Tag: Variety

K-Variety Reco: Stray Kids (스트레이 키즈) and Mix & Match

K-Variety Reco: Stray Kids (스트레이 키즈) and Mix & Match

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment
Such handsome bois up and down XD

Okay, totally different from what I usually do. Perhaps my recommendations of variety shows till now have been for laughs and lifting bad mood up. And I usually do not review two programs together either.

But this time I decided on these two because they have very similar formats and both programs are very inspiring. I personally do not like survival shows. Apart from showing idol lives and their hard work, they’re just full of tears. And big productions at the level of Produce 101 end up being plagued with issues like evil editing and stuff.

Well I did recommend Idol Producer to my readers a while back. But that was again because it was funny and inspiring at the same time. I did end up not finishing 2nd season of Idol Producer. Anyway, through these two programs, I will probably try to introduce to people two of the iconic boy groups that I love wholeheartedly: Stray Kids and iKon.

Now, Mix & Match is a 2014 9 episode reality show where the Team B from a previous survivals show, WIN: Who is next, are pitted against each other to see who’s up to par to form a new YG group. Stray Kids is, similarly, a 2017 show of 10 episodes where these YG trainees compete against as a team and against each other to determine who is good enough to debut.

Mix & Match Bobby
This precious kid OMG!

It seems that the leaders in both the groups had already trained and formed a team with the other members. So, their bond was good to begin with. Add to that the stress of possibility to lose some of your teammates you have trained with for years, I guess it’s their recipe for a successful survival program?

It was so sad to see the people who initially left, but audience digs friendship and stuff including me, so well, it teared up me too and I prayed hard for people to return back too. Was it successful is something you’ll have to find out through the programs. The missions these guys went through were kind of similar as well.

The differences between the two would be addition of three new members in Mix & Match to already 6 member Team B. Three of the original 6 were fixed to debut at the beginning of the show and remaining three had to fight with the new three members for their places.

Stray Kids did not have any additions because it was a team formed by the leader Bang Chan on his own. From the premise and further interviews from JYP, it seems that JYP did not have any hand in putting the guys together since the beginning. Bang Chan did it all on his own and hence, it was crucial for JYP to see their teamwork and chemistry and determine if they’re worth putting his time and money in.

I don’t think it’s from the survival show though :rummaging the brain hard:

People would ask me what’s good in a bunch of kids fighting to debut as an idol group? My answer is, one I see them working hard till like 5 am and then to attend school at 7 am and so they’re going without sleeping for so long just to achieve their dreams. I cannot forego my sleep no matter what circumstances and these guys are putting in so much hardwork, of course I am damn inspired. Not that I endorse the lifestyle these guys follow, it’s just too unhealthy. But if they’re happy, I am happy too.

Second is, you actually see them achieving their dream, at least most of them. Plus these guys produce such good songs for 15-20 years old, based on their dreams, their hardships in life. That’s talent right there. Don’t you relate with them? Ah, there are people out there going through similar things like normal us and they’re giving their best to change that. I should do it too. No, I can do it too.

That’s inspiration right there. To think bunch of kids would help me in my down time and help me get up and rise and shine.

Conclusion: I highly recommend these two series, because they’re short; you get to learn a lot about SK’s idol industry and idol lives; they’re inspiring, at least to me; there is quite a lot of entertainment and emotions and last but not least, there is a bunch of unexplored and unreleased but amazing music there.

Final feelings: ୧☉□☉୨

Watch here: Mix & Match; Stray Kids

Personal front: Finally a weekend where I am not going out. Unfortunately, I got so addicted to my friends in past two weekends that there is a major missing happening here. I did not meet them this frequently when we were in college together, but I actually traveled 5 hours one way to meet them, that too consecutive weekends. Wow, I am surprised at myself, wouldn’t have imagined doing that 2 years ago.

It’s funny how people around you change you. People, I know you are not reading this, so I can write it peacefully, but I am missing you guys too much, like ‘I wish I could fly and meet you guys right now’ missing.

Anyway, I don’t have much to write about here. I guess I’ll be writing about my friends for next month or so coz no other topic to discuss. Lol. I’ll stop boring you guys with my friends’ details. But they’re the best group I have found till now. I might have said this for more people before and that might have been true till then. But these guys are gold of a different level. Anyway, peace.

Today’s song: Another Stray Kids song? This song talks about their aspirations and how they’re in hell doing the survival show and their training period in general but now they only have one way to go, up. IN first two listens, the music makes you a bit tipsy for some reason but it’s still interesting and grows on you very easily.

I guess I’ll post one more from iKon. This was done while they were doing WIN: Who is next, but it’s a really inspiring one too. I still cry when I read the lyrics. Their performance was legendary at that time though. Linking both performance and studio version, coz the feels are best in the live version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks9SdHV5t-Y

Disclaimer: None of the pics and videos belong to me. They belong to their respective owners. Thank you for letting me borrow them.

