k-critique

Finally the unofficial MV is here!! For those that don’t know, this song is one of the songs on the OST of Jay Park’s dance movie, Hype Nation 3D. The movie is still yet to be released. This song was performed numerous times on his fan meets, but the video was still yet to come out…until yesterday!

I loveeee the song! To me, it has a Chris Brown/Usher pop song vibe. Not surprising though, since they are one of Jay’s biggest influences.

Hits

1. Kim Sa Rang
- Perfectly fitted to be the sexy, mysterious demon girl that lures him

2. English
- Love that this song is in full English so I can understand it without looking up the lyrics/translations. Also…it’s not just in English…it’s in JAY’S fluent English! 

3. U.S. - Chris Brown/Usher vibe
- This song could totally be played on a Canadian/U.S. radio station without feeling out of place of the mainstream pop. Actually this could be a hit/miss, because we all know, this song is also being released in Korea. How many people in Korea who actually like the song for it’s face value and not just because they are Jaywalkerz, that we do not know.  I wonder if a Korean version of Demon will be released…?

4. Lyrics
- Catchy lyrics. Very very catchy lyrics. It will be stuck in people’s heads whether they like it or not.

5. Choreography

- Jay’s dancing abilities was once again, as always, showcased in the MV. But I have to say I really liked the choreography by Andrew Baterina. Very expressive to the lyrics, not all hardcore dancing/stunts this time, it has a softer side to it.

Misses

1.  MV quality
- Now I don’t know if this is because the posted version above is not an official version, so the quality isn’t as good…but the camera doesn’t do the song or the MV any justice. Plus besides the camera issue, the whole video doesn’t look like it’s a high quality or high budget production. This is disappointing because this is a title track of what is to be a big movie…all I’m hoping for is that maybe they make another version of the MV like how a title OST track should normally be…with clips from the movie. Obviously they can’t do that now since the movie isn’t out yet. 

This post-graduation chick flick caught my attention with the cast, especially since I am a YG maniac and just graduated university.

Synopsis/Characters 
Starring Park Han Byul, Yoo In Na, Cha Ye Ryun and Yoon Eun Hye, this movie is about the story of 4 girls in their 20’s, right after they graduate from university. Facing many different and new challenges for the first time, they each have to go through their own obstacles - love, family, friends and of course, their first job. Their strong friendship helped each other through those hardships and served as a support network. 

Park Han Byul plays Yoon Hye Ji
Yoon Hye Ji is a loud, crazy, fun, brave, adventurous but sweet girl. Also one of those girls worth envying as she has it all - looks, body and most importantly, luck. She doesn’t have any goals in life, and just spends her days living life to the fullest - which often to her, means clubbing and alcohol. One day she was randomly scouted by a manager of a large entertainment company while dancing at a club. From then on, she began her life as an actress/model. At first, she was just living and enjoying life as a celebrity…however, she slowly starts to become serious for the first time in her life as she actually tries to put an effort into acting after being continuously yelled at by the director. 

Yoon Eun Hye plays Lee Yoo Min
Lee Yoo Min is a lazy student, but a talented writer. After graduation, she struggles with finding herself. She breaks up with her boyfriend because she felt that she deserved more than a man who just wants her for sex and can’t give her anything - security, materialism. Through relations, she lands a job at a media company as a broadcasting writer. However, she could not care less about the job as her boss always uses her to run personal errands and doesn’t really care about developing her potential as a writer. At this time, her party animal friend, Hye Ji, introduces her to a rich male friend of hers and sets them up on a date. Almost immediately, the guy falls for Yoo Min and they start dating. She experiences what it’s like to be dating the upper class with a boyfriend who can give her much more. At work, Yoo Min runs into an old highschool junior who has always adored her. She supports and encourages Yoo Min in her job, and is also a hardworking individual herself, except lacks in luck. Yoo Min finds her a bit annoying but everything changes when an unfortunate incident happens. To complicate things further, Yoo Min runs into some issues with her own boyfriend after accidentally sleeping together.

