So I’m sure that you all know by now that Jaebum, the leader of 2PM has officially left the group. Sources say that he chose to resign his post – and I honestly believe that. Now I haven’t posted much about 2PM before because I’m honestly not a big fan and I don’t know these boys that well but I can’t sit here and just say nothing.

I hope you all realize just how terrible this situation is – I hope you really look at this and you see how words, just words, just comments on a website about someone and something can totally change someone’s life. You guys, we need to learn from this – we need to be more careful what we say and we need to learn to be more forgiving. I don’t think that what Jaebum initially said was right but I certainly do not believe that it warranted this kind of reaction. All of his years of training went down the drain because of this, 2PM just celebrated their one year anniversary FOUR DAYS AGO and now the fate of their group is in jeopardy, it’s possible that Jaebum might come back but  most likely it won’t be in his former capacity. The lives of 7 people have been changed irrevocably because people weren’t willing to forgive a boy for some off-handed comment he made when he was scared and lonely in a new, unfamiliar place.

I’m crying as I write this – and do you know why? Because this whole situation was so unnecessary, it was so senseless. You guys, we need to understand that even if we’re angry about something, there are lines we just shouldn’t cross. Do you know that there was a petition going around in Korea that said that Jaebum should kill himself? Do you know how many people signed that? 3000. Three THOUSAND people thought that he should commit suicide – they effectually told him to go die. Have you done that before, have you thought or said things like that online? Truthfully I’ve seen people say things to that effect already – I haven’t, really I never got to that point of chagrin with any celebrity – but my point is that I want you to look at what our careless comments – just like the ones he made four years ago – look at what they can do, look at what they can sow. Those poeple said that they feel guilty now, that they didn’t want it to come to this point – well, I’m happy to hear that – it’s too late for Jaebum now, yes – but at least, it tells me that I shouldn’t yet lose hope in humanity, that there’s still time for these people to learn from what they did wrong and hopefully to not perpetuate this kind of negativity and bring about the destruction of any more careers and/or lives.

I really feel for Jay and the other 2PM members at this point – I can’t imagine how they must be feeling, I mean, if I’m still in shock over this whole thing, how in the world could they be holding up? Four days they were going places, shining so brightly, doing so well and now all of that’s been ruined. The group will never be the same without Jaebum, without their leader and if you don’t understand, think about your favourite group and try to imagine them without the person who gathers them together, motivates them and pushes them to work harder and to get along. Can you do that? Would you want that? This is a really sad day in k-pop and in k-fandom, you guys and I hope that the depth of this situation really hits home to all of us and makes us realize that we need to be more careful and that we need to stop holding celebrities to unrealistic standards. They are not perfect, they are not above us in any way. They are just like us, they make mistakes and we have to learn to forgive them just like we want to be forgiven. I certainly wouldn’t want a lot of the stupid comments I’ve made over the years to come back to haunt me and ruin my life later on so please you guys, let’s learn from this. Let’s bring some good out of this terrible situation.

And 2PM fans, I know you’re angry and I know you’re hurting but please don’t go about trying to get ‘revenge’ or anything like that. Trust me when I say that the people who have perpetuated this thing and caused it to turn into the nightmare that it’s become – the unremorseful ones – they’ll get what’s coming to them because things like this always come back to you. You guys, there’s too much hate and negativity in K-fandom as it is and if this isn’t a perfect example of the results of that, then I don’t know what is. You guys we need to band together as a fandom – fandom is about togetherness, it’s about unity, it’s about coming together for a common goal – no, we don’t all like the same groups but we all love k-pop and it hurts and affects us all when things like this happen. Please you all, don’t go around trying to stir up any more trouble – this is not the time, it really isn’t. It’s time for fan wars and flame wars and crap like that to stop – it’s not helping anyone, it’s not making anyone feel better nd sometimes it really comes back and hurts the very entertainers that we care so deeply for. Let’s try to start respecting one another, all right? We’re all fans here, we’re all in the same boat. Stop making rifts and rivalries where they don’t actually exist. If the celebrities can get along, then why can’t we? Isn’t that what they’d want? And I want you to know that deliberately doing things to sabotage or belittle or hurt other artists as a way to ‘help’ the group that you so claim to love is wrong and hurtful and cowardly. Let that group’s talent and efforts speak for themselves - don’t use misguided means to ‘help’ them along. That is not support, that is not help – you only hurt the group when you do things like that and you give both the group and their fans a bad name.