C-Variety Reco: Idol Producer (偶像练习生)

C-Variety Reco: Idol Producer (偶像练习生)

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment
Idol Producer S1
Season 1 Trainers

To the uninitiated, as the name suggests, it is a show where 101 trainees from different idol companies in China compete to grab a spot in a 9 members group. They get training from the trainers of the show and through weekly missions, they show their talents to the viewers. And the viewers then vote for their favorite trainees.

Now that we have got that out of way, I am pretty sure fans of Korean Produce 101 series would bash me for recommending a blatant copy of the concept, but hear me out. There are two types of copies according to yours truly, one which fails to even be at par with the original and another that surpasses the original.

I claim that Idol producer belongs to the latter category. There are tons of idol/ singer/ rapper producing shows in the world, why this one you ask? First, as you guys might already know that I am a big fan of Zhang Yixing’s philosophy and attitude towards life, which is also portrayed in his book Standing Firm at 24.

This show draws on that philosophy and starts with very inspiring quotes and flashbacks on idol lives. I would rather say it’s replete with those kind of moments, where you just cannot help but be so encouraged that you wanna start working hard right at that moment. If you’re looking for some inspiration, please do watch it.

Second, the editing. Mnet of South Korea has been criticized heavily for their evil editing, where they portray a few trainees as a character who either are unhelpful or rude or something. Then those trainees get bashed a lot for no reason and then either they’re eliminated or rank very low even with great talents (Yoo Yeon Jung from I.O.I. anyone?)

The editing here is funny. Like I am laughing just thinking about the show lol. It’s full of comedy. I haven’t seen any trainee in bad light, even once. Plus their background music and the funny subtitles add icing on the cake. All these elements come together to become such a comic spectacular (Did I praise it too much?)

Sure, producers and directors are biased towards some popular trainees and they get even more screen time, but where does that not happen? I even suspect that they already have some people in their minds to debut and hence show them more on purpose.

Season 2 Trainers. Jolin Tsai ❤

Anyway, third is handsome bois *drools*. I am sorry, but apart from the 101 trainees in the show, the mentor themselves are so handsome and so….. handsome (Li Ronghao (❤ω❤) ). Not to forget Zhang Yixing. First season features Got7’s Jackson and pretty Kyulkyung and Cheng Xiao as mentors. Second season has got Xu Minghao from Seventeen and prettiest ever Jolin Tsai. Anyway, let’s not get into personal reasons here, shall we? ヽ(￣～￣　)ノ

I definitely dig the combo of inspiring and comedy when it comes to variety shows, or any other drama for that matter. It has helped me go through some of the toughest times in my life. And I would gladly come back to this particular show if, God forbids, I go through such times again.

Conclusion: So, my dear readers, if you’re lacking some encouragement in your life or are depressed about small stuff, do give this show a try. I guarantee that by the end of the show, something inside you would have changed. The best part is that it is entirely available on YouTube.

Final feelings about the show: (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

More info: This show has a second season going on right now called Youth Has You(?) ( 青春有你). Three episodes out currently, it is as good as season 1.

Watch here: They had the whole thing english subbed on youtube and I cannot find it. But the same people have those uploaded onto FB. Here: Watch Idol Producer Season 1.
On their Youtube channel, there is a lot of content, so I am linking it here as well, just in case anyone is interested: Idol Producer Subs Channel on YouTube.
And here is season 2: Qing Chun You Ni Subs 2.

Personal Talk: Did you guys notice the change in the format of my posts? There aren’t enough yet to notice any pattern or anything but I am hoping to set a schedule, so that people who are not interested in one particular type can easily enjoy others, albeit it will work on the condition that I write regularly. I am hoping to keep the schedule as follows:
Saturday 1: Webnovels
Saturday 2: Dramas
Saturday 3: Webtoons/ Manga
Saturday 4: Anime
Saturday 5 (If any): Personal update/ Travel posts/ QnA if I receive any (If you guys have any questions to ask me, please do comment or send me at eastasianlover@gmail.com).

Today’s song: It’s hard to be searching for a song when I am not listening to any right now! Since we’re talking about idol producer, let’s go with a song I liked from here (It is actually Jolin Tsai’s classic and I love the original better. Original after this rendition):

My 2016 In Review

My 2016 In Review

by eastasianlover ♥ 1 Comment

Oops! I realise I have taken too long a break! In the meantime, I have accumulated so much to write about. And I am finally a bit free, like comparably. My semester exams are over and I finally have some time to myself. Not that I wasn’t watching anime or k-dramas before.

Anime updates: For fall anime, as usual, I started with a bunch, dropped quite a few. And hence, I am again remaining withslice of life or sports anime with me: Natsume Yuujinchou, 3-gatsu no lion, Yuri on ice, Haikyuu, Days etc. Haikyuu finished quite early, only 10 episodes, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Days was summer anime, I think. Although many people have been disappointed with the anime, I liked it nonetheless. Yuri on ice is a different one, enjoyable though. Natsume, as usual is the best! I will miss Natsume TT_TT

K-drama updates: I watched quite a few k-dramas this year: DOTS, The K2, W (I loved W by the way. Recommended to a friend as his first k-drama and he fell for the plot as well!! Brought another person to this world, yes!). This time I have picked up Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo and Goblin. I feel Kim Bok Joo is better than Legend of Blue Sea, it might be my personal preference though. Initial episodes of Legend of Blue Sea were hilarious, but I can’t see where the drama is going now. Whereas, it is easier to relate with Kim Bok Joo. Goblin is utterly hilarious! Tvn and JTBC have made some real gems this year.

