So if you’ve been following my blog for awhile, you’ll know that couples aren’t really my thing for a number of reasons, but that doesn’t mean, of course, that I can’t appreciate when two people seem to have a really good rapport within a group or that two people are clearly very close and unabashed as to showing their affection for one another. I’m all for that – it’s cute. So in that vein, I’ve decided to do a post about my favourite ‘couples’ in various groups – because I just felt like sharing today. And if you think I’m weird and crazy after reading this, well then, okay – you’re entitled to your opinion.

So we’ll start with SHINee, right? Because well, I always start with SHINee, don’t I?

1. OnTae

Aww, these two are really, really cute together. Honestly people say that they’re ‘appa and son’ and they’re not joking – they really have that sort of relationship. I always get the sense that Onew feels very protective towards Baby Min and that Taemin really feels affectionately towards him. With these two, you have to pay close attention to their body language around each other because you’ll notice that Onew often pats Taemin on the head or smiles at him affectionately and that Taemin, who I’ve gathered doesn’t seem too keen on a whole lot of skinship, will usually actually initiate skinship with Onew, hugging him or holding onto his arm or leaning onto his shoulder or something. The affectionate relationship between them is somewhat subtle, I’d say, but it’s definitely there – and it’s a terribly sweet thing to see. ^_^

2. JongKey

Haha, OMG, these two….they’re a large part of the reason that I started to love these boys. They’re so funny together! SO funny! I remember reading in an article awhile back that the two of them are the mood-makers in the group and I was completely unsurprised. The article went on to say that the two of them have a lot of inside jokes (still unsurprised) and that usually Jonghyun will initiate the joke and then Key will turn it into an ‘outside joke’ by explaining it to the others (which is awfully nice of him, I think, considering that the nature of an inside joke is to keep it private). Hmm, to be honest, I think their relationship is sort of unique because even though there’s an age difference there, I’m almost never aware of it (seriously, I constantly forget that they’re not the same age) and more so, a lot of times you’ll notice that even though he’s the hyung, Jong is the one who follows what Key does. I’ve felt for awhile now honestly that JongHyun’s kind of in awe of Key – I can’t be completely sure why but it probably has something to do with Key’s eccentricity and self-assuredness – and you can see it sometimes when he looks at him. Like when Key’s going off on one of his little, random tangents and doing something weird, Jong always watches him like “WOW”, as though he’s really amazed that he actually knows someone like that (someone so cool, you know) – and subsequently, he will usually then copy whatever silly thing Key’s doing (like the ‘Christmas, Christmas!” thing in their video message about their UFO competition/giveaway thing from last year). In addition to that, I get the feeling that the two of them get along so well because they’re on the same wavelength – like they really understand one another (which explains the inside jokes). It seems like I’ve got a lot to say about these two, eh? What can I say – their BFF-ery just amuses me to no end. It’s part of why I miss Yunhanam so much – because that’s where I really got to see it.

3. Jongyu/OnHyun

Now I think I’ve mentioned this one before but I believe Jonghyun really looks up to Onew. Now it’s a subtle thing and you usually have to be paying attention to them to notice it but it is there – IDK why but the examples are eluding me at the moment  – but there have been moments when I got the impression that there’s a certain amount of respect and even admiration between the two of them and particularly on Jonghyun’s end. I think that it’s more difficult to see with Onew just because he’s generally so nice and he really makes an effort to compliment all four of them and to showcase their good points but with Jong, it’s a little more overt, partly because Bling’s just so expressive. These two have a very good dynamic, I think, and a lot of it has to do with their hyung/dongsaeng relationship as well as Onew’s position as the leader of the group. You know, I’ve heard people say that they think that JH should be the leader of the group because he’s very vocal and a good speaker and often seems to be in the forefront but if you really pay attention, you’ll realize that although he seems to take the lead a lot, he often takes his cues from Onew. For example, sometimes when they’re doing an interview and Jonghyun’s answering a question, he’ll glance over at Onew every once in awhile as if to check that he’s saying the right thing and other times after a question’s asked, he’ll pause and look at Dubu to see if he’s going to answer it before he says anything. In addition to all that, the two of them just have a good rapport, they get along well and they seem to have a good understanding of one another and I think that they play off of each other well – which is why they’re often sent on shows alone together – and as I said before, I really feel that Jong admires his hyung (probably because they’re pretty different personality-wise and I figure he’s able to appreciate Onew’s numerous good points to a much greater degree than we do).