So I just want to say that I wish Jaebum the best in his future endeavours. I hope that he’s finally able to get some peace of mind and to deal with this situation as best he can. I hope that he can put this behind him and still find a way to accomplish his goals. He’s an extremely talented individual and I believe that God will guide him to bigger and better things from now on. And I hope also that he’ll see all of the support he has and that he’ll realize that we do not see him as a burden, that we’re not blaming him and that he has no reason to hang his head – he was an amazing leader all the way to the end. And I sincerely hope that things work out positively for the rest of 2PM as well. JYP family, stay strong – and have faith, you guys – God is good, He’ll work things out, somehow.

That’s all.

Maki

So….Suju did not get number 1 on MuBank this week. But that’s okay – because Davichi did, and they’re incredible and totally deserve it just as much as Suju does. (Remember, remember, in my last post about this where I was talking about Davichi being awesome? Yeah? …..No, you don’t remember) But anyway, the point I want to make though is that just because Suju did get number 1 this week and did not get number one the first week after their comeback does not mean that E.L.F. have abandoned them or are not supporting them or anything like that. I mean, I’m not in S.Korea right now so I can’t say for sure but I really don’t think E.L.F. have let go of their precious oppa-deul, okay? And well, as for why Suju’s not winning, I believe it has something to do with the fact that the K-chart is mainly based on digital sales and while Suju have really high album sales, their digital sales aren’t as high – Davichi on the other hand, have really good digital sales but not so high album sales. You follow me?

Anyway, I’m just tired of seeing comments like “oh, where are E.L.F.? I thought there were so many of them and that they really loved Suju – then where are they? Why aren’t they keeping them on top?” Now I never thought the day would come where I’d be defending E.L.F. BUT I don’t think those are really fair statements to make. I mean, I don’t totally understand how the K-Chart ranking system works and I’ve never been one to follow artist’s album/digital sales to see how well they’re doing because most of the time I don’t really care to check out that stuff so I can’t be totally accurate and I’m not saying that E.L.F. don’t have a lot to do with how well Suju does on the music show charts and whatnot but I don’t think it’s right to assume that they’re being unsupportive or abandoning Suju or anything. I just really don’t think that’s the case here. So – don’t think that, okay?

Anyway, yay Davichi! Congrats! And happy birthday to Suju’s EunHyuk! I wish him great health and more success and happiness and all God’s blessings. Have a happy day, HyukJae! (And eat more, please – you’re so skinny, omg. T_T)

Maki

So the MBC New Year special of Dance Battle, featuring some of K-pop’s hottest talents (my words, not their’s) aired on the 25th in Korea and some of the videos are already up on YT. I’ve only seen about six or seven cuts so far but I gotta say it’s looking pretty good – if  had thought about it, I would have watched it live since I was up then anyway but I forgot. Anyway, I’m no dancer so I can’t really say whose performance was the BEST but I can tell you whose dancing made the most of an impression on me. I’ll give you my top 3 and then I’ll just talk about the others.

1. Super Junior – featuring ShinDong, Sungmin, LeeTeuk and Eunhyuk  (OMG, I actually recognized them all on my own! I feel so proud – I’m actually getting to know all of them, slowly but surely.)

Well, tbh, I can’t say I’ve seen a lot of really good dancing from Super Junior save what’s in their MVs and that really cool dance Eunhyuk did for the dance battle on SBS’ Gayo Daejun so perhaps the reason that this impressed me so much is because I wasn’t aware that they were capable of something like this. But it wasn’t just that, it’s also that I think their dance was the most creative and it was really different from everyone else’s. Honestly I watched some people’s performances like “yes, this is good but I’ve seen it a million times over. Do something new already” and Suju did that. Their dance was unique and I like how they incorporated the sound effects and the screen and they used different kinds of music as opposed to just hip hop and pop which was cool. They even danced to Indian music – with a techno beat, yeah – but it was still cool. (Was it bhangra? Because I’m not sure…) Anyways, their dance was the most innovative and they took the most risks, I think, and I like that they looked like they were having the most fun with their dance as well. That’s the kind of thing I want to see! So imo, number one goes to Suju. Whoo!

