First off, really want to thank the viewers that have been staying with me here even when I was gone for months and I’m hoping to catch some new viewers and improving my writing style. I’m back! but not daily, probably once or twice on the weekend just to put in some thoughts about more controversial issues in kpop… You’ve probably noticed that my posts don’t have pictures and videos anymore and that’s because my computer for some reason doesn’t allow the Insert Picture device to work so I’m really p.o. right now. Hopefully, I’ll be getting a new comp in December (a MAC!!) and that’ll make everything work a lot smoother. For now, I’m just trying to copy and paste. Well that’s it for now and please check out my Jaebum article… well unless you’re really sensitive because it’s not the nicest article I’ve written The Original Soundtrack page may or may not be updated becaus it’s been a while since the last update (I believe kkotnam?!) and for those of you asking about the passwords, please read the introduction paragraph! I also plan on releasing a Fall/Winter drama preview for you guys this weekend of the next! Please feel free to leave any kind of comments!

WARNING: If you are highly sensitive or have excessive Korean Pride you may want to stray away from this article.

I’ve been on a hiatus for a while, but with this new controversy over Jaebum and 2PM, I feel that I have to put in my two-pence. For those of you unaware of the situation, here are the facts. Jaebum apparently was on myspace and fans went on to see if they could catch a word or two. Instead, netizens decided to do what they always do and do some digging and found quotes of Jaebum calling Korea gay and so forth from about 3-4 years back. Immediately, Jaebum issued an apology about how back then he was knew to Korea and was a trainee. As a result, anti-fans and netizens went crazy and made a Jaebum Suicide Pact stating that Jaebum should commit suicide because of what he said. This petition got 3,000 signatures while another petition to forgive Jaebum acquired 6,000 signatures. In response, Jay left Korea at 6:30pm KST and was scheduled to arrive at Seattle at noon PST. Now these are the facts. Let’s get into some juicy opinion.

I’m not a really strongly opinionated person, but going to an all Korean school in Southern California can give you some perspective. One thing that’s known by us “outsiders” is that Korea are really bad at welcoming foreigners, and in this case idols. Foreigners don’t just include stars like Nickhun from 2PM and Hangeng from Super Junior, but idols from the States feel the heat once in a while as well. Maybe the fans don’t have a huge problem during the performances, but Koreans really got to tone down their pride a little bit. Focusing on what Jaebum said: “Korea is gay”. First, he said it 3-4 years ago when he was a trainee, away from his parents, contrasting cultures and language barrier. So it’s not uncommon for him to think it, it’s just that he decided to put it on myspace. Trust me, all actors/singers/idols have one point in their life when, because of netizens, they really think Korea is just retarded. But that’s why they are called netizens, because of their pointless poking and accusations. Even so, I can understand why they got angry, cuz someone called their country gay… it’s understandable and not all that surprising. The suicide pact however, was completely and utterly unecessary and absurd. Yah, Jaebum go kill yourself because you dissed my country. Get a life will you. Maybe it’s all that anger that Koreans get because they can’t masacre all the Japanese people so they put this anger out on netizens. See, now you know why actors and actresses start killing themselves all over the place. This explains it. It’s like netizens are those sassy kids that talks back to basically everyone, but then suck up to teachers. You just wanna take a bamboo stick and thwack some sense into them. And you know the best part is, netizens don’t even know their wrong and ridiculous. Like about Chansung littering during the Wild Bunny episode. OMG Chansung littered. Let’s make a huge deal. The only people can say that is if they never littered. And everyone has littered. So you netizens just keep your damn mouths shut.

You might be thinking that I’m being too harsh. Yah, but netizens have just gone over the border. I mean sometimes celebrity suicides seem distant because you aren’t constantly listening to their songs or watching their dramas. I don’t know why netizens decided to rip Jay’s head apart, but they just lost some talent and I hope they know that. And just in particular for you netizens who think that idols are perfect, they come from people. You know like the general population. Not from planet Perfect here. So I suggest you either support whoever you wanna support and just back off if you don’t like something instead of making a suicide petition. If you can spend hours finding teenie weenie mistakes of idol lives that happen to all of us, claps for you, now get your ass off the chair and go get a job, because your probable unemployed and using the library computer. Or just go get a bamboo stick or like a kimchi cabbage or whatever and hit some sense until yourself you get it, or you just die since apparently you want everyone else dead.

