K-Variety Recommendation: Weekly Idol (주간 아이돌 )

K-Variety Recommendation: Weekly Idol (주간 아이돌 )

I love variety shows. The most interesting ones are Korean Variety shows. One amongst them shines at the very top, and it’s called “Weekly Idol”. I have been hooked to this show for quite some time and continuously doing marathons. Not only this show has introduced me to new and old idol groups, which I would otherwise be reluctant to follow, but the laughter it gives is the best anti-depressant out there for K-Pop lovers, take it from the girl who has always relied on these kind of shows (variety or drama) for emotional support. I mean, I do sound biased then, but I can really, really, always, go back to the shows. They’re the best.

This particular one is very famous. Two MCs, Jung Hyung Don and DeffCon, also known as Doni-Coni pair in the show, invite an idol group for their weekly episode and then do different segments with the members. The instant reactions bring much laughter, especially when the idol groups are male idol groups. Doni-Coni, don’t hesitate in making fun of or sarcastic remarks on the idols. And in the process, get humiliated (in a comic way) too, by much much junior idols.

What’s the best thing is, the show has been on for more than four years, they shoot it in a basement room whose walls are totally white, no paintings, nothing. Sounds depressing, right? But the colorful CG and appropriate music doesn’t let you feel gloomy about the background. The effects are just too awesome! More awesome are the games they play. The show has come a long way since it started back in 2011. They have changed and added a lot of corners. Idols have started to come individually as well to promote their solo albums and all. There have been episodes where senior groups come to promote their junior groups. There have always been those summer specials, anniversary specials etc. where they do the broadcasts outside, sometimes even going international.

And why do I suddenly feel to write about this show has got two reasons. One, as stated earlier, I have been doing marathons for this show for past one week. Second, reason, this news: jung-hyung-don-to-leave-broadcast-activities-because-of-anxiety-disorder

Although, the show is not going to be the same without him, I wish him good health recovery and please sir, come back soon!

Various corners they have/ had are as follows (I might be missing some, I haven’t come across more segments in the episodes I have watched, though I know more exist. Please, feel free to add in comments):

1. Random Play Dance: One of my favourites. They play the hit songs of idols randomly, starting from any verse and idols have to perfectly dance to the songs. There is always that black hole who forgets his/her position and leads to humorous situations.

2. Profile Verification/Rewrite: This is another favorite of mine. Idols have their profiles posted on their official accounts and fan cafes. These are generally specs like height and personal talents they have. The producers compile these facts and the MCs do their best to prove the claims false, going as far as negotiating the heights mentioned in the profile XD

Weekly_Idol_MC_ask_Dong_Woo_to_sleep_on_show_INFINTE
Dong Woo from Infinite had to sleep during the show to prove that he can sleep instantly on lying down XD

3. DoniConi Idol Call Center: The Weekly Idol team receives calls from idol group’s fans and ask them to answer the questions or make them do what the fans want. A lot of times it includes doing aegyo, measuring various body parts, even the circumference of thighs or maximum length of open eyes, touching the butts etc. Hilarity ensues. Earlier, they used to take questions from Twitter, but now direct calls are taken.

4. 99 Seconds Challenge: The idols have to complete a team relay challenge in time specified by MCs, based upon number of people, generally 99 seconds. If, even one member fails, they have to start the whole thing again. If they’re unable to complete the mission, they are given punishment specified by group members only.

5. Idol Self-Ranking: MCs ask idols to rank themselves based on some random criteria and group members have to do so.

In recent years, they have introduced a lot of prizes for idols including Korean beef, housewarming gifts etc. on winning and punishments like toy hammer etc. on losing the games. I’ll try to compile the links I have got, where I go and watch the episodes. These might be overlapping and don’t belong to me. Due credits to their owners:

 

Weekly Idol Episode WiseWeekly Idol Eng Sub on KShowOnline

Playlist: Weekly Idol with INFINITE:

Playlist: Weekly Idol with BEASThttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuauCNpO0hi33Viu3i4-AIqgKZJ0ABLrh

Weekly Idol with CNBluehttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlO8qg4nYPIJ6qQNttdpFtjQRnLAPsCG8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s73-SBGG-lU

Weekly Idol with EXOhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nCz7d5pTd8

Weekly Idol with SNSD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0YjzyXR3AA

There are a lot of episodes out there on YouTube, frankly speaking. I tried finding more playlists, but posting links to individual is a little tough. Anyway, happy laughing!!!!!!!

