I don’t call myself a fan of any Hearttrops, firstly b/c I never spend a dollar on any of their products, but again I look forward for any free way to access to their music or movies to rate them on my own paste. Lately I have found myself following the news of this Korean guy called Ji-Hoon with stage name of Bi (pronounced: Bee which means Rain in Korean). On the first thought on his name! I thought of him as such a cheater!

Well, the reason being is b/c back in grade school Mimi (my younger sister) and I used to spend our summer days while our parents were at work, shuffling through bunch of fashion magazines our parents collected from 70s and 80s. I used to imagine the magazines as my real photo albums_ while imagining myself as an old lady :)) watching back to my youthfull days or my children and talking about life to my neighbor (Mimi)! While most of the model faces became furiously known watching the same magazine ziliion times! I entertained myself by coming up with a name for couple of the main models. Imagining them my children, my girls were Sun and Star and my son, Rain with his wife Moon. Rain was married since the male model was posing with this particular female model almost all the time. So in my 9 year old mind I made the logic out of it in that sense!!

So back to Rain-the singer, it kind of felt weird at first that a 24 years old man come up with such a name for his stage-name! But again we all know Asians as romantic and gentle human beings towards the nature. But what is even more critic about his name is the fact that he came up with different answers in every single interview about the origin of the idea behind his stage name. The more recent response was in CNN talk Asia episode with Bi, “I given an expression of sadness when I’m dancing so came up with the Chinese character of Bi (sadness) as sad as rain falling.”

Enough with his name story, this summer while searching in youtube.com for some Taiwanese music/drama videos as frustrated as I was looking for some possibly English Subtitles I found this account that had like over 200 videos of the same guy that I found later was Rain! I kind of have been sick of not understanding these Asian languages so I played this particular video that said so excitingly, “Bi finally is speaking English.” The video was from some sort of Award show that he couldn’t apparently show up due to his crazy schedule (they too? I thought!)well, I understood what he said (in fact he didn’t speak more than 22 sec), Hi, my name is… and then something mumbled up at the end that turned out to be sorry I can’t be there… People were commenting non-stop that how cute and accurate he spoke? like wow he is not only speaking English but also having an African-American accent?!

I can’t still beleive I actually found the exact same video I watched at that time to post it!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFaudPSI7Ss]

Is it supposed to be a cool thing for non-English speakers nowadays to memorize couple of sentences they know in African-American Accent?!

This was my initial exposure story and the strand of thoughts to this singer. In my blog if you have not noticed yet, I am trying to keep track of my instant concerns toward my experiences. I think it is interesting to know how people find out about things/poeple and what they think of them.

In particular, my initial stand points are harsh since I have a tendency to guard against new things. Maybe that’s why I like to keep track of them since it will turn out funny laters to read.

Son Ho-young, a member of the now-disbanded five-man Korean group G.O.D, who have suspended his activities since the G.O.D (from the last Concert performance in February)is expected to show off abilities that he has never shown as a member of G.O.D in his solo album “YES”.

Review:

Okay here is what I thought of him in one word: UGLY!
But then my feelings got even harsher toward him when I watched his YES video!! Imagine a 29 years old man trying to sell sexy?! And not even doing a great job doing it! Who would come up with this idea for the first single out of the artists? first solo album? unless they don’t have anything to offer to the audience! Later on I found out that I was not the only one against the dude’s Sexy concept of the Music video. In paranthesis the dude is an Amercian born! not that it has to do with anything!
On some other account people made comments like:

- Man stay with singing Ballads don’t try to be Usher..coz it will never work sorry!
- Man with a face as cute as his.. this whole sexy concept won’t work.
- What the hell is he doing?
- Sex appeal sells or sells not?
- Whatever SELLS!!

Son Ho Young- Yes MV- Try to see if you can hear for yourself where he sings “Hello Sister, I’m your Mister!” is this really what a grown up man this age should sing?[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozgwxjhskFo]

It wasn’t till the soompi.com November 2006 issue on Korean-albums rankings that I recalled him again! This time seeing him in 9th place was such a relief! Literary, been sticking my tongue out at the dude’s pic! but then for some odd reasosn when searching for his name in youtube.com to share the lesson of not-selling-sex concept-anymore thing with others I found his 2nd video, ” Love Brings Separation”

 I actually loved everything about this music video! from the video’s directing prespective to music and concept except the singer’s face! ops sorry! But still, I appreciated him and I liked him a little when I found out he actually composed the music himself! Does anyone knows his official website? sounds like doesn’t have one yet! I’ll be his first overseas fan
www.oopshoi.com

                                   Son Ho Young- Love Brings Separation MV
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyeQSBEGTZc]

Synopsis:

Determined to spend the rest of his life with Han Da-jung to pay her for saving his life, Bok-ku one day falls in love with Cha Eun-suk, a top actress and the ex-girlfriend of his older brother. Bok-ku becomes her bodyguard to avenge his brother, who falls off a building while watching Eun-suk announce her engagement with another guy on TV and ends up in a vegetative state. But, ironically, Bok-ku ends up falling in love with Eun-suk against his wish.Eun-suk is engaged — against her will — with Kim Jun-sung, the scion of a family-owned conglomerate that she advertises. Jun-sung aspires to become a politician someday, but he is also the future successor of the Hankuk Group, a company with an impeccable reputation. Eun-suk and Jun-sung are forced to get engaged after they are caught being together one day.