Cha Ye Ryun plays Choi Su Jin
Choi Su Jin is a very smart girl and does well in school. However, she is a person with high dignity and doesn’t want to lose face in front of her friends. Her true interest lies in acting, but she pretends it doesn’t mean anything to her. Su Jin’s father’s business went bankrupt and she needs to find a job quick. To save face, she refuses to tell her friends about her financial situation, worried that they might try to adjust everything to make her feel comfortable. Therefore, she forges a psychology degree in order to work as a psychology tutor for a student. Nevertheless, she still keeps attending many movie auditions whenever possible. Unfortunately, she lacks luck and is not very talented, resulting in many rejections. Things heat up when she finds out that her friend Hye Ji, who doesn’t work hard at all, got into the entertainment business by luck and became popular quickly with even a chance to act in a movie. Unable to fight back the jealousy, her friendship with Hye Ji was affected and the two frequently got into fights. 

Yoo In Na plays Min Hee
Out of the 4 friends, Min Hee has the richest parents; wealth was never a concern for her. Min Hee has a bubbly, cute, optimistic and friendly personality, but it vanishes for a bit while she is forced to deal with her parents’ divorce. She wants to study fashion abroad, and leave Korea before her parents get divorced. However she is stuck having to pass an English test before she is qualified for an international school. Feeling awkward, she has no choice but to take an English class with a bunch of highschoolers. One of them (played by U-Kiss’ Dong Ho), developed a crush on Min Hee and helped tutor her so she could pass the course. Although this was hardly displayed in the movie, the two did share a few cute and funny scenes toward the end of the movie.

Favorite quotations:

Yoon Hye Ji (played by Park Han Byul) says to Yoo Min, “A woman’s real eye length is wherever her eyeliner ends, and a man’s height includes his insoles.”

Yoo Min (played by Yoon Eun Hye) narrates a part near the end:“Resigned from the company and am freelancing. The TV dramas completely turned me down today for the 10th time. Furthermore, I don’t know how many more downfalls there are to come. But 25 years of age, is sufficient to dream and a perfect time to start new things. Also here now, I am the center of my life.”

Interesting Facts:

• I don’t know why this movie is called “My Black Mini Dress”, because there were very very few depictions of it throughout the entire film. From what I got from the film, it was depicted a total of 3 times.

1. The movie started off with a graduation ceremony, in which Min Hee wonders why graduation robes have to be ‘black’. Su Jin, the wise character, answers that it is because black signifies an important ending of a phase of our lives.

2. Still near the beginning of the movie, Yoo Min goes shopping for an outfit for her blind date with Hye Ji. When she sets her eyes on a black mini dress, Hye Ji, the fashion/dating expert, comments that a black mini dress is a perfect piece of clothing because you can wear it practically anywhere - from weddings to funerals.

3.  At the very end of the movie, it seems that there is a flashback…to when the 4 girls first met each other at a welcoming orientation for new students. All 4 girls happened to sit together at the auditorium. Coincidentally, all 4 of them also happen to be wearing the exact same black mini dress and they begin to laugh, which concludes the movie. 

Therefore, a possible reason why this movie is called My Black Mini Dress is because the dress represents the ending of many important phases in their life; i.e. the end of a relationship, the end of their academic career, even the end of someone’s life. This black mini dress also represents the friendship of the girls, as the black mini dress is suitable to wear for any important occasion (i.e. clubbing, blind dates, etc.); symbolizing the support the girls have for each other no matter what the situation may be. The fact that is is a mini dress, and not just any other piece of clothing like a shirt, pants, etc. is most likely because it showcases their youth and femininity the best, as well as the sexy and romantic charms of a girl in her early 20’s. 

• In “My Black Mini Dress”, Park Han Byul’s character gets scouted to be a CF model for Levi’s jeans. She had to film a fake CF for the purpose of the movie, but the effects were like that of a real CF because everyone in Korea became very interested in the Levi’s jeans she was wearing.

Thoughts:
I have never saw Park Han Byul act, and I’ve gotta say, she acted very well in this. The casting was great because her character was very believable when played by her. Although her character isn’t that hard to portray, but she knew the perfect amount of exaggeration to put into certain scenes. There were also a couple scenes where she had more emotional parts during fights with Su Jin, and I thought her acting was very natural. She’s more than a pretty face. Oh wait, scrap what I said in the beginning. I did watch her act very briefly, as she was featured in SE7EN’s MV - I’m Going Crazy. But that wasn’t enough to judge her acting yet. A full movie is enough to judge, at least for now.