K-Variety Review: Bounce Indo (두근두근 인도)

K-Variety Review: Bounce Indo (두근두근 인도)

One sentence for this show: Hilarious yet as an Indian and k-pop fan, downright embarrassing. Four episodes have been released for this series where some fan is subbing it on youtube, but KBS has started airing it officially on their KBS World YouTube channel with one episode out as of now.

Also known as Fluttering India or Exciting India, Bounce Indo is a variety show where five K-pop idols come to India to “exchange” their culture with ours, to see the scope of bringing k-pop into India. These five celebrities include: Kyuhyun from Super Junior, Suho from EXO, Minho from SHinee, Jonghyun from C.N.Blue and Sunggyu from Infinite.

I was actually looking forward to this, despite knowing that the stars were landing in Mumbai and not Delhi (which is nearer to my home town) because I wanted to see my country from their perspective (I love different point of views) and I wanted to know how would THEY like this relatively unknown place to South Koreans. I was utterly disappointed in the show and the cast as there were many other Indian fans which is evident from all the criticism I have read in articles and comments.

If the Indian K-pop fans are to believe, the Mumbaians weren’t allowed to meet their revered idols. I still don’t get the mentality. First of all, you’re coming in India to promote your culture and then you don’t deem the people, who are already familiar with your culture, worthy of the attention they deserve. In my honest opinion, they could’ve just let the fans meet, take pics and autographs and talk to them, off the camera, may be? One cannot deny the already established fan base existing in India. And how uncontrollable can a crowd of 20 odd people be? Agreed, the fans are, most of the times, a little difficult to manage, but we are talking about just a few.

Moreover, as one of the comments on the official video mentions, there were less preparations on the part of the people coming here. If one is going to survey a place for potential market, any common person would know to better equip themselves with at least a little cultural knowledge before diving into unknown waters. They needed it more so, because this was kind of an official expedition. I might be basing this on just first episode, but one can’t be expecting more from a five day trip after watching the first day.

In the first episode itself, they admit that India is not what they used to study about back in their school time. Also, the fan girl Babu, said that there are like a thousand k-pop lovers in Mumbai itself. I am pretty sure there are, a lot more in whole of India (they probably don’t know or are just underestimating the might of Indian population 😉 ) especially in big cities like Delhi and north Eastern States.

I am not criticizing every thing. Even if it was scripted (which I don’t believe), their acting is, no doubt, funny. The convivial environment they create and the way they bear strangers, who don’t even know them, taking pics with them, hats off! (I do envy Babu, who got to show them the way and click pictures with them). I also appreciate the pain they took, coming to a totally unknown country and trying to indulge in their culture (I would personally love doing that).

The major complaint is the way they tried to portray their popularity in India giving a somewhat false representation (Honestly, it was not surprising that they didn’t find a single fan on the Gateway of India. But if they had allowed the fans on airport, there might have been chances of them getting to know places where they could find more k-pop lovers. They did seem a little disappointed because no one recognised them here.).

All in all, with most of the comments and articles I have read from Indian fans, I am pretty sure I can safely say that it came as a little repulsive to Indian fans including me. Some things are embarrassing on our part and some on theirs. Even so, I do recommend it to people for the sole purpose of pure entertainment. As a proud Indian, I cannot give a green light to ALL the things shown in the show, but most of them are correct (It might take long posts to correct such things, which is going to be an excruciatingly painful process, so I would rather stay away from that. But IF someone has got any questions from the videos, or wants to ask something about India or anything else just out of curiosity, I would definitely answer them. Just post them in comments).

Here is the link to watch the official episode 1 from KBS World:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szdx3WOUF9w

Enjoy!

Webtoon Recommendation: Pinocchio(피노키오)

Webtoon Recommendation: Pinocchio(피노키오)

If you’re thinking that this is spin off webtoon of drama Pinocchio, or if Pinocchio drama was made out of this webtoon but you never came to know about it, rest assured (or rather, be a little disappointed), both are totally different.

This webtoon, one of my absolute favorites, is on the verge of its ending (Only some extra chapters left). Written by Maru-ssi (Why do I suddenly remember Kang Maru from The Innocent Man?), this particular piece is so full of emotions and drama, that shoujo lovers would definitely go gaga over it, once they read the story.