Honourable Mentions – OnKey, 2Min – they have cute, close relationships too and I’m really happy that Taemin has someone like MinHo to look out for him and Onew and Key are similar to JongKey in the sense that they also play off of one another very well and seem to be on a similar (but not the same) wavelength but tbh, I don’t pay too much attention to them (partly because of their popularity within the fandom) and partly because I just don’t.

Super Junior – (a few months ago, when I was initially planning this post – I’ve had it on the back burner for awhile – BB would have been next on the list. Hmm, how quickly things change….)

1. SiHan

What I like about these two is that they have these really funny moments where they goof off and act really silly together (I have three words for you guys: Super Junior M) and they also have these sweet moments where they talk about how they’ve been there for each other and have constantly been a source of encouragement and support and strength to one another and it’s just really nice. They clearly have a deep bond and if you can’t appreciate that, then I don’t know what to tell you.

2. EunSiHae (no picture because I can’t find one with all 3)

Now I know everyone likes EunHae (and hey, I do too – because they are clearly BFFs and are practically joined at the hip most of the time) BUT I’m more partial to the above alternative just because – well, I guess I should tell you how I heard about this pairing….when I was almost done with Full House, I came across this fan video called Something about DongHae you MUST Know (tbh, I don’t normally watch fan videos but a title like that always catches my eye) and it was a pretty good video – made up of facts about DongHae (like why his nickname is Fishy) interspersed with pictures of him that go along with the facts that came before (like pictures of him in hats after it says he likes wearing them). Anyway, there was a particularly notable fact about how EunSiHae came about – where she said (and a Suju friend of mine reiterated) that first, there was EunHae but then DongHae started to become close to Siwon and since he didn’t want either of the two to get upset, he made EunSiHae and solved that potential problem and I won’t lie – when I read that, all I could think was “Aww, that Donghae’s a really thoughtful guy”. And then the next day, I watched episode 12 of Full House where they go to a sauna and there’s a really funny part where they three of them go off on their own and goof off with gym equipment and after that, it was set.

Honourable Mentions – HanChul, KangTeuk – I have mad respect for HeeChul for sticking up for Hangeng the way he has in the past – people say a lot of things about him but you can’t deny that he really does his best by the people he cares about and I think that’s really admirable.
Kangin and Eeteuk, on the other hand, make a really scary duo – because after watching Adonis Camp, I am sure that Kangin’s willing to coerce anyone into doing what Leeteuk wants them to do – and Kangin can be very scary when he wants to be. There seems to be a lot of affection and mutual respect there as well. ^_^

DBSK

Yoosu (no numbering here because there’s only one)

I call them my DBSK JongKey because it’s a fairly similar scenario – they both crack me up with their shenanigans, get along pretty well and really seem to understand one another. What more can you ask for? (This would be longer but I still don’t know DBSK so well – blame Suju - so for the moment, there’s only so much I can say).

Big Bang

ToDae

Another set of guys who crack me up when they’re together – initially i didn’t pay much attention to their interactions but then I watched their episode of Come 2 Play and Daesung mentioned that he learned all of his jokes from T.O.P. (which really shocked me) and ever since then, I’ve paid close attention to their relationship. They seem pretty close and they really have a cool hyung/dongsaeng relationship that often has me squee-ing like a typical fangirl. (I’m not joking – this video nearly gave me a heart-attack.) I like to see them together because TOP’s usually so stolid and reserved on tv but he relaxes a bit around Daesung and you get to see his fun, playful side come out more. So thanks for that, Daesung. And in addition, you can tell that Dae really looks up to his hyung and that they just have a whoooooole bunch of fun together.

