Now would the mistake be that she thinks that Alicia Keys “for a black person is really pretty?” Or is the mistake that she said it on national radio? Read more »
Archive for the Rant Category
Taeyeon made a mistake?
Posted in Rant, Seoul with tags Girl's Generation, SNSD, Taeyeon on January 22, 2009 by illdielaughing“Nothing’s original nowadays, anyway”
Posted in Art, Music, Random, Randomnosity, Rant on January 2, 2009 by illdielaughing
When people say nothing is original nowadays as a defense of their idols crappy and unoriginal music it frustrates me. Not wanting to admit that they like bad and/or unoriginal music they try to defend an artist by saying “nothing is original anymore”. Bullshit. Read more »
DBSK is allowed to date now
Posted in Rant, Seoul with tags DBSK on January 2, 2009 by illdielaughing
Over at Allkpop there was an interesting interview with Dong Bang Shin Ki. The most interesting bit is this:
“I think we’ve become a national idol. There are a lot of older female fans that tell us now, “You guys all look like grown up men now. We see you as men now.” Our management even told us, “You can start dating now. It’ll help with your images, to look manly.” But we have no time to meet women at the moment.” said Hero Jaejoong.
I will never get used to a lot of things in idol culture, for example, the fact that every single aspect of their lives revolves around an image that their record company controls. It baffles me. It’s a problem I have with Kpop (and products in any musical industry) because it makes them and their work seem inauthentic and fake. The fact that DBSK is told when they’re allowed to date is absurd and it is further ridiculous that they’re only allowed to date because it will help with their images. Sad how the industry works. Too hell bent on appeasing crazy and/or juvenile fans that these boys don’t get to have a life. I’m not surprised that, as Jaejoong said, they don’t have time to meet women because of they’re busy schedules but even if they could date, they would not be able to do so freely because they always have to deal with the backlash of individuals who shouldn’t even be called fans but instead possessive and obsessed people. Read more »
Dragonball Evolution
Posted in Rant with tags Chow Yun Fat, Dragonball Evolution, Dragonball z on December 12, 2008 by illdielaughing
Sigh. This movie looks so ridiculous. I never like Dragonball Z when I was in middle school and all of my guy friends were watching it. I was more of Sailor Moon girl. Anyway, Chow Yun Fat, whom I love, is in this film and that may be the only reason I’d see this movie.
This is another film like 21 that is based on Asians but execs in Hollywood felt that America couldn’t handle a film with an Asian main character so they filled it in with a white main character. In this film they surrounded him with Asians and had him play Goku. It’s pretty saddening how closed-minded either American execs are or America is. From a money standpoint, the execs want to be safe, want to appeal to a wider audience and they know that American minorities will watch a movie with a white main character because, first of all, that’s 99.9% of the movies we get and second of all, up until a couple decades ago we were still second-class citizens.
I suggest that execs stop “playing it safe” and keep it real. A good action movie is going to get viewers regardless of the race of the people who are in it. Good marketing and a good film are a golden combination. A studio is insulting Asian-Americans (and all minorities, for that matter) by effectively saying, “you’re not good enough to be a main character. If they don’t stop pussyfooting around the issue their attempt to stay neutral and appeal to a wide audience is going to polarize viewers in the long run.
People think that Hollywood is progressive because a lot of loud mouth liberal actors get screen time but Hollywood is stuck in an old set of mind. The average age of voters in the academy of arts and sciences is just under 60 years old. Most executives are pretty unhip and only a few change things and create waves (like the producer that first introduced The Ring and started the wave of Japanese horror remakes). Hollywood is behind even in technology, though things are changing fast. We need new blood.
Things will change, and I hope to be apart of that change after I graduate, but seriously, Goku is obviously Japanese, and there is no way the suits didn’t sit down and say, “We need a white character for relatability.” That’s just the way things work, but it won’t be like that for long.
Hopefully.
Park Shin Yang Banned from Dramas
Posted in Rant, Seoul with tags Park Shin Yang on December 5, 2008 by illdielaughingIs this…a joke?