Rating: 82/100

Probably one of my favorite of the Harry Potter movies so far, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was quite a movie! You might be wondering, if it was such a good movie, why the low rating? Well, because plotline and and some other quirks. After watching Harry Potter movies for so many years if you still expect the movie to stick word for word on to the book and never stray away, I suggest that you never see a Harry Potter. It’s impossible to do so without making it a 4 hour movie and it’s just too much. I was surprised with the humor that was incorporated into the movie, mostly about girls and such, but it did make me laugh quit a bit. In the midst of all the horcruxes and dying, it was refreshing to have some laughter. In addition, if you like watching chick flicks this might a more enjoyable Harry Potter than the rest, as the director and producer emphasis a lot on the romance that is going on at Hogwarts. Love potions, relationships, lucky potions and much more happen. Two main relationships of course are Hermoine and Ron and Harry and Ginny. Hermoine and Ron’s relationship is one more formed out of jealousy and chance and much more obvious with Hermoine crying and anger. However, Harry and Ginny’s relationship struck me as much more subtle in the sense that it was a little choppy but it was actions more than words that showed their feelings. The graphics and scenery were great as usual, although not as much scenery as seen in the other movies. Minor characters played their part well, that it for their two-mintues on screen. Bellatrix LeStragne was quite the character and at the end I was convinced that she was deranged.

The lack of minor characters brings around the flaw of this movie, not just because it seems to be a trend in all Harry Potter movies, but because it poses a problem in the end. I’m not going to list all the things that were changed and left out because that’s all posted on wikipedia. But for example, the meeting between the Muggle Prime Minister and Cornelius Fudge at the beginning of the book was left out, posing a problem for the seventh book. Luna Lovegood was also on the screen for about 5 minutes when it seemed that she was a much more important character and shared much more dialogue in the book as she becomes an important character in the book. Lupin and Tonks and the Weasley parents also shared their two minutes on screen, but without much dialogue if any at all. It seemed that the director wanted us to dip our toes into the pool of minor characters just so we knew that the didn’t all die.

But for you Harry Potter fantics who are waiting for the final installment of the movie, it seems decided that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be split into two movies the first of which will be released in November of 2010 , which will be released about 8-9 months apart. Not a really smart move and I’m sure that fans will be petitioning for months as they did for this movie… but it’s all about the marketing. Hopefully splitting the movie will give for more accurary in the movie!

The Man Who Can’t Get Married. Interesting title. Self-explanatory. Comeback drama for Ji Ji Hee and Umg Jung Hwa. This drama created a lot of hype when Kim So Eun become part of the cast, however, she was only able to land a supporting actress as in Boys Before Flowers. The casting is pretty strong, but the rating are failing miserably, most of the time barely being able to hit the top 20. Why? I really don’t know. I strongly suggest the drama. Cute love plot on the side. Funny characters. What is there not to love? Well, it seems that fans just haven’t been able to feel the beat of the drama. Maybe because there hasn’t been any car crashes, spontaneous deaths, tragic breakups in bars or running on the rain yet. Personally I try to stray AWAY from that. It’s a more slow paced drama in the sense of love stories, but it doesn’t feel dragged and Ji Jun Hee does a great job acting in here as a paranoid architect Strongly suggested and I hope that the directors and writers keep up the good worK!

Dream Preview

SBS’s new drama Dream shows off it’s star studded cast in it’s 40 sec preview especailly actress debut Son Dambi and Boys Before Flower’s Kim Bum. It’s a lot of eye candy and I’m sure there is a lot of buzz going around about the cast. Kim Bum seems to be exploring different characters from a young village boy turned gangster in East of Eden to a rich boy in Boys Over Flowers, and now boxer? I hope the popularity of the cast won’t be the only thing holding up this drama and that the plot line will have some twists in it. Not tragic twists. But ones that require actual though to create. Watch out for this drama coming up after Ja Myung Go on the 27th!

So Nyo Shi Dae – Kissing You

So Nyo Shi Dae – Gee

Kara – Honey

With the rise to popularity of Wonder Girls, So Nyo Shi Dae and Kara at the end of 2007, we saw a surge of cute trends from Kissing You to Nobody to Pretty Girl. Some may argue that Wonder Girls weren’t really carrying the “cute” trend, but Nobody outfits had it’s own cute appeal. It seemed that kpop fashion designers were only able to come out with outfits to make their stars look like twelve and thirteen year olds rather than young adults. At the beginning of the year, So Nyo Shi Dae’s record breaking song Gee continued the cute trend but with a bit more a mature spin to the outifts. However, with the debut of 2NE1, After School, and most recently 4Minute, there had been a drastic trend to vibrant neon colors, tights, crazy hair and sunglasses. Will this be the new trend for the next years to come, or will it be too much for fans to handle in the long-term?

2NE1 – Fire

4Minute – Hot Issue

After School – Diva

I know that I’ve been a hiatus for a couple months, but summer is already half way through and even though I’m still busy preparing for college, I’ll try to update as much as possible. Thanks for your patience!