Yoo In Na’s acting was good in this too, but she didn’t have many parts compared to the other 3 main characters. Also, her character wasn’t a difficult character to play. There were no surprises here, she didn’t ‘wow’ me. I think it’s because all I’ve ever seen Yoo In Na act in, are all roles like this - girly, cute, bubbly roles. I would love to see her act in something that’s complete opposite of that…something out of her comfort zone.

As for Yoon Eun Hye and Cha Ye Ryun, both were also great actresses, especially Yoon Eun Hye. Her role was the heaviest out of the 4 main characters but I felt she did a good job. Switching from lazy, messy to motivated and refined in front of her boyfriend and other upper class people. As well as being worried, emotional over the baby, the death of her friend, etc. I loved Cha Ye Ryun’s character as Su Jin. Her character was so smart, elegant, classy, but at the same time has slight breakdown moments due to her audition failure and jealousy. Her subtleness in expressing certain emotions in order to save face in front of her friends was great.

Conclusion
Overall, this was a pretty typical chick flick. Like other graduation or friendship based movies, this had all the necessities - family, love, friendship, job issues. But this movie was more character-based rather than plot-based. There was very little romance touched upon and I would’ve liked it if the movie included other work related issues other than only revolving around the entertainment business. And there was way too much emphasis on Yoon Eun Hye’s character, leaving practically nothing relevant to talk about of the other main characters. If you’re a fresh graduate like me, I would recommend you watch this because you can relate to it, especially the part about ‘rejections’ (and in this economy too…). If not, then this movie isn’t really worth your time unless you like the cast, or you’re just looking for something fun, light and relaxing.  

Message of the movie?
Don’t be afraid of failure or rejections! As a new graduate, this is the perfect time to start new things and experience life. It’s okay to make mistakes. Just be sure to stay close to your own support network, your friends. No matter where life takes all of you, keep in touch!

mattsbrickgallery:

Todays afternoon snack.

A LEGO wedding cake?! Doesn’t get any more creative than that. I wonder if it was from Cake Boss, eh.

06251804~❤: [Fan Account] G-Dragon: "Compared to my fans, my pain is nothing"

Reblogging this as a means of supporting Daesung, even though this is about G-Dragon. The autopsy results will be out soon, we can only be patient and hope for the best.

jwalkervip:

Source: VIP 3기 공식홈패이지 + lxx120216@weibo
Translated by: mystifize@twitter
Via: jwalkervip.tumblr.com

Note: This VIP posted this account up again because the ongoing Daesung situation reminded her of this. G-dragon talks about his controversy in 2009 at a gathering with friends.

2NE1’s Sandara Park (Dara) recently made a trip to Yonsei University. Is it for the annual university music festival? No. Surprisingly, she was chosen to be a guest lecturer at Yonsei University’s consumer behavior (marketing) class. (Oh the perks of being a marketing student in Korea…) Being a popular member in Korea’s rising girl group, I can imagine the lecture hall was more packed with both male/female students than usual.

To be honest when I first heard it, I was really surprised. Usually people who are chosen to guest speak at lectures are successful business figures. However, Dara has recently been appointed as 2NE1’s official Public Relations/Communications Director, so she is definitely a legit candidate. Even so, I was curious about the content of her lecture. Thanks to RoyalAceSubs@YGLadies, an English subbed video was released and I had the honor of listening to Professor Dara’s lecture.

With a humble beginning, Dara started off by saying she was “in no position to be lecturing” but nevertheless, it was enjoyable and I learned something as well. Dara is known to frequently communicate with her fans via me2day (kind of like a Korean version of Twitter) and she lectured on the topic of social networking.

Dara’s lecture can be concluded with the 3 points she made; that is, successful social networking must have the following 3 factors:

1. Realistic

2. Interesting

3. Natural

And based on what I got from the lecture, I think a 4th point can be added,

4. Trust

Communication via social media must be realistic because almost everyone nowadays is exposed to false hopes, expectations and promises through many commercials/advertisements. By being realistic, it can slowly build up a sense of trust between you and your followers over time.

Content of social networking posts must be interesting. Applying similar context by using your own personal experiences, knowledge, etc. can enhance the post by making it more creative, personal and easy to relate to.

