We always see this kind of advice on the Internet: “You should listen to Korean songs, it helped me to quickly progress” or “There is nothing better than Korean dramas without subtitles for learning Korean”.

Can you really learn a language without much effort by watching K-dramas?

Following this advice can bring many advantages:

I won’t even waste words with this one, when the video needs no words. At all.

Epik High should parody more movies. This was amazing XD

So excited for their album [e], and very sad that it wasn’t on iTunes yet when I rolled out of bed this morning.

I’m not normally one who favours subgroups more than the actual main group, but in the case of Super Junior the opposite is true for me. I love their Chinese subgroup, Super Junior M, so much more than I have been loving the main group in recent months.

Super Junior M is made up of 5 members from the main group: 동해 (Donghae), 규현 (Kyuhyun), 한긍 (Hangeng, also known as 한경 (Hankyung)), 려욱 (Ryeowook) and 시원 (Siwon). The remaining 2 members, Zhou Mi and Henry, are members of only this subgroup and not the main group, although Henry has worked with Super Junior in the past as the violinist for the first single of their second album, 돈돈.

They released their first album last year, a mix of Chinese versions of previous Super Junior songs, as well as new songs, and now they’re gearing up to release a mini-album. I’m quite excited about the mini-album, and I am loving the main single from it, Super Girl:

And last but not least, something that I meant to share a couple of weeks ago but everything else just kept on getting in my way and I didn’t want to make some hugely long entry …

There are a lot of movies that have just come out or are coming out over the next few months that I am really really looking forward to seeing, and hoping that I can find someone to drag to the cinema with me since I don’t like watching movies alone. But if I had to pick just one movie to see out of all of them, and it was the only one I would be able to see, I would without a doubt be picking Ninja Assassin. It’s got ninja, it’s got badass fighting, and it’s got the sexy talented hunk of a Korean guy that is 비 (Bi, also known as Rain, and 정지훈 (Jung Jihoon)). What other reason could a martial arts/ninja/action/blood-and-guts/Korean loving girl need?

I’m certainly not convinced that the movie’s plot is going to be all that great, but when I watch a movie like this I watch it for the action, and the stunts, and all the crazy ass stuff that goes down in crazy ninja fights.

And when the lego version of the trailer is pretty badass all by itself, call me crazy but then I think we’ve got a winner.

Need it. Want it. Now now now.

Have another trailer:

I’ve only recently found myself getting into JYP Entertainment R&B boyband 2PM. 2PM was originally part of the 11 member group One Day, but in the end JYP split them into two: the seven member R&B/dance focused 2PM, and the four member ballad focused 2AM.

2PM is made of 재범 (Jaebum, also known as Jay), 준수 (Junsu), half-Thai half-Chinese 닉쿤 (Nichkhun), 택연 (Taecyeon), 우영 (Wooyoung), 준호 (Junho), and 찬성 (Chansung).

Their debut single was 10점 만점에 10점, released in September last year, and although it was a decent enough song it wasn’t until earlier this year and the release of their second mini album, 2:00 PM Time For Change, that their popularity really took off. Again & Again was a definite hit, snagging the group their first Mutizen Song awards on music shows.

I found Again & Again much better than their earlier songs, but it wasn’t until they started promoting 니가 밉다 that my attention was caught.

My friend soon got me watching MBC’s Idol Show with her, where 2PM were hosts for the third season, and that was pretty much what sealed the deal for me. 2PM were fun, crazy, and their personalities were everything that I look for when I want to watch something entertaining. And omg don’t even get me started on the lolz that was Wild Bunny.

But it looks like I might have found a love a little too late.

The beginning of this month brought about two things: the first anniversary of 2PM, and the revealing of some comments that Seattle-born leader 재범 made on myspace in 2005, when he was still a trainee. The comments were made to friends when he was 17/18 years old, and said he hated Korea, and that he wanted to come back home – which isn’t all that surprising if you consider the fact he had only just gone to Korea, and had left behind everything and everyone he knew in order to pursue his dream of being a singer.

When the comments were revealed, 재범 issued an apology, explaining why he said those things but also taking responsibility for his actions. Netizens clamoured for 재범 to be removed from 2PM, but JYP issued a statement that he would not be taking 재범 out from the group.

To the surprise and shock of many 2PM fans, 재범 announced the following day that he would be leaving the group. As of right now there’s still a lot of question marks about what’s going on. Has he left 2PM for good? Is he just taking a break? He has said that he is returning to America to study music, but there hasn’t yet been any word on what he’ll be doing after that.

Fans of 2PM, known as Hottests, have been doing all they can to show their support for 재범 and their understanding.

But this brings me to what I really wanted to talk about: Netizens.

If there is one thing about Korea’s entertainment industry that I hate, it’s the netizens. Netizens exist in all cultures, for sure, but it seems that their voice is perhaps loudest in Korea. So many things are dictated by what the netizens are saying. Netizens see everything, hear everything. They are everywhere, and there is no tiny detail that escapes their notice.

Netizens scare me (and BaekGa of Koyote feels the same way). I honestly feel sorry for anyone who is famous in Korea, who has to deal with such a vindictive bunch of people who have seemingly nothing better to do than hide behind their PC screens and pick at anyone and anything. And they get vicious, fast.

Netizens have driven people to suicide before with their comments and accusations and rumours. They have no boundaries at all. This time around, they created suicide petitions against 재범, saying that he should kill himself because of things he had said.

Seriously, who does that?

And who digs through 4+ years of myspace comments just to find some dirt?

