Archives For reality tv/variety

I had no idea that Lee Hyori was doing a brand new variety reuniting with Fin.K.L after all these years! I’m almost offended no one in the timeline talked about it. UNbelievable.

Now all I have to do is find the time to sit through several episodes, but I’ve already spoiled myself with all the clips posted on the JTBC channel. Of course, feelings were had.

Also, Lee Hyori, Queen of the Innocent concept xD~

Bless this concept.

I’m shook. For some reason SBS Catch has just uploaded the September 2017 episode of Law of the Jungle (정글의 법칙) featuring GFriend’s Yerin. I wasn’t expecting to sit through the whole episode, but I was really impressed with Yerin’s survival skills.

I was even more surprised to see how she handled the Monitor lizard, killing it, skinning it, and preparing it. I can’t relate. LOL She reminded me of Savage Yejin on Family Outing.

Ah, good times.

Mad respect. Yerin, fighting! Yeoja Chingu, fighting! YeoMaChinMoo, fighting!

Feelings. Feelings were had. Despite this divide of video/screen, I felt that. Faye’s that good. Imagine being there sitting in the PhantaCity studio watching a video of Faye Wong singing Dreams (梦中人) and, all of a sudden, Faye appears on the stage, right there, in front of your eyes. Woah. Shivers down my spine.

Truly a legend.

I honestly don’t have the time to keep up with variety shows on a regular basis, but this showed up on my YT recommendations and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to watch Leehom on a duet with Han Hong. It gave me goosebumps. I love Shangri-la (心中的日月) on its own original version, but this arrangement for Come Sing with Me (我想和你唱) just gave me the chills.

Han Hong’s voice goes so well with Leehom’s. ToT

Also, DAMN~ I used to not give much for Hebe’s voice, but girl has continued surprising me all decade. I don’t remember her being much of a vocalist, but I’m shooketh with her performance of Angel Devil (魔鬼中的天使). I wonder if she found Julio Iglesias’ not-so-secret microphone stash.

Leehom also got better. Maybe they’re all getting better sound engineers.

I’ve been watching NHK’s asadora, Hanbun Aoi (半分、青い。), intermittently like I always tend to do. At first, Mei Nagano made me think of a grown-up Ashida Mana which made no sense… even though Mana-chan is enormous and the last time I saw her it made me feel like those parents who watch their children turn into teenagers in horror. lol

But now I was watching the most recent episode of Tsurube no Kazoku ni Kanpai (鶴瓶の家族に乾杯) on NHK Premium, and she was featured wearing an up-do samurai bun, white baggy clothes; so relaxed, enjoying her snacks, a dip of her feet in onsen water, greeting fans and playing other young girls. Dorky charisma, yo~ It takes a special ability to have people younger than you to “kawaiiiiiiiiii” you so sincerely. LOL

Bless their hearts.

Mamamoo and being a Moomoo has made me realize that I should be a better fan to my idols, so I’ve been reconnecting with my Everlasting roots. Bless Brown Eyed Girls, bless JeA, bless Miryo, bless Narsha and bless GaIn. They were my original favorites back when I got into Kpop, but never had enough to really get into them. I swear, if there was a MamamooTrans version of BEG back then, I would totally be a hardcore Everlasting.

BEG are so SO funny, I’ve been recently watching their Mepsi appearance, and I don’t even have an interest in makeup or actually get half the show since it’s a mix of Korean with Chinese subs, and my makeup-beauty Chinese vocabulary is poor. LOL I caught a glimpse of them learning Mandarin and I couldn’t resist, though. I’m usually a JeA racoon-leader stan [1][2], but I’ve gotten acquainted with my new-found love for Miryo. I really lost it when she try telling her model that she’d be doing her eye makeup, but came out as “Wo EYE Ni” xD

Then there was their presentation on Weekly Idol, of course. Weekly Idol was one of the shows that got me into Mamamoo as well, and I remember watching BEG’s and finding it hilarious. They can be so much alike in their Random Play, but also comically true Adult-dols, especially JeA and Narsha asking for Red Ginseng and Oriental Raisin Water xDDDDDDD

Of course I’m still hung up on the perfection that was Sixth Sense, I do not regret buying the regular version AND the collector repackage. It’s really my most precious BEG possession.

Also! Request for having a show with Mamamoo or BEG where they learn a language. There’s actually several shows on NHK where idols/actors learn French, Spanish and Chinese (and various English language shows), so this can totally be a concept.

Hyori has been delivering on variety shows and interviews all week- people are loving Hyori’s Bed & Breakfast; I’ve been emo because of that moment when Hyori was teaching IU about life as a 20-something. She’s just full of ‘life as a celebrity’ wisdom. She talks about her marriage, controlling her temper, her insecurities releasing music, not having endorsements or doing commercials for a living, and trying to profit from just music.

She’s just realizing that you can’t make a living doing just music in Korea. I’m actually quite shocked that she says that Psy only made $38k with Gangnam Style. That’s a HUGE shock. I also hope that’s only what streaming and downloads did in South Korea, because I’d be super shocked if that includes the YouTube, iTunes and Spotify fees.

Biases, biases everywhere!

I don’t really follow Chae Ri-na, but even she’s super hilarious too! And, damn~ I missed Kahi. And damn~ Narsha the instigator. Damn, Hyori’s variety skills [1][2][3]. Damn, my Family Outing heart. I’ve had so many feels with Hyori’s Comeback -especially Black [MV] with subbed lyrics- and her Comeback Stage at Show Champion. And the crowning of IU, and the looking at the Mamamoo kids.

I had a wild week~

Happy 3rd Anniversary, Mamamoo!

Circle of friendship, Moomoos!

I’ve been so emotional this weekend, and got more Emo for the anniversary xD

This helped:

I always give a special shout out to all the people involved in MamamooTrans, who do an incredible job at keeping all non-Korean-speaking iMoomoos up to date. Without them, getting to know Mamamoo would be a thousand times more difficult and not such an amazing ride as it had been so far. VLives, clips, interviews, and most of all, fan meetings. Thank you guys for spoiling us as much as Mamamoo does.

As Mamamoo prepares for their comeback this week [Praise the L0rd! But let them succeed!], I’ve been getting my fix with Moonbyul on IDOT. I’ve been loving the girls in IDOT, but specially Somi and Seulgi and D.ANA. And now their Immortal Song performance, their most recent VLive [Did you guys stay up or woke up earlier for it?]. I am ready for the 22nd.

I already pre-ordered Purple — the double album version, I don’t even know why — so I am ready for it to be released.

I mean, really.

You can tell I’ve been watching a lot of Sister’s Slam Dunk lately; like- I’m not even waiting for subtitles to watch, and I re-watch the episode once again with subtitles once it’s uploaded on the KBS YT channel. I’m following Unnies on VLive LOL

Han Chaeyoung is so interesting ‘coz she’s so out of her element. I mean, everyone’s hilarious. Somi’s giraffe impression was so on point, Yewon’s dancing levels are top-notch (and her improvement levels is off the chart), Jinyoung’s levels of charisma is crazy, Kim Sook and Jinkyung continue being hilarious (Kim Sook continues to surprise), Minzy’s levels of professionalism and talent are apparent. However, the level of difficulty for Chaeyoung is very noticeable, which makes her the most endearing.

I mean, we all wish we could have Hong Jinkyung levels of confidence when singing and dancing LOL but we’re all so self-conscious, Chaeyoung is all of us. I mean, she’s Korea’s Barbie Doll, sure, but she’s all of us in the show, no?