Saturday, October 30, 2010

The biggest boy band in the world? JYJ

(click on the name of the post to be redirected to the original Yahoo.com article)

Official JYJ website: http://www.tinsel-pr.com/JYJ/index.html

JYJ consists of Kim Jaejoong, Park Yoochun, and Kim Junsu. They were in the Guiness book of world records in 2008 and 2009 for having the biggest fan club. They had more than 800,000 members in South Korea.They are also known for being the most photographed celebrities on the planet (they've been snapped professionally approximately 500 million times).

(Actually, TVXQ holds those records, not JYJ)

JYJ is now a global boy band. The just released their first English album titled The Beginning on Atlantic Records.2 songs on the album, "Empty" and "Be My Girl", were produced by Rodney Jerkins. Rodney has worked with popular American artists such as Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, Janet Jackson, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, and Mary J. Blige. The single "Ayyy Girl" was produced by Kayne West.

The members of JYJ started performing together in Korea in 2003 as part of TVXQ. TVXQ was also known as DBSK in Korea. While they were in TVXQ they sued their record label, SM Entertainment, to get out of a 13 year "slave" contract.

JYJ has become very popular.They were on a recent cover of Billboard magazine which sold out in 24 hours. The record company had to stop pre orders for the new album because there was too much demand.


(I didn't even know that DBSK(TVXQ) wasn't together anymore! I liked DBSK. I really liked their song "Wrong Number".)

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Music Videos: 2AM "Like Crazy" and "You wouldn't answer my calls"

2AM's new album "Saint O'Clock" has finally been released. 2 new music videos were also released.




"Like Crazy"



The melody is very similar to "I can't let you go even if I die"

"You wouldn't answer my calls"

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Music Video: "I'll Be Back" 2PM

2PM is one of my favorite K-pop groups.




John Park is runner up on Superstar K2

John Park is a 23(korean age) year old Korean American from Illinois. He attended Northwestern where he performed in a group called Purple Haze.

here's a clip:




I first started following John Park on American Idol in 2010. I thought he was really handsome and had a great voice. I was disappointed that he didn't get much screentime on AI until the finals. He advanced to the top 24 and was eliminated on March 4, 2010.
 
His audition for American Idol:
 

 
Then I was browsing news articles and I saw that he was competing on Superstar K2. Superstar K2 is the Korean verson of American Idol.I haven't watched any of the shows since I'm in the USA, but I have been reading articles to see how far he continues to progress in the competition.

His audition in LA for Superstar K2: (embedding disabled)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUriUeSP-D0

The winner (허각-Huh Gak) receives 200 million won ($177,000) and a chance to release and album.


Huh Gak-26 from Incheon-winner of Superstar K2

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Children's songs: 산토끼

On Twitter I keep seeing references to 산토끼(especially among Rain fans) He even tweeted something about it this week-.우리 식구들 싼토끼!

I had no clue what it was. So I left a tweet on my feed that said "What is 산토끼?". Today I got a response from a Korean. Its a mountian rabbit.

In Korea there is a popular children's song called San Toki. I thought I would look it up and post it on my site.

First Verse:


산토끼 토끼야 어디를 가느냐

깡총깡총 뛰면서 어디를 가느냐

Second Verse:

산고개 고개를 나혼자 넘어서

토실토실 알밤을 주워서 올테야
 
First Verse:


Mountain bunny, bunny

Where are you going?

Bouncing, bouncing as you're running.

Where are you going?

Second Verse:

Over the mountain peaks, peaks

I will climb them on my own

Plump, plump chestnuts

I will find and bring
 
Here's a video clip of some women singing the song:
 

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Seoul Subway fight video spreads across the Internet

EDIT (October 6) The video has been removed from youtube due to terms of violation.
What started the fight? The young girl crossed her legs and got mud on the older woman's pants. The girl apologized, but in an informal way. (In Korea respect for elders is really important and you must use different speech levels for people who are older. Then the fight breaks out.

I personally think that the old woman was out of line. The girl accidentally got mud on the woman's pants. Sure it was wrong for her to speak in an informal way, but that doesn't give the woman the right to torture that girl like that. Getting physical with her wasn't necessary.

Everyone watches, but no one tries to stop the fight. One man says she should stop, but she argues with him also.

The recorded tussle has caused a huge stir among Korean netizens. According to a netizen this woman is constantly bullying younger people to give up their seat for her.

(I understand respecting your elders, being older doesn't give you the right to push younger people around)

The video was filmed on a cell phone. The girl saw the person recording and told them to upload it to youtube. Some netizens are saying that it is an invasion of their privacy.