DBSK member spot.

Basically it goes like this: if Changmin were to, by some miraculously event come to my little dwelling place in the southern part of the U.S., get down on one knee and ask me to marry him, I promise you within less than a year's time I'd be Mrs. Changmin Shim (don't know how to write Korean style married names). Without even thinking I'd say yes. So there you have it. And if you'd like to see the video that pushed me over the edge just click the word video. He's like the first 16 seconds or so, and before you ask, yes it's true. I was won over by a perfect English accent, but in my defense he has spent over a year being my favorite DBSK member 'that guy who comes out of the water in the Mirotic video'.

To give you a little info on Changmin he is the magnae (the youngest) member of DBSK. He is snarky, audacious, and a little brutal to his hyungs (male version of 'older brother'. ladies your word is oppa so if you ever happen to find yourself in South Korea, don't use hyung unless you're referring to a male using it, which is probably still kind of weird, or you just wanna get laughed at). Depsite that these words may seem negative they are a part of his honesty and he's honesty is his charm. Don't get me wrong, he does have his cute moments too. Now, I don't know if I'm his ideal type or not be I read somewhere that he likes girls who can speak English. I speak English!!!:) Now all I have to do is get over that stupid language barrier that prevents me from speaking to him in Korean, or Japanese. Whichever, he knows both. Anyway, it's no secret that I've littered this text with links. Now, it's up to you to decide for yourselves if Changmin is 'Korean Husband Standard Worthy' because I already know he is :) .

Toki wo Tomete- Song of the Month

I have to write this really fast, cause I don't have much time to go into detail. Basically the song of the month is the song I exhausted the replay button listening to, by the end of the month that I post. At first I was going to do an easier, simplier "Song of the Week" theme. I may go back to that, but 1) I've been really busy with school and 2) I was so in love with this song that I found myself listening to it constantly and before I knew it, it was three weeks later. So to have you all understand why I was so smitten with this song here are two links down below. One is of the the music video and the other is just the song in general, for those of you who find yourself falling in love with the song and wanting to listen to the music sans music video. I also think the youtuber put a downloadable link into the descriptions. I'm not promoting piracy. I'm just saying if you want it, its there. Once iTunes finally gets with the program I'll definitely start promoting the purchasing of K-pop artists' merchandise. Anyway, with all that out of the way here are the links:

"Song of Month" March- Toki wo Tomete

Song MV:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmMn0zLJvYs

Just Song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxxVOjR8jME


BTW- For future references and to limit confusion I may start doing the Song of the Month during the middle of the month or I may just go with a Song of Choice idea, which will be a song I think I'll play a lot in the following month. With that idea I'll post the songs on first of the month for that month, as opposed to the last. Hope that's not confusing. We'll see what works out. Laterz!

Welcome!!

Hello and Welcome to "Korean Wave Anyone?" or KWA for short (no one calls it that just yet). For you all who were fed here from my last blog you pretty much know what's going on, but for those of you who are new to my blogs, I'll give you an overview of what's going on and what exactly "Korean Wave Anyone?" is all about. First off, let me introduce myself.

My name is Tamorie. From now on I'll refer to myself as T (no one calls me that, but you can if you want). I'm a 20 year old African American from the Southeast part of the States and I am pretty much.....obsessed?....addicted?....these words are so harsh to me. I prefer to use the term enthused. So, yea. I'm pretty much totally enthusiastic about Korean Entertainment, which I like to call K-Ent (it saves me typing space). So basically, this blog is an outlet for my K-ENT enthusiasm, which I hope you all will enjoy reading.