Other dramas: In the latter half, I watched quite a few other dramas as well. Love O2O, Virtuous queen of Han Dynasty etc. I don’t remember all the names but for rom-com, love O2O is my recommendation, for now. If I remember any other which I found good, will update the post.

Variety updates: Weekly idol had been my top choice for this year as well. However, I am losing interest in it somehow. I finished whatever English subbed episodes were available for Knowing Bros. I took a bit interest in K-pop star 6 as well. The absolute favorite of mine is however Go Fighting! I started watching it for Lay but the comedy is the best. Highly recommended variety show (I am yet to try running man by the way.)

K-pop updates: Infinite! Infinite! Infinite! Yes, my recent favorite boy band came with an album this year and the title song grew up on me as usual. I got into VIXX as well, courtesy to my sister, and now I am a fan. I don’t really listen to YG groups, but black pink has certainly caught my attention. I like Big Bang’s recent song Fxxk it too. Other than that, Lay and Sistar did a good job. Lay’s ‘monodrama’ has been on my playlist for quite sometime.

Webtoons and Manga Updates: I were to release my translations for some manga but then my college started, and I did not find time to put the text in those blurbs at all. And my sister fried the hard disk of my old laptop, so all my work is gone now :/ Many webtoons ended this year, I dropped almost all of the ones I was reading because updates were really slow. Same with manga. I dropped Dice, Thousand Nine Tails, TAL, City of Dead Sorcerer, Skip Beat, Haikyuu (Damnit! Didn’t know they were these many) I am still waiting for Barakamon updates. I started reading Tsubaki-chou lonely planet, again courtesy to my sister. Another one is Fujiwara-kun no Daitai Tadashii, because I was translating it.

Language Learning Updates: Both of my languages are on hold and whatever I learnt till now went down the drain. The revision is on my agenda right now. I borrowed tons of books from my library for some winter reading, I am going to hoard some more. Let’s get some motivation!!

These are my updates for now. In weather updates, Pitts weather is super erratic. One day, it’s sunny with 15 deg C temperature, next day it’s snowing with -5 deg C temperature. Really weird.

Anyway, I need to get back and do some work so that I can write more tomorrow. I will also update a bit about the courses I took this semester and how I came to love blogging once again. See you all and happy holidays!

And for the customary song in each post, here:

K-Variety Recommendation: Weekly Idol (주간 아이돌 )

K-Variety Recommendation: Weekly Idol (주간 아이돌 )

by eastasianlover ♥ 1 Comment

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 Wise: Weekly Idol Eng Sub on KShowOnline

Playlist: Weekly Idol with INFINITE:

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

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

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

Weekly Idol with EXO: https://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)

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

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!

J-Variety Review: TORE!

J-Variety Review: TORE!

by eastasianlover ♥ 2 Comments

It’s really really difficult to find Japanese Variety shows online with some exceptions like Gaki no Tsukai. But those kind of comedies don’t appeal to me. Sometimes it’s difficult to understand what is so funny in there (obviously, I’m not at that level of Japanese). And my quest for Japanese variety shows (with no videos other than youtube working here ¬¬) led me to to two – Hey! Hey! Hey! and TORE!

Hey! Hey! Hey! is a talk show and only eng subs I found for were the episodes where DBSK have appeared. So I’m not gonna talk about that. I did stumble upon this game show – TORE! which made me remember all those game shows they used air on cartoon network and other channels when I was a kid. Takeshi’s castle and Wipeout are still popular because they are still aired on channels like Pogo and AXN.

But TORE! was kind of new to me. I remember seeing a variety show with some temple guards in it but the things are hazy and I’m pretty sure it was an English game show. I don’t remember the format either.

So, yes. About TORE! They say it’s kind of mummification program. Ah! Yes. If you get squeezed by the walls or you fall down through a hole whose end you can’t see from above, you’ll definitely become mummy unless you give the correct answers asked in the show. It’s super entertaining and thrilling. The setting is Egypt kind. The keys, the walls, the Pharaos with the most modern instruments and equipments, you’ll all find in here. I watched one episode only, today and unfortunately, the subtitles weren’t available. ¯\(°_°)/¯

You can actually feel their anxiety during the games. When they fall before finishing the sentence they were saying, the breath stops! I mean I know they’re safe and that the hole may not be that deep that they show, but that’s the magic of directors and the technical staff out there and they work for this only. As their audience, I salute them! (￣^￣)ゞ

For Japanese language learners, it can be very helpful. Most of the words can be looked upon in dictionary and I can already see changes in my kana’s reading speed. The contestants (generally celebrities) have to answer the questions so fast with their lives (kind of) at stake that you have to read things fast if you’re staying with their speed. Of course, you can slow the videos down, but where is the fun in that? One of the most fun way to learn Japanese. Highly recommended.

I’ll post the episode I watched. Happy learning!