2. Well, you can scream bias or whatever but my number two spot has to go to SHINee.

I’ll admit, I saw a really short fancam of this performance earlier this week and I wasn’t too impressed and then add the weird hairstyles to that and I wasn’t exactly anticipating the performance – but it was really good! You know SHINee are actually really good dancers – at first, I thought they were just competent, you know, good at pulling off choreography (Taemin and Key being the exceptions, of course) but they’re all actually very good dancers and while Taemin often gets the spotlight as far as dancing’s concerned, I feel it should be said that the others are pretty darn good themselves. So they danced and lipsynched to an old H.O.T. song called, ‘We Are The Future’ (ah, so fitting) and although it was a little odd to see them lipsynching, especially to someone else’s song, it was really good! I somehow think their clothes might have been a little too loose though because they were just flying all over the place and it was sort of…distracting. (No, I don’t mean that in a pervy way.) And I couldn’t help noticing how Jongie pulled off his jacket at the end, thus messing up his shirt, thereby causing his clothes to practically be falling off of him at the end. Ah, I always say that this boy is like allergic to clothes or something – why does he always do these things? I’m not complaining though. ^^

OMG, and they had a dance break (*insert me jumping for joy*) and it was so cool! (What was not cool? The camera angles. PDs, I want to see the boys, not random people in the audience!) And whoa, I know I just said that it should be noted that all of them are good dancers aand whatnot but seriously Taemin owned that. I was just staring at him like “whoa, maknae, you’re so cooooool” and he totally had his ‘fierce dance face’ (TM) on for the entire thing. You could tell that he was really into the whole thing and it showed – his solo was amazing and it was just like 10 seconds. Seriously, the kid really deserves all the recognition he gets for his dancing, I swear – he never fails to impress. Also you could see that the audience and the other artists were really enjoying it and that was something I really liked about this whole show – it’s nice to see artists enjoying other entertainers’ work. I really don’t get why the artists can get along fine but their fans can’t. Why make a beef where there isn’t one? Anyway, SHINee was good so numero dos goes to them.

3. SNSD

Okay, I know Hyoyeon is said to be the best dancer in the group but are Yuri and Yoona the second and third? Because every time I see SNSD members showing off their dancing skills, it’s always those three. I have to say I was very impressed by their little opening number. Honestly I haven’t seen them dance like that since their debut days (now they just do cutesy stuff like the dances for Gee and Kissing You) and I was happy to see they’ve still got it. And I was really happy to see Hyoyeon get a little recognition because they always hail her as this great dancer but then she never gets any cool moves (or can you imagine – a solo) in their choreo so we never get to see it.

Tbh, I always lol a little to see Yoona act sexy because she looks like such a kid (same goes for Taeyeon and Seohyun but I saw less of them so it wasn’t a big deal). Also speaking of Seohyun, whose idea was it to put her in those gold hot pants? Not a good idea, person! Those were not appropriate. I also didn’t really get why Jessica was dancing in a dress of all things, especially since she was wearing something different when they were in the audience but whatever, it didn’t seem to hamper her movement so I guess it was okay. Speaking of clothes, Yuri and Sooyoung’s outfits were banging – Hyo’s was nice too – and it really made them both stand out (which, in a group of nine, is a feat).

Anyway I’m giving them third place because after watching their regular performances, it was just really nice to see a change of pace from them and I think they did a really good job of it. They looked good, they looked like they were having fun and it was just different and in their case, that’s synonymous with refreshing. So good job, girls – you may not have won on the show but you were pretty good in my book. Also how random was it that they danced to ‘I Kissed A Girl’? Extremely, I think. ‘Circus’ was a good choice though, especially for them. I just hope they got permission to use it this time.

So that was my top three. Coincidentally none of those groups won their battles – I’m a little sad about that but whatever, it was still fun to watch. It’s just my opinion – feel free to disagree. For some reason, the setup of the show reminded me of a video game – it was like ‘Street Fighter’ (must be that graffiti-ied backdrop) meets DDR (with all the words like ‘cool’ and perfect’ popping up on the screen every two minutes). Anyway i’s very cool. Now moving on to the other performances…

2PM

They were good – very good actually and they danced to ‘Low’ by Flo Rida which I have always considered a really great song to dance to. Hmm, they weren’t always in synch and I didn’t really find it necessary for Jaebum to rip his shirt but other than that, it was pretty enjoyable. It’s always fun to watch B-boys so you can’t go wrong with a 2PM performance – gotta love the acrobatics. Also the crowd was really into it, especially after Jaebum ripped his shirt (of course) so that was cool to see. I really liked that move where they jumped over each other as well – it was somewhere in the middle – that was nice.