Natural. Users of social media, followers, friends, you name it, are not dumb. Especially when we are living in such a technology-enhanced era, they are exposed to a lot of different types of social media and have lots of experience with it. If you are not natural, coming off with a phony image, they will see right through it easily. By then, it will be hard to restore your integrity. 

Trust is something that needs to build up over time. As your followers or audience slowly sees what you post, likes your content, sees that it is authenticated/real information, you will build a reputation. Trust does not come overnight.

Source: Dara’s Yonsei University Lecture (Eng Sub), Dara’s me2day

As a marketing major myself, I found Dara’s lecture to be surprisingly informative. Although she has never attended college/university, still being able to learn/use public relations, social media effectively, and even preparing her own lecture/slides, she deserves a round of applause. Her content was actually not that far from what I heard from professional lecturers at my own university, which is impressive! The content may be a bit different to me because her lecture is more on social networking specifically. But I loved how she “practiced what she preached”, showcasing her own naturalness during the lecture, used her own examples, also applied the lecture content to a wider, more applicable context. 

Okay, I’m sure tons of people will be using this headline…may or may not, since they’re not promoting it (though YG might change his mind if this song explodes) so maybe not a lot of articles will be on it. If anything, the headline will be “2NE1 is NOT lonely” once the song hits an all-kill. Anyway, I just saw the MV and…well, could anyone hate it?! 

Hits:

1. No drums, just plain guitar

The song, is loved by all Blackjacks because like will.i.am said, “I was waiting for the drums to come, but it didn’t. It was very refreshing.” Rare case of 2NE1 music where even though produced by Teddy, featured just guitar acoustics…I couldn’t even hear even the slightest hint of drums! In other words, this is just like Park Bom’s version of “Don’t Cry” on YG On-Air. Simple and beautiful. Really able to showcase their vocal ability.

2. Chorus

Love love love how this time, although Bom is in the chorus as usual, Minzy also has a solo part in the chorus. Really is a fresh new switch since Bom almost always has the most dominant part in the chorus. I always felt Minzy has a really nice soulful and mature tone to her voice, that wasn’t showcased enough in “It Hurts”. Thank you for giving her the chorus part, Teddy.

3. Vocal

Also a little point here, but I like how Dara took on a challenge and if you notice, her parts in “Lonely” is not just the same soft, quiet, short part like in “It Hurts”. She starts off soft and slowly builds up the volume at the end of her part, which is something that the other members usually do, and not her. The uniqueness and pitch of her voice doesn’t really suit that type of singing 100%, but it was definitely a bold attempt and shows that she can also be versatile in singing.

4. Wardrobe and hair

Their wardrobe was amazing. I could not stop oohing and aahing over their outfits. Can’t wait for Big21, haute issue, 21bangs to review their clothes. Not only their wardrobe, but their hair! Usually in MVs, 1-2 wardrobe changes occur. But in this one, not only do their wardrobe change way more often, but their hair has such a dramatic change too. Dara’s mohawk, fauxhawk, whatever you want to call it, was so surprising. I thought she was going to have that throughout the whole MV, but next thing you know, she has long hair tied to the side again. That’s one of the most obvious, but all the other members have hairstyles changed also, even Minzy, though hers is very subtle. 

5. Lyrics concept

Even the lyrics are refreshing. Instead of the same old love song about either breaking up or as some people may have thought, about being lonely, because of the song title, this song is about being lonely even when with their other half. Definitely a refreshing twist.

6. MV concept

This whole entire MV is basically like Big Bang’s “Love Song”. If you think about it, both MVs consist of them simply walking throughout the whole entire thing. Though Big Bang’s has a small choreography part, but you get what I mean. The thing is, both of their MVs are not boring even though it’s walking for the most of the song. With 2NE1, their wardrobe changes, dramatic hair style changes really really helped in my opinion. Because there’s not much happening in the MV, besides their clothes, you really concentrate on the song and their vocals, which is the main point to be achieved I think. The misty vintage set, with several beautiful sets both depicting indoor and outdoor really helps set the mood too. They could even save money hiring a male actor for the male lead, because this song is called “Lonely”, so no male lead is no biggie.