What I find so absurd about this is that he is being banned because he started a lawsuit about his pay for Money’s Warfare, last year’s hit drama. Apparently, Park wants over $100,000 per episode and the production company just can’t afford that. The Korean Television Drama Production Company Association held a meeting and voted to ban Park from acting in TV dramas and they are trying to coerce TV stations to ban the production company involved in the lawsuit as well. There are only about 30 members in this association. How in the hell did they get the power to ban someone from participating in dramas? And with the only reason being that they think Park Shin Yang is asking for a ridiculous amount of money? Are they in middle school dilly-dallying on the playground? They’re acting as if someone is demanding marbles and they don’t think they should get them so the ban them from the next game.
When I hear this news coming out of Korea I sigh and think, “Damn, Korea can be so ghetto sometimes.” Were there no contracts involved? Shouldn’t this be a simple matter to deal with? You look at the contract and say, “Hey! They signed to pay this amount!” and call it a freaking day. And what exactly is banning him going to do? If he’s owed money he’s owed money if he’s not then he won’t get any. Why does the Korean TV blah blah blah Association have to get involved?
Ridiculous.
:hanfever, yonhap
My Last Will and Testament
Posted in Music, Rant, Sarcasm: Catch Up., Seoul, ^_^ with tags Big Bang, Rant on November 10, 2008 by illdielaughing
I just posted this on soompi, against my better judgement. G-Dragon, in the picture above is saying, “SHH! You shouldn’t have said anything!”
I think I’m going to offend some people with this comment so i’ll just preface it by saying “Sorry.”
Anyway, I love Big Bang but they are not the second coming and they are not the hottest thing to come out of Korea, especially not in terms of hiphop. This “new genre” of music Big Bang showed is not new, it’s called pop music. Kanye and G-Dragon are not on the same level, lets not even go there.
Seriously I do like Big Bang, Hot Issue was a fresh minialbum and thats why I love them but I think their latest Korean album is a jarble of techno and hiphop beats for the most part. They aren’t really a hiphop group anymore, they’re a pop group that wears hipster hiphop-ish clothing and is heavily influenced by hiphop, rap etc.I’m not really offended to hear you call American hiphop a joke so much as confused because if you listen to shi.tty music then it’s going to be a joke. If you listen to some good American hiphop then maybe you’ll realize that it’s not America’s “fault”, but yours for listening to Flo Rida when you could be listening to Lupe Fiasco, Pharell Williams, The Neptunes, Gnarles Barkley ETC I sound harsh but there’s no other way to put it frankly.
Also, you do realize that Big Bang has sang and rapped about maybe 3 different things since they’ve debuted? Breaking up, sex and… money… Honestly, I really cant stand when people try to put down the American industry because they can’t find good music in it.
ANYWAY, here’s why I like Big Bang
They have good music for the most part (recently they’ve been slipping)
They have good singers and good rappers
Did I mention they have good rappers? In pop music in Korea thats a rarity
They can dance and they aren’t afraid of women lolAnd here are some pictures of nice looking things so that you all don’t come looking for me and tar and feather me.
I know I shouldn’t have but sometimes I read something that irks me so much I must respond. Anyway, in lieu of this I’ve decided to write my last will and testament because I know…they will find me.
To Amy, at Popfestast, I leave this blog.
To Ellie, I leave the camera we use to shoot Seoulbeats Weekly (don’t forget to give it back to NYU before Winter break!).
To the VIPs I’ve offended I leave my scratched and tirelessly listened to Hot Issue mini-album. I also leave my The Great Concert DVD.
To my readers, I leave my itunes playlist.
Haru Haru part II and 2pm
Posted in Music, Rant, Seoul with tags 2pm, Big Bang, Rant on August 24, 2008 by illdielaughingEh.
I don’t think the second one is such a hot idea. Having a group called 2am and then coming out with a group called 2pm is rather…the only word that fits, honestly, is LAME.
First of all it has seven members. Then, for goodness sake, what are they wearing? (I honestly can’t stand all the boybands that are dressing like crap to “make a statement”. Like G-Dragon for example, I love him, I want him to take me shopping, but AFTER he comes back to his senses and stops dressing like a St. Marks reject piece of turd.) Read more »
SBS Fails at Life
Posted in Rant, WTF?, World with tags SBS on July 31, 2008 by illdielaughingSBS insists on embarassing themselves.
