Confessions of an Uncle Fan: The Series (episode 29)
HappyalmostHalloween!Halloween seems to be a fan favorite holiday but I admit that I am a bit of a party pooper and not into dressing up. I actually forgot that Halloween was just around the corner until last weekend when I saw an inordinate amount of people dressed up as Miley Cyrus roaming the streets... at least I hope they were in costume; sometimes it's hard to tell in New York City. Although I am a Halloween loser, I tried to keep that theme going throughout the article today so let's see what's on tap.
Cool Things of the Week
Trouble Maker Bringing Trailer Living to K-pop
Random threesomes, throwing up in a toilet, and a fridge filled with neatly aligned Budweisers… that's quite the interesting concept from the duo ofHyunAandHyunseungknown asTrouble Makerand their video for "Now". I guess I was a little surprised by the tone of the of the video because it's pretty aggressive for K-pop what with the blatant cigarette smoking, hook ups on a cash covered bed and in a car… not something you typically see from today's squeaky clean idols. On top of that, there's some "trouble" about similarities between the videos for "Now" andRihanna's"We Found Love". I have to admit that there are some shots that look to be literally staged the same way but even still, don't blame HyunA and Hyunseung because they just do as they're told. Any plagiarism accusations need to be focused on the director and producers. Oh, and I guess there was a song in there somewhere? I don't even remember because that video was totally unexpected.
Team A Reigns Supreme
From the start of the show, I was a fan of YG Entertainment's genius reality-competition show, 'WIN: Who is Next?'. The show was designed for fans to help choose YG's next boy band by voting after a series of head-to-head matchups between aTeam AandTeam Bof YG trainees.*SPOILER ALERT*Last Friday's episode saw the crowning of the winning Team A (Lee Seung Hoon,Song Min Ho,Nam Tae Hyun,Kang Seung Yoon, andKim Jin Woo) and the unfortunate defeat of Team B (Bobby,Song Yoon Hyung,B.I.,Kim Jin Hwan,Go Jun Hwae, andKim Dong Hyuk). Team B was the underdog from the get-go because of the name recognition of some of the members of Team A so I was rooting for the B boys and even though they lost, I guarantee most if not all of those guys will get their chance to debut soon. I'll say it one more time but YG Entertainment was very smart with this show because they got an old guy like me who cares very little about boy bands to gain an emotional attachment to a group that isn't even debuting! I can only imagine what how the legions of fan girls reacted. By the way, is the name of the winning really going to beWINNER? Oh jeez…
miss A Come Back!
Let the next comeback countdown begin for the ladies of miss A. Fans have been waiting with bated breath for their return and now as they are the de factoJYP Entertainmentgirl group, the stakes are even higher. An added twist is that it looks like their title track will be written by the songwriting duo ofE-Tribe("Gee" and "Naeng Myun"). It's smart for JYPE to start opening up their artists to other producers because A) it diversifies the type of music they create and B) it allows their artists to experience working with other people and gain new experiences. In the end, it just makes their brand better. Plus, this is just a good excuse to play more miss A videos.
'Nine: Nine Time Travels' Coming to America
It looks like Korean drama 'Nine' will be making its way to American TV's in the near future. An American production company has bought the rights to the drama and the project will haveYunjin Kim(of 'Lost' and 'Shiri' fame) as executive producer. Apparently the production company that wants to create the show is also production company for the shows 'Gossip Girl', 'Carrie Diaries', and one of my all-time favorite shows (at least for the first season) 'Chuck'. This is some serious muscle behind the project and given Yunjin Kim's experience both in Korea and the U.S., I trust she'll bring some of the K-drama magic to American audiences which can get lost in translation. Given this news and the release of the U.S. version of 'Oldboy' later this year, K-pop isn't the only Korean cultural export making headlines.
Girl Group Variety Round-Up
A list of all the girl group appearances on variety shows (that I saw) this week.
- 'Immortal Classics 2' - Ladies Code Sojung(seeVideo of the Weekbelow)
- 'Infinity Challenge' - BoA(Not really a girl group member but only 1 more week until the actual concert)
- 'Star King' - Girl's Day,SPICA
- '1000 Song Challenge' - Crayon Pop(thatSoyulis small but can really sing)