Pinocchio 1

The story is about high school student Choi Ha Ram who, one day, gets to buy a beautiful necklace from a suspicious place. After she wears it, she starts seeing a ghost named Yu Ga On, who doesn’t have memories of how he died or what happened to him but has a feeling that he did something bad to his family .

Ha Ram rejects him first because she seems to find herself in trouble whenever Ga On is near her, but develops sympathy for his situation and lets him live with her. She even starts helping him to create fresh set of memories taking photographs and teaching him to write even though he can’t hold or touch anything. But she keeps Yu Ga On secret from every one else including her childhood crush Han Bit who is handsome, kind, pursued by a lot of girls, her senior and has recently come back to be her neighbor. She has been madly in love with him.

Pinocchio 2

During the course of the webtoon, she confesses to Han Bit too only to be rejected more than one time. The story continues to reveal Yu Ga On’s mysterious past, the truth of the guy who sold HaRam the necklace and obliteration of his soul ultimately. (This, in no way, is a spoiler since the actual ending is quite different, and a happy one, from what might seem from this summary. Keep guessing or go read the webtoon!)

I soo want to give spoilers right now, but well, I’ll hold back. Anyway, the webtoon is full of feels and unexpected twists including Yu Ga On’s real story and who Ha Ram ends up with. The “twistful” nature of this webtoon full of cliffhangers (no cliffhangers for people who read it now but one would definitely appreciate the flow it has been made with) has been kept up till the last chapter. Most of the readers would find it difficult to digest what shows in a chapter at first until they read the whole thing (which happened with me in the very last of the webtoon also) and have tears roll down their cheeks and heave a sigh of relief on reality of events.

Pinocchio 3

Pinocchio 4

It also compels the reader to think about life and how our regrets might be hurting not only us but others as well. And that feelings need to be told and forgiveness needs to be asked, you may not get a second chance at that.

Art is great with great use of vibrant colors (Han Bit’s hair color >.<) and there are a lot of touches of comedy. (I love rom com webtoons and manga)

The whole translated webtoon is available here by EGScans. This webtoon has a prequel too, though I haven’t read it, called One Winter which has Yu Ga On’s story of what he was doing before meeting HaRam. Anyway, highly recommended webtoon.

Side Story 1: I always end up not writing a Happy New Year post (or any other occasion’s post, as a matter of fact) and this year too I am tad late but I wish that may this year bring everybody great health, prosperity and happiness.

Side Story 2: One of my blog’s reader has asked me very recently (few hours ago) to keep my rants with myself. I got that comment once before too, so I have decided, I would stop writing about my personal life. I won’t stop writing about my travel or study experiences though. And I won’t remove the earlier posts either.

With that, I will take my leave. *Wanders off to laze around in warm sun after so many chilly days*

Webtoon Recommendation: Nineteen Twenty One (열아홉스물하나)

Webtoon Recommendation: Nineteen Twenty One (열아홉스물하나)

Do you ever compare your lives to animals and get inspiration from them? I know, we consider ourselves the highest beings on the earth, but like Shaolin martial arts is based on movements of animals, their lives can teach a lot too. That is the theme of this relaxing webtoon.

Plot – Two separate lives, Ju Dong Hwi, our hero, 19 years old and Lee Yun Lee, our heroine, 21 years old are brought together by their love for cats. Ju Dong Hwi is a carefree person, same as a cat. He is the philosopher of the story, who makes the girl and us realize a lot of things about life. He has finished the high school, but doesn’t take admission in a college or a job, just because he wants to live his life to the fullest before turning into an adult at 21 years of age.

Whereas, for Lee Yun Lee, the life has become a big mess after an accident just before her college admission exams when she was nineteen and she lost her life’s two years. Now she has started prep school again, but reluctantly, because she is half embarrassed to see her juniors being her classmates at the prep school and half despaired.

Nineteen Twenty One 2

They both find solace in watching cats and feeding them. Dong Hwi makes her ponder over the facts that animals don’t pity themselves and keep moving on, why people call cats with no owners as thieving cats and such. They start finding answers to the questions they have been struggling with, with all this wondering and self realisation.

On the top of that, they start making the people in the neighbourhood who hit these poor animals for no reason realize, that they are to be loved too. They start learning and arranging about neutering surgeries for the cats so that their number keeps  in check. And with all this, they find love in each other.