First they make Youtube take down all videos of the shows that air on their network. (They have every right to do this, but unless they sub their dramas and variety shows, it shouldn’t matter if English speakers are watching subbed SBS shows on Youtube. We wouldn’t be watching their shows when they broadcast anyway). Then they leak secret video of the Olympic Opening Ceremony rehearsal with the knowledge that they are not allowed capture video.
The organizers of the rehearsals didn’t do double checks on whether or not people had cameras but they warned people against taking picture or video and they were stopping people from taking pictures in the front row. So SBS knew they had footage that was illegal to show. It’s one thing if someone just leaked it online, but it’s a whole other thing if they use it on their news program.
Personally, I don’t really care about the opening ceremony and I don’t think that seeing the rehearsals is going to ruin the opening ceremony for people that do care. But I do feel that SBS was indecent and they’ve shown their complete lack of regard for professionalism and the integrity of journalism.
SM Entertainment and SBS’s “Untold Stories” [FAKE?]
Posted in Rant, Seoul, TV with tags BoA, DBSK, Kangta, SM Entertainment, Super Junior on July 24, 2008 by illdielaughingEDIT: THIS MAY OR MAY NOT BE FAKE, IF I FIND OUT FOR SURE THAT IT’S FAKE I’LL TAKE IT DOWN. SO DO NOT QUOTE ME AS A SOURCE FOR THIS NEWS.
BoA, Dong Bang Shin Ki, Kangta and Super Junior are featured in SM and SBS’s Untold Stories, a four chapter, twenty episode show.
To me this is kind of unnecessary and gluttonous. It’s like SM Entertainment decided to do an A&E autobiography on it’s artists but none of them, with exception of Kangta, has hit thirty. This is ploy for publicity and ratings and the sheer scale of these “untold stories” makes it seem rather self-important and vainglorious. If it was one group, or one artist it wouldn’t be as bad.
It’s also rather hoaky and campy, like a long Lifetime movie. The DBSK Chapters are:
Episode 1 – Yun Ho: The Country Boy
Episode 2 – Xiah Junsu: The Mountain’s Peak
Episode 3 – Micky Yoochun: The American Dream
Episode 4 – Choi Kang Chang Min: The Priceless Stairs
Episode 5 – Jae Joong: The Street Lights
For twenty of a record companies artists to simultaneously barrage us with stories that are supposed to make us feel sad, or happy or whatever, I find nearly obnoxious. But I know that for the most part these artists are going to speak honestly about where they came from and how they got to where they are so it bothers me even more to think that their memories and their pains or joys are going to exploited for profit.
G-Dragon’s Tattoo
Posted in Rant, Seoul with tags Big Bang, G-Dragon, Rant on July 10, 2008 by illdielaughingI only write this post because of all the ridiculous responses to it over at Popseoul!
I personally think, besides the awkward placement, that the tattoo is nice and meaningful if understood. To people wondering if he knows what it means, I don’t think G-dragon is enough of an idiot to get a tattoo without having any idea as to it’s worth. People in the states get Chinese character tattoos all the time, they aren’t raised reading Chinese characters, but they are educated as to what it means. G-Dragon getting a tattoo with English letters does not mean that he doesn’t know what it means.
The Eagles wrote a song about James Dean, You were too fast to live, too young to die, are the words describing Dean’s lifestyle, daring and way of death. ”Too fast to live” at it’s simplest is merely the reflection of James Dean living, he was ruthless but he was iconic, and seen as “dangerous” because he had purpose. As a musician it makes sense that G-Dragon would get a tattoo that are lyrics of a song. (There was also the poem by Mark Lamarr that alluded to James Dean called Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Work but that was written in 1985 nine years after the release of The Eagles’ song).
Honestly I think any young adult with any kind of ambition can relate to those words. We’re all too fast, too ambitious, too reaching to contain all in this life but were also too young not to live (and for those dead, they were too young to die.) James Dean pretty much defined the youth culture in the mid-fifties and he is still defining youth culture now (I mean youth as in 18 and up or I guess the mature high schooler. Read: young adult 
) So to me this tattoo makes perfect sense and it suits G-Dragon as much as his “Moderato” and “Vita Dolce” tattoos do.