SNSD vs. Jewelry and V.O.S. (I know I already talked about SNSD but the link takes you to a video with both performances so I just wanted to let you know.)

LOL, they cut to the guy from V.O.S. (Sorry, I don’t know his name) during SNSD’s performance and I was like “I know him! But from where?!” And I could not figure out why he looked familiar, then I watched this and I remembered – he was a guest on episodes 7 and 8 of Factory Girl – and he was really cool! He designed a shirt for them and even sang Rain’s song, “Love Song’ which apparently he wrote. Anyway so he and two of the members of Jewelry – the rapper and the one who sings who’s not SIY – they do a dance together. I couldn’t quite understand how it was SNSD vs Jewelry and VOS but after watching this, it makes sense.

So first the rapper does a short solo number – it’s nice, smooth, love the hoodie she’s wearing and then she passes the hat over to the guy from VOS who starts to do Taeyang’s solo dance from Nu Naman Barabwa (Look Only At Me) – I had a good chuckle at that, especially because they naturally cut to TY who starts laughing as he realizes that he’s copying his moves – it was kind of a delayed reaction though – but still cute. I was hoping he’d do the dance part from the first verse with the rapper from Jewelry because everyone does that but he didn’t. Instead he starts singing (yes, he actually sang! although technically he lipsynched to a pre-recorded cover of Ne-Yo’s ‘Sexy Love’) and danced to it with the singer from Jewelry. It was a good dance but somehow when it was done, I felt that it was a little incomplete. I’m not sure why but I just feel like they could have done more BUT this is a good example of people being sexy without being over the top. Oh, and they cut to Jongie! Yeah, during the Sexy Love performance, they cut to him and he was sitting there bumping merrily to the song. Ah, so cute~ Also that guy from VOS – okay, wait, let me go find out his name – Choi Hyunjoon is really cute. I think I thought so when I watched FG but then I forgot about him but this was a nice refresher. He looked very nice when he was singing along to ‘Sexy Love’. Anyway, it was another good performance and they won their battle so yay for them.

Kara

Wow, they’re really sticking with this cute concept, huh? I’m not complaining though – their dance was cute and it too was different. Not the different I was expecting but it wasn’t bad. I really liked their little wigs and there was a time when I would have killed for a dress like that so really, it wasn’t bad and I kind of liked it. Also the crowd seemed to be into it once they got over their initial surprise that is and they were dancing along so that was good. I had a good chuckle at ShinDong’s face though – what was that expression – shock or admiration? Guess I’ll never know… I think they were the only group besides SHINee and VOS who danced to a K-pop song and since I think that they sort of overdo it with the use of American music in K-pop, I was quite pleased about that. So yay, thumbs-up, Kara!

Taegoon

So….Goonie was up against Kara and he went the unique route too by starting his performance off with a classical, ballet-esque dance with some really cool hands-free flips (niiiice) and lots of arm twirling (he has really long arms) to a song that sounded like it would be in the soundtrack for a movie like ‘Hero’ or ‘Crounching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’. Ultimately, it was a very nice way to open a performance – a little odd but it left an impression. He then danced to ‘Four Minutes’ by JT and Madonna and the Intro from his album. While I commend him for dancing to his own song and think that his moves were very cool and precise, if a little repetitive, I have to say that all of that crotch-grabbing (I can’t believe I even have to write this) needs to stop. It is not necessary and I’m getting really sick of seeing people do that – every time I see it, it makes me want to slap their hand away. Stop it, it’s gross! Stop! :/ But other than that, it was a pretty good performance if a little lackluster towards the end. He lost, by the way.