Analysis – This particular webtoon is full of things one can learn from it. First of all, kindness towards animals, especially strays, who generally are abused a lot for no reason. With proper care and treatment, they can be managed too, but we need to learn how. One of the solution provided here is neutering surgeries, but again the question comes who’s gonna pay. *Sigh* Money is a big problem after all.

Then it poses a lot of questions about life in general. We should not pity ourselves and treasure our lives and go on, to achieve our dreams. It also addresses the impact of what parents say knowingly or unknowingly, on their children. Ultimately, it forces the reader to think about a lot of things dealing with general life, in just twenty one chapters.

Nineteen Twenty One 1

Other things – Author John and artist Jenna, both have done a great work with the Webtoon. Since the art is generally based on real life photographs, generally from the neighbourhood, sometimes the cats don’t look normal – neither proper pics nor proper cartoons. But everything else covers up for it. Flowers especially are detailed and beautiful. To any person, I would recommend this webtoon, any time, anywhere.

Read here – http://read.egscans.com/19-21

Today’s Song – Well, as I said here, I’ve got a lot of songs now to share. Today I’ll go with this MV which I absolutely love. This song is OST of bleach – 

Image credits – Easy Going Scans

On Beauty and the Beast

On Beauty and the Beast

No no, this is not review of some movie or drama. This was something I wanted to publish when I was in Thailand but I couldn’t. I came across some article yesterday about plastic surgery and I remembered this post I had prepared long ago.

I never knew I would get to have a first hand experience of fad among girls to look more beautiful. Although many cultures influence Thailand including Japan, South Korea, China and India, I never thought they would be following some things to extreme level.

For me, Thailand’s culture is quite open (as against what I had read before going there). And by open, Indians generally mean clothes especially for girls. So whenever I bought the so called “short” clothes, I was always demanded an answer and I always had to assure them that I’d not wear them here in India.

Well, it was not that bad. I know it is gonna take time for Indian people especially elders, to fully open their mind and accept something like this which is totally opposite to our culture. I mean I showed my friends the clothes recently and they were awed, a reaction I was expecting totally opposite to my parents.

(That means although the thinking of girls in India is changing about the clothes, it is giving rise to crime against women on the other hand and hence parents of girls are sceptical about it. But I just don’t understand the mentality of guys there. Just clothes or a little lack of them I should say, make their brains go haywire eh? But that is totally going off-topic. I’m sure I’m gonna write on this in future for sure.)

Where was I by the way? Oh yes. So when I was there, I got to know that girls there are as crazy about good looks as we hear or read about in South Korea. I don’t give a shit about what you do with yourself. But I do get frustrated when it starts affecting your overall health. Plastic surgery gone wrong – you become a laughing stock. Whole lot of medicines – your body gets damaged. I didn’t know why the ladies there were facing so many health problems until I came to know it was due to their obsession for beauty.

Just recently I read an article by an English teacher in South Korea who, when told her very young students about inner beauty, was blankly stared at because they didn’t even know what inner beauty was. Well, it was unsurprising to me.

I just need to ask these people that ok, you want to look like someone else – more beautiful – I accept. But imagine a world where everyone looks the same. Ah! A person like me who already is weak in learning faces will go crazy (I already am, just by imagining it). What is the use? Who do you want to show? Your fellow guys? Ha! A person who can’t accept you whole as it is can never be a good friend let alone boyfriend (or girlfriend as a matter of fact).

I must say peer pressure is one of the major factor in going for such things. “Ah! She is so beautiful, I need to do better than her otherwise all the guys will see only her.” “Why don’t you, for once, just try it? You will need to go to salon some day or other.” The second one – I myself heard a lot, after which I had to give in and go to one last year. But those were nominal things like hair styling and all – normal things which girls in India generally start around 6-7 years before I started. I didn’t go before that because I never felt bad about myself. But my friends took me there and I still dread that painful eyebrow shaping thing.

Although I’m considered just average according to Indian society – I don’t have fair skin, I have a lot of dark circles, I don’t go for everyday treatments some girls generally go for and I don’t own beauty products like eyeliners, sunscreens and blah blah blah (Now I think about it I don’t even have a lip gloss!). Thus, I’m kind of, what you call it, backward in such knowledge (My 6 years younger sister knows more than me). But I do feel good about myself because I know I’m kind and honest. That is enough for me.