The sad thing is that I’ve been into the Korean entertainment scene for long enough that I’m no longer even surprised by what the netizens do or say anymore. The disgust hasn’t yet worn off, but the surprise certainly has. And I wonder, sometimes, about the people behind the hateful comments. How old are they? What do they do? Why do they spend so much time on criticising people who work harder than they probably ever will in their life? Is it jealousy that drives them to it? Boredom? Are they too young to know any better, or bitter because they are too old to be able to turn their lives upside down and go chase a dream, too weighted down by regrets of missed opportunities?

It is sad that such a vibrant and entertaining part of modern Korean culture can have such a dark side to it.

On a much lighter note, hiphop trio Epik High (에픽하이) will soon be releasing their sixth album! [e] is going to be as much an overdose of awesome as their fourth album Remapping the Human Soul was, with 2 CDs packed full of 30 tracks. I am so excited.

And look at this funny teaser they’ve done for it:

Anyone else seen the Korean monster movie The Host? XD

Remember G-Dragon‘s solo effort Heartbreaker? Well my favourite fanboy and good friend Alex has arranged a contest where he will be giving away several copies of the album. You can check out the contest here! There’s 4 copies of the album to be won from 4 different categories, as well as a copy of 2NE1‘s debut album. The contest closes on October 1st and winners will be announced a few days later.

SM Entertainment (the engine behind TVXQ, Super Junior, SHINee, SNSD) have recently unveiled their newest project – a five member girlgroup by the name of f(x) (에프엑스). f(x) consists of members 빅토리아 (Victoria), 크리스탈 (Krystal), 엠버 (Amber), 설리 (Sulli), and 루나 (Luna).

Since I’ve been preparing to move away to go to university in London, I’ve been too busy these past few weeks to really keep up with anything that’s going on in the music scene right now. But I would have to live on a completely different planet to have not known about the existence of f(x), since they seem to have got a lot of attention leading up to their debut and everyone seems to be talking about them.

I personally don’t see what all the fuss is about. Their debut song, LA chA TA(라차타) is alright; definitely not the worst debut song in the world, but I’ve also heard better. It sounds a bit like 주문 -MIROTIC- meets 소원을 말해봐 (Genie). And the girls themselves look alright too (and of course every teenage girl who claims to be bisexual has a huge girl-crush on the one that looks like a boy, whatever her name is – can’t girls like pretty girls? what is with this obsession of liking girls who look more like boys? everyone should just be in love with 이효리 instead).

Check out the music video for LA chA TA(라차타) below:

So what do you think? Were you impressed? No? Me either. But it looks a little bit more promising than some of the other recently debuted girl groups, so I’ll keep an eye on them and see where it goes.

In news that excites me WAY more, is the return of the husky, soulful voiced 박효신 (Park Hyoshin). You might remember 박효신 from back in December, with his Hwang Project song The Castle of Zoltar. Things have been fairly quiet since then, which sadness me a lot because 박효신 has such an amazing voice and I wish he had been more active since his 2007 album The Breeze of Sea: The Ballad.

There’s a teaser floating around for his upcoming song 사랑한 후에 and album Gift, although since the teaser is really just the two main acting leads being emo, it’s not much of a teaser and doesn’t really give much of an idea what to expect. But since it’s 박효신 I think it’s pretty obvious that we can all expect one of his trademark ballads in that gorgeous voice of his, and that alone is enough to get me excited for his comeback.

Gift should be released early this month, and there’s plans for him to hold a concert in October to celebrate his 10th anniversary since debut.

Yesterday 빅뱅 (Big Bang)’s leader G-Dragon released his first solo album Heartbreaker. As one of 빅뱅’s two main rappers, G-Dragon has been praised before as an up and coming songwriter, having been involved in the composition process for 빅뱅 songs 거짓말 (Lies, which was the group’s breakthrough single), But I Love U, rock-rap 빅뱅-No Brain collaboration Oh My Friend, and Strong Baby.

With some super catchy and pretty solid tunes under his belt, it comes as no surprise that all eyes were on this solo album and that expectations were pretty high.

What do you think of Heartbreaker, the titletrack of the solo album?

There’s been some very mixed reactions. I, personally, find the song enjoyable and catchy, even though it’s nothing too amazing. I also really love his look, and the MV itself. My favourite fanboy likes the concept, although diehard G-Dragon fangirls who think the man can do no wrong go further and praise the song as being unique and different and inspirational (oh, fangirls …). By slightly more mentally stable fans and netizens alike, however, he has been accused of copying Lady Gaga’s style, and for ripping off the beats of Flo Rida.

I think people need to stop taking pop so seriously. 90% of what floats around the pop scene is stuff that has already been done before, by one person or another. That’s the whole point of pop – it’s popular. Of course that isn’t an excuse to be unoriginal, but if it’s enjoyable and catchy then it’s enjoyable and catchy. That’s why pop is pop. What’s “in” is what sells. What isn’t “in”, is a risk – you’ll either set the next new trend, or be ignored.

I would definitely however have preferred to hear G-Dragon doing something a little more like the tunes he’s written for 빅뱅. He can definitely write some awesome songs – Heartbreaker does not rank among them. Maybe there was too much pressure and too much work, since the solo album was already delayed for a few months in the first place, due to G-Dragon being overworked. I think it may have been better for the creative juices if it had been a digital single or a 4 or 5 track mini-album rather than an entire 10 track album.

It is though nice to hear G-Dragon go solo, with collaborations with Jin Jung, Dara and CL from 2NE1, vocal legend 김건모 (Kim Gun Mo), 빅뱅 buddy 태양 (Taeyang), Teddy of 1TYM fame, and KUSH.

Fingers crossed that the next time he releases something, it’ll be something a little more refreshing and different.