Yes, I know this is late new, but just bare with me here. YG Entertainment has finally released 2NE1, their new girl group known infamously as the spin off of Big Bang. It seems that it’s the trend now, with So Nyo Shi Dae being the spin off of Super Junior. But nonetheless, I think they deserve a fair chance. Their recent CF with Big Bang was a huge hit especially with the dijital release of their song Lollipop. But keep a  look out for their new girl group that might make our three rival groups turn into a four way square of hate (or love, if you prefer/believe in the everyone-is-friends theory).

WARNING: this is probably not the most interesting post I have ever written, more like a financial view on kpop, but I mean where are you not going to here are money in this economy?

The Korean Times Music Festival Hollywood Bowl is considered the biggest korean concert held here in America and attracts fans from Los Angeles to New York to Toronto as it is one of the few concerts that allow North American fans to catch a glimpse of their idol stars that are usually thousands of miles away. In the past, HB has welcomed reknowned idol groups such as Big Bang, So Nyo Shi Dae, SS501, Epik High, Baek Ji Young, Dong Bang Shin Ki, etc. and although it is meant to aim for a a wider audience, it is infamous a the concert of all concerts for teenagers and college kids. With last year’s list inviting So Nyo Shi Dae, Dong Bang Shin Ki, Super Junior and more, one would think that this year’s would be just as solid, no? But what seemed to be a United States recession has now become a global recession, becoming more apparent to fans around the world.

Speculation

For some, HB is the place to see all the idol stars, but with the growing economy up until recent months, HB started to turn into a money-making opportunity for speculators. In a nutshell: fans buy tickets at Korean Times in mass, up to 4-6 tickets, the day the tickets come out. Many times, these are the people that live close or can get their hands on the tickets the fastes. Now, let’s say the terrace tickets are selling for 150 dollars apiece and you ordered the ticket at the end of January or early February when none of the artists have been released. Now, most times, these sellers will post their tickets on blog or soompi at a price, say $175. Then the ticket may be bought by a hardcore Super Junior fans, who has missed the chance to get a good terrace seat and even thought the extra 25 dollars may seem to be a lot, but it is pretty reasonable. The speculation comes more into play as more artists are being released and the better the list is, the higher the prices go. Some pool seats, standard at 200 dollars a piece are sold for 450 dollars a piece at prime time. The whole ideal is to get the tickets at a reasonable price and just god damn hope that some good artists are coming.

What Happened to HB 2009?

It seems that Korea Times has released it’s final artist list Girls’ Generation (SNSD) | Lee Juk | Lena Park | Kim Changwan Band | Son Ho Young | SHINee |Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter | Kim Heung Gook | Tae Jina | Tenor Um Jung Haeng |Kim Tae Woo | Baek Ji Young|SS501 (all five members) | Min Hae Kyung.  Now, maybe i’m not so up-to-date with korean music, but it you were to show this list to me, I would only recognize about 5-6 of the artists, not even considering that I don’t really like all of the ones that I know. So for any teenager, this is a damn disappointing list, not saything that I wouldn’t want to listen to all the older artists, but it’s more of a monetary concern. Yah, I’d probably want to see Shinee, So Nyo Shi Dae, SS501, and Baek Ji Young, but is it worth 200+ dollars? It seems that KT was hoping that with the recent Kkotnam craze, that SS501 would be able to boost some sales. But reality is, tickets are selling like hotcakes, and for those folks who are dead set on going, I don’t advise you to buy the ticket just yet. On soompi (http://www.soompi.com/forums/index.php?&showtopic=274111&st=80) it may seem that some ticket prices are still high, but as the sellers are becoming more and more depsperate, prices will start to lower and get closer and closer to the original price. If you’re really a whimsical person, just wait a couple days beforehand and I can almost guarantee a good price. Many Super Junior, DBSK, and Big Bang fans are dropping out and their ticket are up for sale. So go out and get yourself some tickets!

Super Junior has been gone for about a year anad a half now, just like So Nyo Shi Dae, but for those hard core fans that have been waiting all this time all I have to say is: damn, it was worth the wait. It seems that Super Junior has finally transformed from cutesy men, to punk, to finally men, performing with suits and clean haircuts rather than white streaked hair and dangling clothes. I mean, I loved U, but it seems that Super Jnior was the last to hop off the trend of the late 1990 and early 2000 when everyone else was moving towards a more “gentlemen” look. Can’t say the same thing about girl bands, but that’s for another day. But, see for yourself.

Super Junior – Sorry Sorry Performance (Music Bank 3.14.2009)