I again deviated from the topic. So what I’m trying to say is – go for beautification products, I’m not against it. Even if I’m , it’s not like people will stop using them. Who am I to tell people to stop what they do? Moreover, no girl cannot be using beauty products, otherwise she is considered a fool.

But my dear fellow human beings, you need to take care of your health. If you’re going for something which may go wrong and you may never get back what you already have, think twice. The ladies around me there had learnt the lesson already after going to hospitals for the same. If you’ve to spend money again on your fitness or the same procedure, don’t go for it. Just don’t. You need to love yourself and lessen comparing yourself with others. Because there is that one person in the world, who is going to be yours, no matter what you look like. So don’t worry and instead of spending money on beauty products, just keep your diet healthy, have lots of fruits, drink lots of water, do lots of exercise and have lots of sleep (who am I kidding?). That would benefit your face as well as your body.

I only wrote it because I felt strongly about it. My views are my own and no one else’s. So if they hurt you, that’s your problem. I’ll give rest to my rant here.

Today’s Song – It’s been long since I posted some song. Today, a Japanese song from OST of naruto – 

My Second Korean Experience – My Faith has been Restored!

My Second Korean Experience – My Faith has been Restored!

Just one week after the last incident, I had my second encounter and I’m very happy that I met that ahjusshi…. Yesterday I went to the Museum of Floral Culture (look forward to my next post reviewing this place). It had been past the lunch time and me and my friend were very hungry. We stopped by this mall which had many many Korean shops from cosmetics and clothes to restaurants and book shops.

And there was this pair of shoes I liked so much and they were on sale. I would have got those kind of shoes in India very expensive. Too bad, my size was not available. Then we went to this shop named Korean DD. It was a cosmetics shop. Although I’m not interested in such stuff and my friend was not sure about the brands from South Korea (she is learning a little though under my influence starting with K-Pop), we still entered the shop. What caught my eyes were the posters of K-pop idols all over. And without thinking over I just went inside the shop. The lady inside was a Thai but when I was naming the idols aloud, she and the guy sitting outside started laughing. Nevertheless, I asked if she was Korean and she replied, the ahjusshi standing behind was.

Ah! So excited >.<  Then my friend asked me to talk to him in Korean and suddenly I froze (갑자기, 왜?). She then explained him that I was learning Korean and then trivial questions like where do we come from and such followed (but in English. Too bad again). We left the shop and suddenly I thought I would ask something about Korean. He didn’t understand what I was saying. Guess he knew only Korean and Thai (Ah! Too bad. Don’t know how many ‘TOO BAD’ moments I had yesterday). But he was a cheerful ahjusshi who tried to help me however he could (Ok, I could have thought that he was a shopkeeper and hence did all that. Marketing strategy? Even so, I want to trust his help). And thus my faith was restored. Then we went on shopping spree with clothes in another shop selling Korean goods at 80-90% discount. There were K-pop songs playing in background and there were Korean movies posters in the shop too. There also whatever piece I was liking was not available in right sizes. Sigh!

But in the end I got a packet of Jjajangmyeon and on the packet there was nothing non-veg. I’m still doubtful about it and will be translating the ingredients although they are written in Korean as well as English. If anyone of you could tell me whether the noodles themselves are non-veg or not, I’ll be very grateful.

And today’s song is – 

Falling in love with the dance…….

My First Korean Experience

My First Korean Experience

As I wrote in my last post, I went to KoreaTown which was a disappointing experience. There is more to what I mentioned last time.

Actually, I have this senior at the adjacent company to the one in which I’m working, who went to South Korea for his post PhD. And he had to leave in between because he couldn’t adjust to their culture. Now that he knows I’m inclined towards the place, he keeps telling me stories about his experience. Initially I used to think that may be, maybe it was just the culture gap. I have seen enough dramas to make out that people are very strict towards work and are very competitive (I hope I’m right). Because, you can’t dismiss everything in k-dramas or any dramas of the world, as a matter of fact, as pure fiction. You can learn a lot about the culture and many a times, general behaviour of the public (saying that by experience 😛). So, I tell him that he must be unlucky to find only such people.

But guess, I was wrong. I met this group yesterday. Two older men and one young girl (may not be as young as I think her to be). They were speaking Korean and I got all excited to see native people from South Korea. Now, I had read in some very interesting book that if you meet some native person of the language you are learning, try to gain as much as possible from them. Though I’m very shy to approach strangers like this, even so, I did-

Me – Umm…..Are you from South Korea?