Honourable mention – GRi - To be honest, I’m not particularly fond of these two (although I recognize their talent) but you’ve gotta admit that they have a really cute relationship. If I mentioned that other people admired their hyungdeul, well then SeungRi takes the cake as far as that’s concerned – he practically worships GD and he’s so eager and stuff around him. I love how he always copies what GD’s wearing (even though, considering GD’s often questionable fashion choices, that’s not really a good thing) and borrows his clothes and stuff without even asking – they have what I’d pretty much call the ideal big bro/lil bro relationship and I can’t help but think that that’s adorable. Aww~

The Wonder Girls – I should note here that I was surprised when I first started watching Season 3 of their reality show, the Wonder Years at how blase the girls are about their pairings and how they actually joke about it amongst themselves. It’s actually part of what helped me to reduce my dislike for the whole thing because I figured “hey, if they’re the ones being paired up and it doesn’t bother them, then why should I let it bother me?” So thanks, WG. Anyways…

MiSo (SunMi/SoHee)

These two….now these two have an interesting relationship. I think it’s because their friendship grew out of a semi-rivalry, that even though they’re close, you might not see it right away. Honestly I hadn’t seen them interact too much outside of performances and so on (which don’t really count) until I started watching The Wonder Years – I never finished (it was kind of boring….) but I did get a glimpse of their relationship and I have to say that it was lovely seeing little, usually quiet SoHee, acting playful and joking around and even squealing in excitement (!) with SunMi. And it certainly helped that the show’s PDs were clearly favouring those two so they got a lot of screen time – but I guess you could say then that it’s better for me.

Honourable Mention - YeEun/YooBin, SunMi/YooBin – YooBin is awesome and so her interactions with the two craziest girls in the group are guaranteed to be amusing. She does very well at keeping up with those two and seems to get along with them swimmingly. They’re just fun to watch together – it’s as simple as that.

And so, we’ve reached the end of my couple post. Fifty cool points for you if you read to the end. Ah, it feels good to get some of those random thoughts out of my head. Well, later.

Maki

Well, since I’ve been uber-lazy as of late and I haven’t posted a thing – I figure I should do some kind of update so here goes…. first off, please go to this site and help others while you surf the web and improve your vocabulary – it’s Free Rice.com.

Anyways, hmm, I’m very excited about the new YG girl group, 21! I feel like I’ve been waiting forever for Park Bom to officially debut even though it’s only been like a few months (for me anyway) so I’m really happy that all the speculations and the trickle of news is finally over and now her group has a name and official members and a tentative debut date. And they’ve got a song too! Check it out here – it’s 21 and Big Bang’s official song for the LG CYON phones that BB endorses. Hm, it’s not the best thing ever or anything but it’s nice and catchy and it’s good to have something of theirs to listen to. I’m kind of hoping their sound isn’t going to be exactly like this though…

Moving on…so Suju won their first number one with ‘Sorry, Sorry’ yesterday! Yay! I was so happy to come home to that piece of news – I wasn’t even thinking about that actually, I was just like ‘hmm, MuBank today, new Suju performance, SNSD good-bye stage’ and then I popped onto AKP and what do I see? “Suju wins K-Chart” with a picture of Teukkie crying. I was like ‘Yay!’ (well, not for the crying part) but the win is lovely and it was really nice to see Soshi there supporting their sunbaes at the end as well. (Might I add that ShinDong’s trying-not-to-cry face was really funny. Sorry but it really was – to me, anyway.) I was a little disappointed that their encore wasn’t longer but then I found a fancam of it and it was really something. This must mean a lot to them, especially LeeTeuk – I mean, he got down on his knees, dude! I still can’t get over that! Ah, well I’m happy for them anyway and I hope that this is just the first of many. Suju fighting!