Review:

No wonder it has been put in the Stay Away categories! Take it literally! Horrible plots and story line that nothing make sense as a whole in the end!! In case you are wondering, the writer is Lee Kyung Hee the same lady who wrote the screen play to Sangdoo Let’s go to school! Impressive huh? Quite pathetic for a woman in that ages to come up with such a weak screen play! What’s even worse is that actors like Bi after reading that crap actually played in it! I don’t understand people sometimes!

Okay, the story goes in a way that is so waste of time for me even to remember what the hell happened! But what still is taking space in my brain about this pathetic Drama is the ending!! Guess what? The both main characters die again! And where? In the snow this time! So ridicules, a 2 year old could come up with a far better ending. I personally think the writer is suffering from a chronic depression, my evidence is watching two of her screen plays and if seriously that’s a case she needs to seek for professional aid immediately.

I finished this drama up in 2 days! But I failed to watch ep. 9-11 I should get back to that sometime! Since it was such a meaningless drama, I have no such desires at this moment!! What was even worst than the story was the cloth designing! Well by now we all know that Bi is so obsessed with clothing! Sounds like here he had to approve of the cloth presented to him before trying it on or in case didn’t like it (which seemed like the whole time) making changes of his own! b/c there is absolutely no transition between the wardrobes in different settings! You see him careless at the beginning! Oh well that’s fine, you say! since the wardobes matches, But then on, when he become bodyguard he dressed better than his master! In one scene he is wearing a shredded jeans with such a high profile coat!! Who are they kidding?

I actually managed to find the same outfit he wore on that scene but in another occasion! You’d be the Judge, if this is what a poor bodyguard can afford to wear on a regular basis? While according to the Korean Entertainment Industry outlines an actor is wearing the same outfit in an award ceremony in real life (and I mean the same exact outfit!)

Then again you see him part of a gang and with a casual style!? Where the hell he got the money to dress up like that? Huh? And that’s when the story is about him being so poor that doesn’t have money to pay his brother’s hospital bill (yeah right again) thus he joins the Gangs!! Then later on as a poor mechanic in uniform? Well u know I really suspected as if he himself came up with the cloths ideas or something along the way! b/c it didn’t follow any logical flow!!!

Oh well bottom line is that stay away from this drama!! Sangdoo lets go to school had still such a better scenario except the ending! But this one was terrible since the beginning!! 

Synopsis:

 Growing up as the best of friends, Bi and Gong Hyo Jin make lots of lasting memories during their shortened high school years. When Gong’s family goes into bankruptcy, debtors rush into their house to grab all of her family’s belongings away. When somebody takes her fathers old record player that she really loves, Sangdoo goes after the guy. In a physical fight, the man falls off the bridge and enters a coma. Gong, not knowing this, runs away from the town. Bi goes to jail, returning to find out that his family and Gong have left him. Years later, he becomes a gigolo (with his uncle) in order to raise the hospital bills for his sick daughter (Hong claims that Bori is his daughter).

Eventually, he meets his long-lost first-love, Gong as a high school math teacher. In an effort to never lose her again, he returns as a high school student (to finish his last years of high school) and gets placed in Gong’s class. In numerous funny yet heart-touching moments, Sangdoo vows never to become a gigolo again. Yet, his past deeds have caught up with him, and he is soon sought after by the police. Gong’s boyfriend, Lee Dong Gun, also does not want to let go of Gong. First love is something beautiful yet painful to these two lovers, who have reunited after ten years to find out that everything is not the same anymore.

Review:

Warning!!! This is the saddest mini series you could ever watch in your life!!! It makes you cry like a baby!! Avoid watching it by any means if you are experiencing some happy moments in your life. b/c by watching this drama any possible smile will be taken away from you in a spark!!! By the way, this drama has the saddest ending possible a screen writer could ever come up with! The only reason would I suggest to start watching this is, a. if you are experiencing a hurtful break up with a no possible way back in!!!! b. lost a dear person to your heart so you can have an excuse to cry out loud all you want, OR c. to measure the acting skills of Bi in his debut TV drama! (The last one was my reason by the way! but I was wrong cuz it made me so sad!)
This is briefly what’s going on:

Honestly, the writer never avoides any possible chance to make things go tragic than it has already been. An 8 year old sick kid who suffers from leukemia since birth! People who lie to each other non-stop, and keep secrets till the longest they could possibly keep!!! The main character is a poor young man who was told to be a father of the sick child and sell his body to make money for her hospital bills. Not only that, during his high school he tried to backup for a girl he loved and in the accident he made a man in comma and has sent to juvenile ever since!! Funny thing that not even that girl heard about the story till 10 years later!!!

The guy got abandoned from his adopted family as a result of ending up in jail and started a pitiful life which made him a gigolo for making money for the hospital bill’s of some one else’s daughter!!!!!! Other characters give each other hard time in any way possibly they can!!!! And the love between the two main characters never came to settle down, not even after everything was ready for them to celebrate!!!! 

If you are stuburn and are willing to watch it still there is only way at the end to make you believe that this was just a stupid drama and it has no validity on a real life story!!! that is to keep watching the NG’s!!!!!! But rememebr even that might make you cry and laugh at the same !!

Synopsis:

Over the Rainbow takes a behind-the-scenes look at the exciting and dark side of the entertainment business, filled with “it-boys and girls” and wannabes. The drama follows three main characters, all at different levels in their careers as entertainers. Their passion, ambition and cut-throat attitudes set on the goal of “making it” intertwine with their personal lives. In their personal and professional lives, they try hard, play games and put their all into it.

Review:

This was a very good drama with a strong plot and amazing actor and actresses. Overall speaking, it was a very informative and unusual approach on Korean Music Industry. Highly recommended to watch although I don’t understand the reason for it’s low domestic rating!