Lady – Yeah

Me – Hi, I’m from India and I’m very big fan of Korean Culture……

Lady (Interrupting) – Yeah, but you see I’ve to go. I’ve got some company.

Me (Taken aback, don’t know what to say) – Oh, ok. Just wanted to say that I’m very excited to listen to real Korean. Thanks. Bye.

She walks away laughing and telling the uncles about this. I couldn’t hear anything further nor did I want to. I had to go in same direction because I wanted to go to JapanTown too. But I was so shocked that I went to opposite direction, crossed the road for no reason and went to a small book shop in hope to find some Korean books. There also, found only Korean to Thai books.

Ah! My attempt failed. It, kind of put me off. I was thinking of taking admission in some good South Korean university for my higher studies. But now, subconsciously or not, this place will probably go to last country in my list of countries where I was thinking of applying (I will still apply though coz I want to have first hand experience of the culture).

After that, I heard a lot of people talking in Korean and Japanese (which, trust me, has never happened before), but I couldn’t gather enough courage to stop and talk to anyone. I’m not saying that everyone is like that. I haven’t known any real Korean people (I mean personally, I do want to though) and I’m not trying to disregard anyone. I know one or two people can’t represent the whole country. But you are a foreigner here and I’m too. I get it that there are a lot of K-pop fans in Thailand and that’s why there happen a lot of concerts. But at least stop for a moment to listen to me, even if you are in hurry. Am I wrong in expecting that much?

I just know that if some stranger approaches me or tells me that they loved my country when they went there (even though they found a lot of bad things too), I feel so proud and give them a big smile and thank you. Am I overthinking over this whole incident? What do you think?

I just hope that this doesn’t happen again……

Travel: What I could’ve only dreamt of – Japan Festa in Bangkok

Travel: What I could’ve only dreamt of – Japan Festa in Bangkok

So today, my day started very bad coz everybody in my friends circle refused to go to Bangkok due to one reason or other. I mean, each and every single one of them backed out! But i dared today – to go alone to Bangkok. And guess what! I got the model of the mobile phone which I wanted to buy and was out of stock till yesterday afternoon. And…….. And I got to see Japan Festa in Bangkok 2013, being held outside Central World Mall. There were a lot of cosplayers and there were a lot of random outlets. There were Japanese food stalls too; but I’m a veg so I couldn’t taste that. :-/

Some gen pics –

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Here are some cosplay pics of the characters I know :

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Then I went to KoreaTown situated on Sukhumvit 12. I went there by BTS train (just like metros) and the place was some three stations away from the above place. And to tell you the truth, it was a huge disappointment. After the pleasant surprise of attending an unexpected cosplay event, I was excited what the day was to unfold for me and I was really upset after seeing a deserted place with only Korean food shops and dental clinics and hair salons. What would have I done there? I thought I could buy some books for my Korean learning there. But there wasn’t even one book shop in KoreaTown (at least I didn’t find any). I did find one book shop a little far away but all it had was Korean books for Thai people 😦

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The I went back to the event again and had more clicks. This time, since it was around 4:30 in the evening, the weather was pleasant. So I had some more fun. By 5:00 p.m. I had to reach the headquarters to take the company’s van, so I had to leave this awesome and fantastic place, much to my regret. Why did I waste time going to Sukhumvit. If only had I attended this festival properly, I could have a chance to finally try a kimono TT_TT

Some more pics with cosplays I don’t know or don’t seem to recall –

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But truly. The people were there from the morning to the evening. Must have been sooo tiring. Hats off to the cosplayers! Getting clicked by so many strangers, posing for each one of them differently……. truly amazing.

With this, I’ll end my post today. I hope you enjoy the pics 🙂

On Independence and Freedom

On Independence and Freedom

Yesterday, someone asked me, which country shares Independence Day with ours. Oh! I so forgot, it’s none other than South Korea. Also, I came across this article somewhere, asking people for the reason of celebrating such a day after long 67 years. Is it to remember that we were once under colonial rule of Britain? Why do we need to remember such thing? Why don’t we forget it and try to do some real work towards real independence of our country from evils in the society or pressing issues in the country (Yup, I think that was it. Not sure, if I read something else…… coz you know, more than half of the times I’m spaced out, just like now).