BB Dance Off – SeungRi vs. TaeYang

Okay, I’m sorry but the more solo performances I see SeungRi do, the less I like him. What is up with this overly sexy thing?! No one else did that, nobody took it there – why did he have to?! I’m so sick of this ’sexy’ image he’s trying to portray. SEXY DOES NOT MEAN GRINDING ALL OVER THE STAGE WITH SOME SCANTILY CLAD BACK-UP DANCER! It does not! SeungRi, why can’t you get that?! I felt like I was watching another performance of ‘Strong Baby’ – the moves may have been a little different but the atmosphere was the same and I am just tired of all that, so, so tired. SeungRi, why are you doing this? You don’t have to do these things to be sexy, you could be sexy all on your own. Really. And I am not hating, okay – I just think he’s better than all this – and he needs to realize that and stop forcing the issue. I didn’t feel like I got a chance to see his dancing prowess at all in this performance. He barely did anything and I’m sorry but body waves and spinning your back-up dancer around don’t count. Those things supplement performances, they don’t make them. I’m just getting so disappointed in SR, seriously. Ah, it started out okay but then as soon as I heard ‘Take You Down’, I knew it was about to go downhill.

As for Taeyang, while his performance was decidedly better and the dancing more complex than Seungri’s, I wasn’t that impressed by it either. It was really good – his dancing was very smooth and polished – but it just seemed like more of the same to me. I think his dancing to the Keyshia Cole song was better than the other one and it’s amusing because I was sitting there going “why is he dancing to a slow song?” but he made it work and he did a very good job. I haven’t a clue why they tied.

SS501 sub-group – Triple S

Okay, I don’t know SS501 at all except Hyunjoong and the only dancing I’ve seen them do is in the ‘U R Man’ video so I don’t know if they’ve ever done anything like this before but I have to say – Wow, SS501 are gangsta. I didn’t know they had it in them and I would never have believed that they could pull it off but they were really impressive and I was quite amazed by their moves. I still don’t think they should have beat Suju but now I can sort of see how it happened. So good job, guys. I was impressed. Also the crowd was growing crazy. Maybe they were as surprised as me?

Oh my gosh,  these are the real must watches however – the parodies, games and dance-offs!

First off, if you need a good laugh, I’ve got to recommend the Wonder Girls’ So Hot’ parody by a group of men who should never ever have gone anywhere near leopard print clothing, let alone bright, colourful stockings. It’s hilarious on its’ own but gets even funnier when they go into the crowd and attack poor Suju H. It starts at about 4:50 in the video link I posted.

Another good watch is Kim Shinyoung’s Rainism parody. OMG, it wins for best parody of the night, hands down because not only was she funny but she actually got the moves down pretty well too. It would only have been funnier if Rain himself had been there. Anyway, Kim Shinyoung jjang!

The Kara ‘Pretty Girl’ parody by a comedian I do not know was pretty good as well and he surprisingly did not look too horrible dressed in KARA’s trademark pink checkered outfit. It’s worth it to see Kara laughing their butts off at him as well. It starts at 9:22 and continues into the next video in which you’ll also see a dance-off between the rapper from Jewelry and Hyo-yeon of SNSD as well as Choi Hyunjoon and the comedian who did the Pretty Girl parody. Watch it for Hyunjoon – the guy’s got some smooth moves, that’s for sure.

They also play this really cute game where two people have to get into these little bubble suits (I don’t know what else to call them) and try to hit each other with very flimsy halves of washed out gourds. It is surprisingly hilarious and I was so happy I decided to watch the whole show because it is something you should not miss. It starts after TY and SR’s performance.

And that’s it for now. Those are all of the performances I saw so I hope you liked my commentary. If I offended you with my SeungRi ranting, well sorry about that but I really just haven’t been too pleased with his performances for quite awhile now. Oh, and it was amusing to note how often the camera cut to YoonA from SNSD in the crowd – they were smart to though, she had some terribly funny reactions, especially to all of the skin showing like TY’s abs-flash and Jaebum’s shirt ripping. Even though SHINee were sitting behind SNSD, I couldn’t see them very well – I was a little sad about that but anyway it looked like a fun show and I definitely suggest checking some of these performances out. And if you want to watch the entire show, check it out here. *sigh* It’s times like this I wish I was a dancer so I could show off my skills too… oh well, those who can’t do observe and critique, right?

Well, peace out! And Happy Lunar New Year! Gong Xi Fa Chai!

Maki

Rant time! Sorry, I can’t help them sometimes.

