Entries in the 'Off-Topic' Category

Kim Yuna in a rare off-the-ice performance

Wow, that was fast. World-famous figure skater (and reigning — two-time — world bronze medalist) Kim Yuna showed her little-known singing skills when she recorded a segment as a guest on SBS’s new program The Star Show on May 8. The segment is to be broadcast on the May 12 episode, but the clip is already online.

Kim Yuna professes to enjoy going to karaoke rooms (noraebangs) frequently, and sang the song “만약에” (What if), originally performed by Girls Generation’s Tae Yeon — which you may recall receiving significant airtime in the recent drama series Hong Gil Dong.

Granted, it’s not exactly a perfect performance, and she chose a difficult song to perform live — but dude, I’m not going to rip on the singing skills of anyone who can propel themselves more than their own body length through the air while spinning multiple times and landing upright on the edge of a blade. Mad respect to skaters (figure and otherwise).

(And besides, she still sounds a lot better than, say, any or all of the Wonder Girls live. Talk about nails on a chalkboard. Screeeech.)

Via Hankyung

SONG OF THE DAY

Tae Yeon - “만약에” (What if) from the Hong Gil Dong OST. Used most prominently in Episode 7.
[ Download ] (repost)

Modernizing the hanbok

I don’t really care about fashion much, and I don’t blog about it (I leave that to the ladies of Popseoul), but I saw various mentions on the interwebs of Canadian actress Sandra Oh’s above tribute to the hanbok, or traditional Korean dress, which she wore to the SAG awards earlier this week. The look was deemed worthy fodder for fugging on Go Fug Yourself (here it is again on Chosun daily).

The Fug Girls did backpedal from their scorn when they realized her dress was a take on a national costume; they were probably afraid of seeming culturally insensitive or ignorant or whatever. I don’t think the dress is ugly, but it’s not really all that interesting either — neither as a gown in and of itself, nor as an innovative new take on the hanbok. It’s just so LITERAL. There are ways to modernize the hanbok more cleverly. Making the bow really really big isn’t the only way to make something seem fashion-forward. And there are Korean designers doing it better. See what I mean after the jump.

SONG OF THE DAY

Sorea - “사랑바라기” (wishing for love), from the soundtrack for drama series Goong S.
[ zShare download ]

Modernized hanboks, ooh pretty >>

Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! (Happy Hanukkah? Kwanzaa? Generic seasonal holidays?)

Hope y’all have a nice, relaxing, energizing, kdrama-filled holiday. As for me, my day is entirely booked — I have lots of sleeping and reading and vegging to do. Phew. So much lazing about to do, so little time.

SONG OF THE DAY

House Rulez - “Merry Christmas” [ zShare download ]

Happy Thanksgiving

happy-thanksgiving

Or, should I say, Happy American Chuseok?

I’m thankful for a lot, many things related to this site and many things not. I’m thankful for one guilt-free eating day in the year, because everyone’s in it together today! Even the skinny bitches who normally sneer at food and sustenance and all that pesky caloric stuff.

So Happy Thanksgiving! Don’t eat too much (”too much” to be deemed as you see fit), don’t drink ‘n’ drive, and, of course, don’t forget to count your blessings! I’m sure we’ve all got a few more than we realize if we think about it hard enough.

SONG OF THE DAY

Nell - “Thank You” [ zShare download ]

Pudding - “Thank” for some soothing instrumentals. [ zShare download ]

Excuse the squealing nine-year-old girl; blame anime

Oh man, oh man, oh man.

Excuse me for a second while I ramble on about totally irrelevant (to kdrama) things for a second.

My heart just stopped for a second reading that apparently a major Hollywood-ified Robotech film is in the works with the possible intent of being transformed into a live-action franchise. Holy crap!

Words cannot express the extent of my infatuation with the animated series when I was in grade school. I’m not really into anime, and I was only ever a fan of it for a few years in elementary and junior high school — but those are pretty formative years, so I’ll always have a fond spot in my heart for it. And for ROBOTECH (and its Japanese originator, the MACROSS franchise), which was the first anything that I was ever a fan of. Sure, I casually liked Transformers and Voltron (really just ’cause of the pretty pink-wearing blonde princess, before I was old enough to learn those things are eeevil! and damaging!)…

But Robotech…

 
(Robotech Theme) SONG OF THE DAY

Robotech Main Theme. I’m pretty sure none of the songs in this post will appeal to you if you’ve never been a fan of the Macross/Robotech franchise, but if you were… Ah, the nostalgia.

[ Zipped file of all songs in this post: zShare download ]

 
ROBOTECH!!!! >>