That made me wonder, what this “real independence” means? If you think of freedom, does that only mean freedom from other people’s rule or freedom to do anything on your own? Is that even possible? Aren’t we the ones, who are driven not by our desires or needs but what people around us think of us and want from us? And it’s not like, we can live without that. It is what is driving our lives. There are so many vicious circles in every walk of our life tying us to one thing or other.

Oxford dictionary defines freedom as “the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants”. Can we really do that given the nature of society and human beings? Right from the beginning of our lives till the end, we are not free and never can be. It may as well be a relative term. Someone may have more strictness around him/her regarding some things than his/her best friend. That means he/she has less freedom. That’s it! But it won’t be like the best friend doesn’t have any restrictions on him/her.

Not only outside, inside ourselves too. But that goes more on spiritual and deep philosophical note which is not my cup of tea.  I’m only good at pondering on such things. It is difficult to express, so I’ll leave that part to you.

On the last note, Happy Independence Day to citizens of India, South Korea, Bahrain and Republic of the Congo, though my question still remains unanswered and I’m still not sure about what have I written above. Also, just to clarify, I’m not hating anything or anybody here, just saying. It applies for human beings in general and I’m included too!

Intimate Note: Bringing K pop idols together since 2008

Intimate Note: Bringing K pop idols together since 2008

I was watching the episode of intimate note starring Super Junior for like the twentieth time! It makes me laugh whenever I watch it.

Okay, so what is Intimate Note? It is a reality show which aims to bring people (basically idols but nevermind) together and (sometimes) finish the awkwardness between them. Now since I have been able to watch the episode with very famous idols only (Subbing problem. *Sigh* Oh Lord! Why don’t I understand Korean properly? >.<), I can tell you about them only. But trust me, they are worth spending your time. The happy ones will make you roll in the aisles and sad ones won’t leave you without making you cry. I have watched the episodes only for Super Junior, Fly to the Sky (took a lot of effort to find but I was successful, anything for my love!), SNSD and the one involving one of the former members of DBSK (there are more and I’m starting to go to them too regardless whether i know the groups or not, considering the entertainment the show provides). The staff members give the hosts and other members (if present), instructions to give the concerned pair various missions and the pair has to accomplish them.

intimatenote

절

As far as Super Junior one goes, Leeteuk with Heechul talks to the producers about awkward relationship between Kangin and Sungmin and asks them to help the group in bringing them together. Surprise follows as there is one more couple with uneasiness between them. The weird missions and their reactions turn everything into hilarious situation. What comes after is Miss Intimate contest for the four members and you will fall down your couch when you see their witty and funny performances. You will also watch Hangeng’s perfect (err…?) Korean and Kyuhyun’s humorous love for his hyungs. Gotta love it!

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Next is SNSD. Yeah, that was alright. Not as good as SuJu but for those who love these girls, you’ll get to know their weird habits and more, as they take their anger out on each other with much love. Eight girls out of nine are able to do the show and tell you more about stories related to their day to day life on this episode.

The DBSK one was not related to all the members (I wish it was but bad luck). Xiah Junsu was invited to someone else’s episode in order to find friends for this lonely soul. It was so-so, too. But the fans like me get treat to their eyes watching him complete missions.

The episode in which Fly to the Sky duo was featured, was totally heartbreaking. It was Brian Joo’s and Hwanhee’s last vacation before they were to go solo and break the duo. The friends around them asked the producers for help. Both of them had a lot of misunderstandings and this was the reason why they decided to go on their own paths. They had grown so apart that they had o record their last album separately as they didn’t want to see each other. When they meet on the show and have to do various activities together, they get a chance to talk it out with each other. Towards the end, the tears are shed (I was one of them TT_TT) as they reminisce about their journey and resolve the differences. This episode will make you laugh and cry. And if you exactly know their story (which Brian told himself on Strong Heart), you’ll cry more.

I haven’t watched more but these four were more than enough for me (No, actually, first and last were). If you wanna watch more, try now:
http://imeimo.wordpress.com/variety-shows/intimate-note/

For Fly to the Sky one:
http://koreapopshows.blogspot.in/2011/11/intimate-note-english-sub-w-fly-to-sky.html

Enjoy!

