Tag: reality tv/variety

  • Lee Hyori on Making Money Doing Music on Happy Together

    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 Being Dorks on Radio Star~

    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~

  • Emo for Mamamoo

    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.

  • Look at Han Chaeyoung’s Face, tho~

    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?

  • April Blessings~

    It’s no longer Whee-in’s birthday in S.Korea, but it still technically is here— so, Happy Birthday Wheepup! You Spongebob-laughing tripe-and-raw-liver-eating laughing machine you. I still haven’t check out the recent Bday Vapp, but bless you, Mamamoo kids.

    April started with blessings of Shiina Ringo releasing her concert DVD/Bluray Hyakkiyagyo 2015 (百鬼夜行2015) [which is the term used for onis, yokais, monsters and spirits whatevers doing a conga line through the night (LOL)]; then Gesu Kiwami are finally releasing their Daruma Ringo (達磨林檎) [which was supposed to released last year], which are set to be released in May. There were also announcements of a new BiBi album and a Mamamoo comeback.

    Mamamoo, of course, have been blessing us all year— I’ve sorta lost track of the many song releases, but I’m pretty sure it was like this: LOVE for the Goblin OST, Solar’s collab with Luna and Hani for Honey Bee, Solar’s Emotion Part 4, San E’s collab with Hwasa in I Am Me, Jungkey’s son with Whee-in Anymore, Double Trouble Couple for the Strong Woman Do Bong Soon OST, and now eSNa’s collab with Hwasa Love Comes. Bless and poor, yo!

    I’ve also just discovered DADARAY, Residente (otherwise known as the voice of Calle 13) released his new album [1]… and so did La Vida Boheme [1], Mary and the Witch’s Flower (メアリと魔女の花) LOOKS FREAKING AMAZING, I’ve been watching Sister’s Slam Dunk Season 2 and loving every minute of it, and Minzy’s made her official comeback with the release of Minzy Work 01 UNO and NINANO, as a main single.

    Last night, of course, started with Minzy’s comeback, but got so much better with the announcement that Shiina Ringo did a CM for a Luxury Mall, but the song they did expanded into a digital single called Menukidori (目抜き通り), which is set to be released on the 20th, which is the day of the mall’s inauguration [1]. And then I found out that Jambinai released a new song called Damdamhi Jeogsigona (담담히 적시고나), which translates to “slightly wet,” which features the voice of folk singer Park Min Hee (박민희) [1].

    Then I went to bed, and Mamamoo was in it. I talked (and laughed) a lot with Whee-in [this is the first time I interact, in broken English, with Mamamoo]. It was a party, and Shahrukh Khan was also there hahahahaha, so I got to shake his hand xD and then I went to talk to Hwasa, and she was telling me she was planning to come to Peru to visit Machu Picchu, so I was like- giving her tips. Sting was also there (so random!), and he had hair. HAHAHA.

    Bless my Wheesa dream, though. Wheesa’s not my bias OTP, but bless them.

  • Top50 Songs of 2016

    Here it is! My final list of 2016~

    I usually post my Top50 right after my Music Highlights, but my schedule has been all wonk this year. I know I’m very inactive on this blog, but I still hope the very few of you that still visit the site had a wonderful holiday week and that you are having a blast this New Year’s Eve. I wish for y’all’s good fortune this coming 2017 because we know we’ve had a rough 2016. Let us all recharge, and cross fingers for some very need good vibes~

    Leave y’all with the link~

  • The Pop Cultural Relevance of Shunji Iwai’s Love Letter

    Shunji Iwai’s neo-classical romance, Love Letter, about the woman who wrote letters to her deceased lover and got responses back, is over 20 years old now since its release. However, its mark as a pop culture reference across Asia is undeniable. In its time, the film made actress Miho Nakayama a household name, and it launched Shunji Iwai’s filmmaking career (and hence has given us: Ayumi Ito and Yu Aoi).

    The film’s style and cinematography, courtesy of Noboru Shinoda (RIP) has inspired countless of filmmakers across East Asia who have headed to Otaru (小樽市) or other similar snowy places to capture the essence of the film [cue: 张一白 Zhang Yibai’s segment in Run for Love (奔爱), which featured Eddie Peng and Zhang Ziyi], and the classic (though simple) quote of “o-genki desuka?” (お元気ですか？) [1] has been referenced in various places…

    Just look at the members of -relatively new- Kpop group G-FRIEND, who played a round of movie quotes to decide who would be the host of that specific One Fine Day episode’s segment (10 months after their debut). The group is formed by 6 young women, all who were born post-95. In fact, eldest member (and leader of the group), Sowon, was born almost 8 months after the release of Love Letter. But it is member Yuju (’97) who first references the movie with the knowledge of all the group.

    one-fine-day-ep3-gfriend-yerin-sinb-yuju-shunji-iwai-ogenki-desuka-love-letter

    So if you put your hands close together to shout out the words “o-genki desuka?” and the person in front answers back the same way with a “atashi genki desu.” That’s a Shunji Iwai shout-out to ya~

  • September Fandom Crossover Musings~

    Mina-san! Genki? Ha!

    Forgive the complete absent from the blog recently (two entries last month, and this is the first one this month!), I’ve been generally “more busy” updating the MUBI (the site formerly known as The Auteurs lol) database than even actually keeping up with news (trailers/music) on YAM Magazine or watching movies and shows. I’ve also been occupied watching Korean shows, which tend to make everyone procrastinate. And it’s not like it was priority-watching, either~ I’ve been watching Solar and Eric Nam’s We Got Married episodes, but my favorite watch and re-watches was Mamamoo x GFRIEND’s Showtime.

    I don’t actually stan GFRIEND, and I already have biases. Bless.

    moonbyul-sinb-new-girl-crush

    Bless, SinB. Bless SinB with Moonbyul, Bless New Crush Star. LOL

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  • Mohammed Assaf – Ya Halali Ya Mali

    Just got the chance to watch Hany Abu-Assad’s The Idol and have gotten properly acquainted with Arab Idol winner Mohammed Assaf— I was impressed. He’s got a great voice, and he’s quite good looking! He’s also got the grace of God on his side, coz’ gosh~ really.

    Full album is available on iTunes.

  • The Poor Lil’ Dragon of We Got Married

    So I started watching We Got Married for the first time. I had previously just watched clips when GaIn used to be on it, but never got into it full on. But since I’m in my complete Mamamoo fan mood, I just couldn’t miss Solar (my bias, though… this keeps changing) in all her dork splendor!

    I was not disappoint~ xD

    solar-we-got-married-stuffed-dragon

    I mean, when has Mamamoo failed to make me crack up? I wonder how this went when editing the episode, they probably laughed their butts off because…

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