7. Most unique promotion/marketing ever

Some of you may or may not know, Dara, has recently released her phone number to the public through her me2day blog. She was writing how she was so lonely in the wee hours of the morning, so she went ahead and released her number. Of course, fans were crazy and yeah, it’s a wonder her phone didn’t explode of the incoming calls and text messages. Well, looks like troller YG has stuck again. This was not Dara’s real number (although she did really make it seem like it was legit), but a special way of promoting their song “Lonely”. Apparently when you call “Dara’s phone number”, you will hear a part of “Lonely” replaying over and over again. Awesome awesome way to promote the song without using much money. All Dara did was post it on her me2day (which is for free and is essentially like a Korean version of Twitter) and all they had to spend was little money setting up the song to replay over the phone and wow, it probably generated more word of mouth than ever existed within one day.

Misses:

1. Pronounciation

I know not all of 2NE1 is fluent in English, and I really give props to them for trying really hard, and as a Blackjack, I don’t mind their hardly noticeable accent at all. But I’m not crazy about how some of them pronounce the word “lonely” in here. They pronounced it like “lon-ly” instead of emphasizing the “e”. Though I understand this pronunciation could’ve been deliberate due to vocal and singing purposes. 

2. Dara’s bobby pins

With Dara’s shocking mohawk style hair revealed right at the beginning of the MV, of course people will be noticing it even more. So…shouldn’t they have been a bit more careful about hiding the bobby pins? You can clearly see it thanks to the incredibly high HD quality YG has nicely provided. 

Little notes!

1. Seems like the storyline/concept of the MV is that all members of 2NE1 are acting as one person. If you see the filming technique, for example when CL slightly bumps into a random passerby, she turns into Bom, who turns and looks at who she bumped into. 

2. The highway bridge actually has “sexy, pin-sharp, in flawless”  (I think they meant ‘n flawless?) written on it at 1:32, but at the same time the building behind the bridge has the huge words “FREAK” written on top. Does that symbolize the irony? i.e. they are in a relationship with their boyfriends, but at the same time, they feel lonely.

Aziatix. Besides the sick name, I can assure you the members are nothing but talent and charisma. Aziatix is a Korean-American group comprised of 3 members: Nicky Lee, Eddie Shin and Flowsik. All 3 are Korean-American and are in charge of vocals and rapping respectively.

I saw Aziatix yesterday on Korean singer Brian Joo’s tweet, and I saw G.NA retweet it. I had no idea who they were until I saw another tweet by Soompi this morning. Feeling curious, I clicked in and boy am I ever glad I have. That’s because I am a fan of Nicky Lee…also known as 李玖哲! 

Nicky Lee

It just so happens the other day I was just randomly thinking about Nicky, and wondering if he knows any Korean musicians since he’s Korean himself. For those that don’t know, Nicky Lee is Korean, but after debuting in Korea, he went to Taiwan to pursue his music career and has achieved decent results. He has such a nice and smooth R&B voice and I have sooo many of his mandarin songs in my iPod. If you haven’t listened to him, shame on you! you should DEFINITELY go check him out. These are some of my favorite songs (song titles translated to English) - R&B/ballad songs: Baby it’s Me, Love Doesn’t Need a Reason, Relief; More upbeat songs: Reluctant to Let Go, Hurry and Love Me!

In Taiwan, he is a solo singer, but also part of Taiwan’s group, the godfather of Taiwan hip-hop, MACHI (also one of my faves). So you can imagine how happy I was to see him back in the Korean game. A bit off topic, but…Nicky reminds me of Big Bang’s Daesung. Both are Korean, both are “small-eyed brothers”, both are always smiling/happy and super hilarious…and most importantly, both have amazing vocals! According to Koreaboo, Nicky is still a part of MACHI, but his involvement with AZIATIX is just a side label used as a route for international debut in the US market.

Eddie Shin - is new to me. Apparently after some quick browsing and research, he debuted under Cube Entertainment (which is probably why G.NA knows him and RT Aziatix). Looking through some of his old songs, he also seems to sing R&B pretty well, though I personally prefer Nicky’s voice. He also has written songs for Ivy, Wheesung, and many other Korean artists.

Flowsik - name says it all. A rapper who’s flow is sick. Or sik. I first learned about him when he was featured in JYJ’s The Beginning album - Micky Yoochun’s song, I Love You. I saw lots of non-JYJ fans commenting and praising him so I decided to check him out and he is definitely an impressive rapper. Flow, lyrics, voice/tone, he’s got it all. I’m reeaally looking forward to his new songs with Aziatix. 