Super Junior and 14 Members

Super Junior and 14 Members

I was not going to post anything today because I should be studying right now (Probably, I will keep restating the fact that my exams are going on until they are over) but I was reading some article on allkpop. I have a habit of reading the comments to know what (and how) people think. Someone was asking about joining ELFs (SuJu’s official fanclub. If you are a fan, you already would know but even so) Suddenly, I came across a comment stating that people are leaving ELF because of the talks of adding two members of Super Junior-M, Henry and Zhoumi,  to Super Junior itself. I knew, people are not happy about it. And, yes I know ELFs in Korea protested against this when the proposal was put forward.

I seriously fail to understand why people are so against it. Both of them are hardworking and I think, they are receiving their training in South Korea itself (I remember hearing that in one of their interviews). Yeah, people got hurt because of what Hangeng did. But he must have had his reasons too. He had problems with SM Entertainment not SuJu. Media says whatever it wants (And I think that’s the case everywhere. They just need a story and they’ll put all spices to give it totally different direction).  And it’s not like such kind of thing happened for the first time. I’m not pointing anybody’s faults out but what the true story behind all this ‘Hangeng leaving the company like that’ is, that him, SM Entertainment and God only know. It’s not necessary these two will do the same thing.

Coming to my main point, Super Junior-M is very famous (may be not as much as SuJu). I love their songs too and I know many of the people who are going mad about the whole report, too. Only problem is accepting them in the main group. It’s not easy to leave one’s own country, own home and work at some place where you don’t even have a promised future (That’s what I feel about entertainers, not talking about SuJu in particular, it all depends on audience’s minds. And trust me, being a girl who has been living away from home in the same country itself for 3 years now, even if  it’s for college, I know the feeling. For them, it’s ANOTHER COUNTRY!). They are human beings too. They feel hurt too. I mean if I were them, I would feel bad. SuJu was criticized after Kyuhyun joined the team too but the results were awesome. Now Kyuhyun is one of the lead vocals (and he is no. 1 for me in SuJu, what they call bias?). I mean come on, Super Junior was a project team from the start. Members were to be rotated after all. (Yeah, I would have been against this idea. They did good job making the group and members permanent.) But if there is addition to fill the empty spots, why not embrace the idea? And now every year, one or the other member is enlisting for army, the group feels incomplete!

PS – These are merely my thoughts. No offense to anyone. And if I hurt someone’s feelings I’m sorry. But I sincerely think I am free to express myself  and it’s not bad to give them a chance.

Latest song from Super Junior – M – Break Down (Korean version):

K-Variety Recommendation: Stalker (스토커)

K-Variety Recommendation: Stalker (스토커)

No, no. I wasn’t being stalked or anything. I am talking about SS501’s mini-series “Stalker” which aired on Mnet from 19th January 2006 to 16th February 2006. This 5 episodes series shows how popular idols and groups are stalked by some people and how, sometimes, it becomes so dangerous that people get hurt, not only mentally but physically too.

Stalker

The series starts off with a girl being carried on back of a person with members running along and you instantaneously know that this is some serious shit. Then they start introducing events which make them reach the conclusion that they are being followed each and every minute. Their house is messed up, their clothes go missing just before their stage performance, they receive threatening mails and calls, their staff member is attacked etc. etc. They try to solve the mystery of this person. They take help of cyber police, install CCTV cameras in their dorm and watch old tapes of their filming to track down any suspicious element.  And they do catch some people in the process but whether they are the actual stalker or not, that you can find out after watching the series.

mnetss501stalker

It’s actually scary stuff. The series is based on events which have actually happened in their lives and some other idols too but it’s not like real real. And it has been shot around the time when they were actually being tormented by someone like that. The series is to prevent such happenings in their real lives and tell people that it’s burdensome to them. Obviously, it is a kind of torture to a normal person too. If such things happen to someone, they can’t focus on anything. And human intuition is such that you get to know one way or other if you are being watched. Either you get chills or feeling of being constantly watched or some other form (I have experienced first two only but if you have other responses, I would love to know).

Thus, this series actually has a deeper meaning. It lets your imagination run wild and come up with various reasons why someone would do such thing. Is it just a crazy fan or someone who holds a grudge against them or some attention seeker or just some other maniac whom they have unfortunately fallen victim to? And you are compelled to think about human psychology and how their minds work. How can someone be like that?

What do you think?

Here is the link where you can watch the series with English subs : http://ithetimes.wordpress.com/mnet-ss501-stalker-eng-sub/

Enjoy!