So you know I have a love/hate thing with fans, particularly those of ‘idol groups’ and this is why…

….now I appreciate that they care about these people and it warms my heart to see how hard they try to show their support and appreciation for that person or group’s hard work BUT that does not give any of us fans rights to that person or group or allow us to have any say in their personal lives. Look I get that you love and admire this person and sure, it would be wonderful if you could have him or her to yourself – I myself am constantly proclaiming my love for Onew and Jonghyun as some of you well know – BUT that’s probably not going to happen. You’ll probably never even get to meet these people one-on-one, let alone go on a date with them! That’s why celebrities date other celebrities – because those are the people they’re around on a daily basis.

Please try to understand how difficult it is for celebrities, and K-pop ones in particular with their ridiculously packed schedules, to even try to have some sort of personal life. They barely have time to see their friends and family, let alone to date people so if they start dating someone in their company or something, let.it.go. You don’t have any right to tell them who to date, just like how they wouldn’t come and tell you not to date that cute boy or girl in your class so please fans, try to relax. Now I know that seeing the celebrity you like with someone is hard and it’s frustrating and it can make you very sad but please, please try to keep your freak outs to a minimum. Rant about it on Soompi, on your blog, on someone else’s blog, to your friends, cry or whatever you have to do to deal with it but please do not take this out on the people involved – it is not your business and if so and so wants to date so and so (or are even seen together), you need to just accept it and move on. It’s hard but you can do it. Please don’t go to the person’s cyworld or minihompy or official website and bash them or threaten them or insult them, okay? Because that person that you claim to love so much, you hurt them when you do things like that because you’re hurting someone they care about.

Please understand that when you love someone, it means you want them to be happy so if being with a particular person is going to make them happy, then you should just suck it up and let them be – and even if they break up on a bad note, that still does not give you the right to insult the person’s ex or tell them off because in this case, it is really not your business and that celebrity does not need you, their fan, to fight their battles for them. They just want you to listen to their songs and buy their cds and merchandise and cheer for them when they come on-stage, okay? So please fans, relax, just relax. Just…relax~

Hmm, this post was prompted by a lot of different things, one of the main ones being my learning that apparently Kangin fans have posted comments on YoonJi (his WGM partner)’s cyworld page telling her to keep skinship to a minimum and stuff like that. Well, that’s all I heard that they said but I think it must have really made an impression on her because when I watched their second episode together, episode 40, there was a part where he wanted to carry her up the stairs to get into their new house and she was so against it. And his response was “Oh, don’t worry, I left a comment on my page telling my fans not to worry, that oppa would still be there for them’. And I was like “WHAT?!!!! You shouldn’t have to do that!” He should not have to do that, people, he should not! And when she finally agreed to it, she actually looked at the camera and said “Everyone, this isn’t my doing.” Dude! The woman is like scared! She should not have to be worried about offending his fans, okay? Oh man, I really hope people leave her alone – she’s so nice and down-to-earth and while I think she and Kangin have realy good chemistry, I doubt anything will happen between them in real life (but even if it did, so what?) Judging from his behaviour on the show, I really think Kangin wants a girlfriend – he’s so attentive and mushy, telling everybody she’s his wife. You see guys – he’s lonely~ Do you want him to be lonely? I’m sure you don’t…and if he’s not gonna be with you, then he should be with the next best person, right? And YoonJi is so nice! Like how could anyone dislike her? Ugh, and that’s just one example – don’t even get me started on that whole Jaejoong/his co-star woman who’s name I don’t know ’scandal’ because it’s so unimportant that it doesn’t even deserve to be talked about. And people are acting like this is news! It’s not news, it’s not even a big deal – the man is having fun. He’s an adult male and he needs some fun, in fact, he deserves some fun, considering that he has to work like a dog for 360 days of the year! Oh!

Now you know, this isn’t all on the fans because I do think that the management companies have a lot to do with it because they allow fans to feel like they have a certain amount of power and control by discouraging ‘idols’ from dating publicly and whatnot and that just spills over into the whole ‘management companies have way too much control over their artists’ lives” issue but that’s a topic for another day. My point is that all these fans need to just chillax. (And no, I’m not from seoulbeats, although I do pop over there once in awhile) Artists are people too, they deserve to have personal lives just like you and me and their personal lives need to be able to be kept private. I don’t need to see sneaky camera phone pictures of so and so canoodling with so and so behind a car in a parking lot somewhere, okay? I do not need to know this and most importantly, you do not need to know this. It is not enriching your life in any way, it is not. So please – keep that in mind as you go about your fangirling duties. Please?