For those wondering, the group AZIATIX is also under the music label with the same name. The founder is Jae Chong, who is also the same founder of MACHI Entertainment of Taiwan hip-hop. Jae has worked with many top artists in Taiwan and Korea, a lot of them my favorites - Taiwan’s Elva Hsiao, Jolin Tsai, Vanness Wu, etc. and Korea’s Hyori, JYJ, Boa, etc. It seems to me their vision is to showcase the best of Korean-Americans with AZIATIX as they personally said that they feel there isn’t enough Asian presence in the US music industry at the moment (I couldn’t agree more). With the success of Far East Movement, I genuinely hope AZIATIX is able to mirror their success. To me, it seems they’ve garnered quite a fanbase already since the 3 members has gained a lot of fans individually before forming this group. And with their fluent English, impressive talent and good quality music and experience, they are a strong candidate. 

So what about it? Are you an “Aziaddict” yet? I sure am! Check out their official website, Facebook and Twitter and be sure to grab their debut single, “Go” on iTunes!

Check out my sources from Koreaboo and Soompi for more detailled info on each member!

Sources: Koreaboo - Article 1, Article 2, Soompi

Traphik (Timothy de la Ghetto), Dumbfoundead, MC Jin…dope rappers! The 3 made a rap about Charlie Sheen in March and this was love at first listen. It’s catchy, the lyrics are fun and the flow’s real good…also props for the goofy video! I don’t know why it has so little views. This DESERVES AND NEEDS to go VIRAL!!

A small confession: ever since Jay Park started writing rap lyrics/covers on Youtube, I think I started to appreciate rap lyrics. This is also because I love writing and play on words, so I started becoming a lot interested in rap lyrics. (The more fun/meaningful ones anyway, not the ones that are only about drugs and other….stuff). If you read the rap lyrics to the Charlie Sheen song, you will find clever references. Sorry if the rap lyrics offend anyone! I simply liked it in a “play on words” context.

jaywon24:

 Remixed by 1524 Cover artwork by Faczi    

빅뱅의 인기유닛 GD & TOP의 집에 가지마 를 1524(MIO & Jaywon24)만의 특별한 느낌으로 리믹스 하였습니다. Check this Remix version of ‘Don’t go home’ by GD & TOP! Remixed by 1524 with unique style.

Awesome awesome remix!! So refreshing, I love it~!

Second performance of Big Bang’s Love Song! I’m sure many people have already noticed their little mistake in the beginning…very adorable mistake though I gotta say. The following all happens within a 5 second time interval at the very beginning.

If you notice in the beginning, it may have been the production team’s fault for starting the music too soon.

As you can see/hear, the 1st line of TOP’s solo singing part was the actual CD being played. Not till his 2nd line, TOP then brings the mic to his mouth and starts singing and you can hear the difference between the live and the CD.

G-Dragon for some reason, was on stage already and Daesung follows him to go on stage. The poor back-up dancers were probably so confused at this point…you can tell when they saw GD/Daesung on stage when they weren’t supposed to be. Daesung was supposed to be after TOP, so I can see why he went on stage, although it was a bit too soon, but I have no idea why GD was on stage. Luckily GD realizes his mistake and heads back, bumping into Daesung, who walks backwards at lightning speed. Then the 2 dancers rush on-stage in the midst of the mix-up, only for one of them to block TOP but then quickly re-positions himself in the right spot. Everything else went smoothly and it didn’t seem like it affected their performance at all! True professionals. 

I can see why they might have gotten a bit mixed up, especially if my theory about the music starting too soon was correct. This is a more interesting choreography, with a similar concept to their MV. Each member is on stage one at a time. Right when the current member is almost done their solo part, the member next to sing rushes on stage to prepare…so when one leaves, the other is already on stage and ready to sing. Therefore, there was a lot of running on and off stage as opposed to dancing together all at once (with the exception of the chorus) and timing was a critical factor, as they had to know when to approximately be on stage and in what position. The stages were pretty small (at least for their Stupid Liar performance), making it more difficult. 

Messy beginning with adorable mistakes, but hey! This just proves they are human and what was most important is that they didn’t let it affect the rest of their performance.