Oh, by the way, it was both Soompi and Shinhwa’s 11th anniversaries recently – I’m fairly new to Soompi and don’t know much about Shinhwa – but I know how important and crucial both are to K-pop so congratulations! I wish you many more!

So let’s talk about SHINee, shall we? (Because how could I not?) Hmm, I know I was supposed to do a second part to those Thailand pictures but there were so many and it’s such a chore posting them. I’l try to get the second part up but I’m not making any promises. Anyway so right now the boys are in NEW ZEALAND taking pictures for I’m not quite sure what yet – I’m hearing a photobook and also shots for their new album – but nothing’s been confirmed yet. I’m really hoping it’s for their new album though because it will mean that the album must be set to come out soon. (Ah, I’m so selfish, eh? Suju and Soshi fans had to wait forever for their groups to come back and yet here mine’s only been gone for like a month and a half and I’m complaining. Sorry – I’ll try to be less vocal about it in future.) Anyways, also even though it would be sensational for the boys to have a photobook – those are kind of expensive and I really don’t know if I’d be able to afford it…Also if it’s for their album, I’ll be buying that  anyway so I’ll definitely get the pics but if it’s for a photobook, there are no guarantees. And coincidentally, I was browsing pictures of Suju’s photobooks just Thursday night and thinking that SHINee wouldn’t have one for awhile and then I hear about this. That always happens to me with them! Should I be happy? IDK…

Oh, oh, hey! This is probably late but I have to say that if you haven’t watch the episode of 2pm’s Idol Army with SHINee, go watch it now! Seriously that show was HILARIOUS. I laughed from beginning to end. And honestly I wasn’t keen on watching it at first because I thought there’d be a lot of fan service and you know I’m not keen on that kind of thing but it really wasn’t so bad! Like there was fan service but you could tell that they weren’t taking it seriously and that they were all just goofing off so I could let it go and just crack up as I was meant to. It really was a very entertaining show – I can totally understand why people are so fond of 2PM – they’re quite a cracktastic lot, those guys. Oh, and when they had to show their talents, MinHo did the rap from an MC Mong song (very well, I might add – I was impressed!) and he had Jonghyun help him out with the singing and I was really happy to see that for some reason. I dunno – it just makes me happy to see him asking his hyung to help him out like that. ^^ Also Jonghyun sang this song called ‘Baby Baby’ (of course, K-pop n00b me has never heard it before) and he sounded so nice. Wah~ *_* But I couldn’t really focus on it because of the context he was singing it in, you know, so I really hope that he sings it on another variety show or something where I can fully focus on it (and hopefully get an audio rip ). It was really good! So go watch  the show because if you haven’t, you are missing out.

And finally, I’d really like you to check out this performance. It’s by May Doni and it’s one of her more recent (and more importantly, a subbed) performance of her song, ‘In The Beginning’, the only ballad (and best song, imo) on her debut mini-album. Honestly I was convinced that this girl was talented before but seeing her sing this song so well live just cemented it. I’m very pleased that her company’s allowing her to promote this song because I think it showcases her ample vocal ability much better than Molla-Ing did and because every single performance of this that I’ve watched has been breathtaking. She always manages to sound fantastic and she always hits her notes just right so good for her! I’m also glad that they cut out the rap part because I never really liked it anyway and it allows you to focus much more on the power and beauty of her voice. That said, please do check it out and if you like it, this is an even more recent (and better, although it was difficult to identify) performance of the song. Please and thank you.