And now that I’ve got all that out, I’ll get to what I really meant to say when I decided to do this post. I actually got the idea while I was writing up my previous post about SNSD’s comeback performance on Music Core and I was thinking about Seohyun and how sweet and kind and gentle and shy she is and I was just like “OMG! She would be so perfect for Minho. OMG!” (SNSD haters leave now, I will delete your comments so don’t even bother) No, really though – I mean, they’re around the same age and they have similar temperaments, you know they’re both shy, reserved, calm and a little awkward – can you imagine how adorable the two of them would be together?! OMG, THEY WOULD BE SO ADORABLE AND CUTE AND AWKWARD AND OMG, THE AWKWARD WOULD BE SO CUTE! It would be just like when Minho went on his date with the noona in episode 8 and she was all shy and they were all shy and awkward and sweet together and it was only the sweetest thing ever except that this would be even better because they’re around the same age and she wouldn’t be a noona and I think they’d probably be even more shy (or maybe less because they might know each other well already? IDK.) But anyway, yes, they would be adorable together and they totally have my blessing to get together (not that they need it – because I am just a fan and this is so not my business and probably never going to happen anyway) but Seohyun is just the kind of sweet, talented, down-to-earth, nice girl that I want my boys to end up with. I just want them to have nice girls, that’s all. Is that so much to ask for?

As for Taemin, LOL, well, I’ve had him paired up with SoHee in my mind ever since I saw the two of them because they were my first two k-pop cuties and I thought they were the most adorable kids on the planet and I still think so and hello! Can you imagine how we would all die from the cute the two of them would radiate if they were together? Ugh, I can barely stand the cute when they’re alone. But this is all for when they’re older though because they’re so not ready for that now (and we all know that Taemin’s not interested in girls yet anyway). And LOL at the fact that despite everything, SoHee’s still his noona. Hmm, I’m still looking for a girl for Onew – this one has to be perfect since she’s going to be taking care of my would-be husband until he can meet me , of course (I’m joking, I’m joking – relax) but more importantly, because Onew is the sweetest, nicest, smiliest guy on the planet and he deserves only the best. Hmm, I think I’m sounding like the people I was just ranting about – well ultimately, I want him to find a nice girl, okay – one who will really take care of him. He needs to be protected and nurtured and cared for and I could do that… *crying*

As for Key, dude, I would just be so happy if Key got a girlfriend, any girl’s okay, just once – it’s a girl. Seriously, I think I’d cry tears of joy. (Sorry Soojinnie.) Oh, and as for Bling…..aigoo, the day he gets a girlfriend, it’ll break my heart – BUT when I get over it (in a day or two), I will be happy for him and most importantly, I will not over-react and want to kill that girl. I might be super envious of her, I might glare at her picture for a few minutes or an hour but I would not wish anything bad on her. Because at the end of the day, five or so years down the line, God willing, I don’t want the boys (except maybe Taemin since he’s kind of young) to have never had any dating experience – cause Yunhanam so doesn’t count – I want to know that they were able to experience that. It’s an important part of life and it would sadden me to know that they’d miss out on that because they were working non-stop but more so, because of us, the fans and out of fear of how we would react. It would really, really depress me to see SHINee World get a bad rap for that kind of thing, you know – I want us to always be seen as sane or as sane as a group of fangirls can get anyway.

Anyway, thank you for reading. Was it really so interesting that you reached the end? Well, since you got all the way here – here’s a little bonus for you: it’s the audio and translations of SHINee’s messages to their future girlfriends (lucky chicitas!) and it’s only the sweetest thing ever and it just kills me that there’s no video for it. Although that’s a good thing – I may not have survived seeing it as well as hearing it…

Anyway, have a nice day!

Maki

Listen up, people – I’d like to inform you about something that every international fan should know but that some don’t seem to. I would expect that it would be common knowledge by now but that doesn’t appear to be the case so here goes…

Translators/Fansubbers are doing us a favour, okay? They are regular people just like you and me – they go to school or university, they work, they have lives and they don’t benefit in any (financial) way from what they do. They take an extraordinary amount of time and energy to translate articles or cyworld/iple entries and to sub videos and then upload them and make them available for us, non Korean/Japanese/Chinese speaking fans, to read, watch and/or download and they do all of this out of the goodness of their hearts. They don’t have to do what they do, they could just leave the rest of us to scramble around and beg someone to explain what’s going on but they don’t. They translate and sub these things because they’re good people and they want to help the rest of us fans by making these shows/interviews/articles completely understandable to us, okay?

