I recently heard 디어클라우드, or Dear Cloud, after a friend of mine posted the group's Lip MV on her LJ. I had never heard them, or even of them, before this so I thought I would share them today. Dear Cloud are a rock group made up of 5 members: 나인 on vocals, 용린 on guitar, 이랑 on bass, 정아 on keyboard and 광석 on drums. They debuted in 2007 with a self-titled album, and released their second album, Grey, in October last year. The single from Grey was Lip, which was the MV that my friend posted. Check it out: (Anyone recognise creepy chin dude? He was in 박효신 & Hwang Project's The Castle of Zoltar. I have no idea what his name is. He can just be Creepy Chin Dude.) Dear Cloud reminds me of a female-vocal version of Nell. Very laid... Show more

삼일 운동 (만세운동). Two days ago was a very important holiday for Korea. Like most nations, many historically important holidays mark a day that symbolizes a particular feeling or thought. In Texas, we have the Battle of the Alamo. This was a tragic military loss in every sense of the word during the Texas Revolution. Yes, a failure - the well-trained Mexican army outnumbered the beleaguered defenders 10 to 1. In fact, Mexican Army General Santa Anna even gave the defenders a chance to surrender. If you know Texas, then you can guess which finger the defenders raised in response. Essentially, the Mexican army ended up slaughtering just about everyone inside. However, this seemingly foolish decision to fight the organized Mexican army ended... Show more

Korean children's daily life. These snot-nosed little brats sweet little angels are the cutest things on Earth. Proof. But make no mistake - these kids get more than their daily dose of school. The sheer number of hours spent in the classroom is enough to raise Western eyebrows. They get plenty of instruction in and out of school. The Korean educational system consists of six years of elementary school, three years of junior high, and three years of high school. School semesters are seasonal (like in America) but start in March and ends in February (Spring to Fall as opposed to Fall to Spring). One overall educational goal is to make them bilingual in Korean and English; if they can fit another language into that sweet little... Show more

It's been another week of good stuff being released, such as Fly to the Sky's latest (and last) album Decennium. I'm personally still feeling rather heartbroken that they're breaking up, although they have said that they will be coming back together to release smaller releases sometimes. That's like ending your marriage but still dating that person! I wish that they were staying together properly, because Decennium had so many amazing songs on it, they just keep getting better and better - I suppose it's good to go out on a high note, though. 신화 member and ballad singer 신혜성 also released an album this week. Keep Leaves is the 'second side' of his third solo album. The first side, Live and Let Live was released last year and had 신혜성... Show more

노래방 Goodness gracious this is popular. If your first encounter with Korean culture wasn't with K-Pop or K-Dramas, then it might have been at the Korean karaoke bar. It's also been blogged about here, here, here, here, here, and here. Oh, and here too. And kind of here. The thing about this Korean-wide phenomenon is that it permeates and flows through each and every Korean like the force. Sure, not everyone goes all the time but if you're Korean, you've gone to the 노래방. Plenty of times. And here's a brief comparison of 노래방 outside of Korea. Something that I see that makes me smile are these practice rooms: 노래연습장. It's not quite enough to embarrass yourself with your friends - now you can practice your craft so that you'll... Show more