And that’s it for now – I’ll just leave you with this cute SJSHINee picture that I came across on Soompi. It’s a cap from a show that Super Junior were recently on – I think it’s called OnlBam or something. I know Suju Happy did it awhile ago because I saw that episode – that’s when I started to notice how cute Sungmin’s speaking voice is. Now I love hearing him speak. Oy, I sound so creepy – I just have a voice thing, sorry.  Anyways, the following picture was posted on DongHae’s notice board with a whole bunch of others of him and his members because apparently he documents everything. Aww~

credit: SHINee 闪耀星球 and seoullights on Soompi

Aww, look at how everyone’s clinging to Dubs – I see DongHae, Heechul, Ryeowook, Sungmin and I think ShinDong? I can’t figure out who that other person is though, might be Kyuhyun but I’m not sure. And it says:

2009.3.8 11:13PM
Together with Onew

Oh, isn’t that just super adorable? You gotta love SMTown. Anyways, enjoy your weekend. Have a good one.

Maki

Soooo Seungri-gun’s MV for Strong Baby is out and I gotta say – I wasn’t that impressed. And you should know that Strong Baby is one of my favourite songs off of Remember so I was pretty excited when I heard that there was going to be an MV and that he was going to be promoting the song because I have faith in SeungRi and I knew he’d do his best but honestly, I am not really liking the way things are turning out.

Let’s talk about the MV, shall we?

So…I’d heard some rumours about what was going to be in it – abs, a bed and a kiss scene – and I was a little surprised at that but I figured I’d wait and watch the actual video before I made any assumptions. Well, the video did include abs, a bed scene and a semi-kiss scene and they didn’t really do much for me. I don’t know – I mean, SeungRi looks good, you know he always rocks suits well and he wears one in just about every scene and he looks very gentlemanly and classy but I just felt like he was trying too hard to push this grown up image. Now it’s true that he’s getting older and I figure it’s pretty difficult for a maknae to be seen as anything else and I get that he wants to be treated with more respect and to show a different side to himself and I don’t have a problem with that – I just don’t like the way he’s going about it.

Watching that video, I was just alternating between laughing at him trying to be sexy (and he can totally be sexy too! – just not when he’s being so blatant about it) and feeling kind of bemused. One of the things that I wa really looking forward to was the dancing because I know Baby’s a choreographer and so I expected the choreography to be really cool and on point but…I didn’t really like it, to be honest. I mean, there were certain parts that were cool like when Seungri and the female dancer are doing the same moves – that part’s nice – but honestly, it wasn’t anything particularly remarkable. And the thing is I know he tried his best too because you can see that he’s really serious about everything but to me, the ‘MJ’ inspired moves (a.k.a. the crotch grab – eew, why do people do that?! It is soooo not sexy, it’s kind of gross actually) and having the female dancers rub up on him is just so unnecessary and way too much. Seungri, you don’t need that – I’d tune in just to see you dance for three and a half minutes, really! And the scene at the end with him and the noona actress – I’m not feeling it. I wasn’t appalled or anything but I just didn’t want to see that – and not because Seungri’s maknae or because I’m jealous (it’s definitely not that). I just don’t want to see that – and not just from him, from anyone. That’s so not cool – and it too is extremely unnecessary. I’m sorry but I’m just having a really hard time taking Seungri seriously here – but who knows? I might like it yet. I’m still holding out hope though. The performances could change my mind but if the SBS Gayo one is what they’ll all be like, I doubt it.

Oh, and in a side note – I hear a lot of people saying that both the song and the video have a Justin Timberlake vibe but I didn’t get that at all and I watched it again to see if I saw it buuuuut I didn’t. I mean I suppose him chasing the girl through a room full of other girls is similar to Sexyback but really, it’s not like that hasn’t been done in a million other videos as well so I don’t agree with those “OMG, so unoriginal, he’s just copying JT!” comments – at all.

Oh, and on a totally unrelated side note, the teaser for SNSD’s new MV was just released and it looks pretty good so far. I’m glad this MV seems to have some kind of plot this time as opposed to their last three and the song is super catchy – it’s stuck in my head already. Also even though their concept hasn’t changed drastically, it’s still a nice change from the cutesy, cutesy, carrying around fake lollipops (OMG, get rid of them already!) ‘Kissing You’ concept so I think I’m actually kind of excited for ‘Gee Day’ now. The Gee thing is kind of weird but who knows? Maybe Soshi will make it work and bring Gee back into the vernacular – or I suppose introduce it to the Korean one.