So please, please do not go to a fansubbing account and complain because you think that they’re too slow or you don’t like how they sub their videos or whatever – I’m not saying don’t say something constructive, like if they use a font colour that makes the subs really difficult to read, well, then sure you can say that – but please don’t go and complain or berate the people. We should be nothing but super grateful towards translators and fansubbers and if you have to tell them anything, please try to be encouraging and supportive and express that you appreciate what they do. If it takes them awhile to sub a show you want to watch or to translate an article, don’t go over there and whine about it, please just try to be patient and bear with them because they’re doing the best they can – and they don’t have to do it in the first place.

That concludes my public service announcement for the day.

Maki

(By the way, I’m not trying to sound like a know-it-all or anything when I write posts like this- it’s just that I see these things and they bother me so I want to address them here. That’s all.)

Random post time!

So you know it really annoys me when I see people say negative things towards certain K-pop fans just because they call themselves by their favourite group/artist’s official fanclub name. I see people say things like “you’re so silly/delusional/dumb calling yourself a VIP/Cassie/E.L.F., etc. when you’re not even Korean” and I think that that’s a really silly response. I mean, I understand that these titles were created for the official fan clubs of the groups/artists to use and so it’s perfectly fine if you, as an international fan, choose not to refer to yourself that way but ultimately I don’t think there’s anything wrong with an international fan calling him/herself by that name because in the end, we’re still fans and because we unfortunately don’t have the luxury of being able to be a part of that group or person’s official fan club, calling ourselves by the official fan club name allows us to feel a little bit closer to that artist/group and to the other fans as well. I mean, when the Wonder Girls say that they love all of the Wonderfuls out there, I think that they’re talking about all of their fans, respective of location and when you’ve got an official title for your fans, it just makes it easier for you to talk to them. I’m sure it means more to hear Big Bang thank the VIPs instead of just their fans – it’s the same thing, yes, but there’s a different feel to it when they use the official name, IMO. I can tell you that as a SHINee fan, whenever I hear Onew stick in a ‘SHINee World, saranghamnida!’ into an interview or something, I feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It means something to hear that, you know and I would never think “Oh well, he’s not talking to me because I’m not really a part of SHINee World”. The point is I’m a fan and I support them and that’s what matters. Ah, but that is just my humble opinion. Feel free to disagree.

Maki

I am not a big SNSD fan – honestly, I’m barely a fan. I think they have nice voices and some of their songs are cute but I don’t follow what they’re doing or anything like that. I will say though that I feel so bad for those girls. My goodness, the amount of crap that comes up when people even mention them is ridiculous! I’ve never seen such an immense backlash against a group in my life!

Listen – I’m not saying they haven’t made mistakes, I’m not saying that they haven’t done questionable things (some of which I know, some of which I don’t and I honestly don’t care to find out so don’t bother to try to enlighten me, okay?) but I cannot believe the way some people talk about and treat those girls. What is with all this hate? They’re people, okay? You know, human beings just like you – and it’s so disheartening to see the way they get treated. Would you like people to treat you like that? Would you want people to hold your mistakes over your head for the rest of your life/career? Would you want people to be so actively against you and to wish all sorts of terrible things to happen to you, regardless of the mistakes you made? I don’t think so. Before you start wishing failure on them, put yourself in their shoes and think about how you’d feel if those things were happening to you.

*sigh* I just wish all the antis would use the abundant free time that they obviously have to do something POSITIVE instead of trying to terrorize those poor girls. I cannot, cannot understand their attitude towards them, seriously. Anyway, if you’re an SNSD fan, then work as hard as you can to show your support for those girls because they seriously need as much as support as they can get and if you’re an anti, just think about what you’re doing and don’t even bother to leave me a negative comment because I’ll just delete it.

I’m just trying to decrease the hate, you guys. I mean if you don’t like them, just focus on the people you do like and support them instead. Why can’t we all just get along?

Adois, Maki