Later,

Maki

You know I find myself wondering more and more these days why there are so many people who like to hate on Big Bang. Dude, I love those boys soooooo much it’s not even funny. Honestly if it weren’t for SHINee’s uber-cuteness, I would probably be a VIP all the way. Anyway, I just watched their Sunset Glow performance for their M!Countdown comeback and now I’m wondering why I don’t watch more of these. I LOVE THESE PERFORMANCES! The boys look so cute and happy and upbeat and they have so much energy and you can really tell that they’re having loads of fun and I’m so happy about that, you know, because it means that they get to end their promotions on a good note, because they can loosen up and really enjoy these performances – they don’t have to worry so much about getting the choreography just right or hitting all the perfect notes (even though I’m sure they still do because they’re just hard-working like that).

Anyway I watched all of the comeback stage performances actually and the Sunset Glow one was by far my favourite. Even though I love seeing them perform the intro, the not-so-great camera work towards the end  plus the weird stage set-up kind of killed it for me, then while I love the Korean version of Remember, I’m not feeling the performances of it because (as usual) they’re dancing to a song that doesn’t really need any dancing. It’s slow enough that choreography isn’t really necessary as far as I’m concerned. It was a good performance though and TOP was super cute towards the end. Ah, I actually ended up watching this comeback stage because I wanted to see their Number 1 performance but then Daesung looked (and sounded) really tired there – I could tell he was trying his hardest but he didn’t have his usual energy and you could still sense his fatigue (darn you, Cats!) and since Dae-Dae’s my favourite one to watch all the time during these performances, I was too busy staring at him and feeling bummed that he was so burnt out to really enjoy the performance – it wasn’t bad though from what I could tell.

And then I watched Sunset Glow – and I cheered right up! because Dae-Dae had his smile back (I seriously cannot stand to see that boy not smiling…he’s like Dubu, I’m just used to him always grinning) and TOP was just so ridiculously adorable – I know some people think he’s scary or intimidating and I’ll be the first to admit that at times, he is like that (it’s his eyes – they’re so intense!) but oppa can really pull off cute when he wants to (and sometimes without even trying) – I mean, hello, the man manages to look cute wearing a muzzle! that has got to be some sort of skill – and then of course, the whole feel of this song/performance is so cute and upbeat! I mean, I know this is supposed to be a sad song, lyrically and whatnot but I’m finding it really difficult to see it like that when the BB boys are bouncing around the stage, making cute faces and totally enjoying themselves. I mean, they didn’t do that with Haru Haru, you know? I think it’s okay though because I know they wanted to come back with an inspirational song and I think they really did that because whenever I hear this song, I just get excited and hyper and start smiling, especially during the chorus. TOP’s “I love you, girl!” gets me every time. So yeah, I really, really like Big Bang and Sunset Glow and their Sunset Glow performances and I think it’s a shame if you don’t and I think I’m going to have to start watching more of these Sunset Glow performances because I really like them. And if you haven’t watched any, then you can always start with the one below. Go on – watch it! I’m off to check out some Family Outing~

credit: BabyBongaholic on YT

Later!

a happy Maki

P.S: My BB bias is so obvious, no? I didn’t even mention Taeyang, Seungri-gun or Mr. G-Dragon (I really liked his hat in the intro!) Don’t worry – I really like them too, it’s just that I find TOP and Daesung (the two dorks of the group!) too adorable for words. I’ve actually been meaning to write a post about Daesung and why I love him now and do not think he’s the weakest member of Big Bang (even though he was initially the member I paid the least amount of attention to) for awhile now – it’s still coming so look out for it, okay?