This past Saturday, the Mixr Media family celebrated the holidays at the first Ningin-GirlyBubble Holiday Mixr in New York City!

Our bloggers often work on their own time and far apart, so the Holiday Mixr was a great opportunity for everyone to get together offline. Some of us even met for the first time in person! We shared drinks and karaoke over a yummy Korean dinner of Squid Bokum (spicy!), Budae Jigae and grilled Kalbi. Some of us showed off dance moves straight from the Wonder Girls and BoA. This resulted in some of us getting free dance lessons. More »

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Hollywood certainly likes to recycle/remake itself - almost to death. To be more specific, in the past few years, a wave of Asian horror movie remakes has reached U.S. and European shores, sometimes even drowning this specific but fast (ever?)-expanding market, to the point that the phenomenon was spoofed in the tagline for Hatchet, which proclaimed: “It’s not a sequel, it’s not a remake, and it’s not based on a Japanese one”. More »

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Nowadays, more than 90% of Taiwanese citizens move on to attain higher education, and with a literacy rate of more than 90%, it’s safe to say the nation loves its learnin’. This year, the Ministry of Education has extended the love to elderly citizens, most of whom could not attend college because of financial and social issues. It looks like Grandpa and Grandma don’t get to walk away with a real degree, but they get to fully immerse themselves in a college environment for five days and four nights. It’s like a getaway for the academic brainiacs that could’ve been. More »

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A few months ago Singaporean Singer JJ Lin released his newest album Sixology and my goodness do I enjoy it VERY MUCH! There are a whole bunch of new elements in this album and of course some classic JJ sounding songs. I was really excited about the various collaborations included: Charlene Choi, Machi, FAMA, and Kym Jin Sha to bring absolute flavor to each track.

I admit I was a bit iffy when it came to C-pop but I do remember seeing and hearing about JJ a lot when looking for other J-pop or K-pop music. His face and name was everywhere on sites but I never paid much attention. It wasn’t until I started taking Chinese classes that I had an interest in C-pop. This is because we all know how well the fangirl method works when learning a new language. It was actually Lara who said give this JJ guy a try and ever since I listened to “Sha Shou” I fell in love! More »

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Happy New Years! Hope you guys are finally revived from all the New Years partying. It’s been a busy week here on Ningin as we’ve combed through the various news items highlighting 2008. If you haven’t read them yet, be sure to check them out!

Here’s this week’s wrap up: More »

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Amid all the New Year’s Eve options out there, my husband and I picked a good one. While the ball was droppin’, our eyes were poppin’—at the final, climactic scene of the modern Korean classic Oldboy. Wow. We were so into it, we forgot to switch over to the TV countdown as we had planned. Will the real Asian film geek please stand up? And does this auspicious beginning to 2009 foretell a great year for Asian film? More »

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Jo Koy is a Filipino American and one of the funniest comedians that I have seen. I’ve watched him on the show “Showtime at the Apollo”, Dave Chappelle Show, VH1’s “I Love the 80’s” and “I Love the New Millenium”. He has always left me crying laughing at his jokes and from his facial expressions alone. Tonight, January 4th at 10PM EST on the Comedy Central, he will be doing a one hour stand up comedy show called, ” Jo Koy Don’t Make Him Angry”. Be sure to tune in and enjoy some bone, cracking, laughing fun! More »

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I’m not a parent myself, but I know how much some parents love their children. The love that they express is great, since some parents have children and neglect them! However, I think some parents go overboard with their expressions of love. Which can be a bad thing, especially when a child feels smothered by their affection and whatnot.

In fact, I think ramming your car into an “INSTANCE” noodle company for making your child sick is a bit much. I mean, yes, as a customer, you want to tell the Busan company about your displeasure, but to literally crash your car into their gate just because you couldn’t get a hold of the manager?! Aigoo.

And Korea Times? You need a better proofreader. Really, “instance” noodle”? Please.

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Alas I was just at the airport to send Lara off on a study abroad trip to China. Oh my how they grow! All off to Asia. On the ride to the airport I was sure to tell her about some things she might expect to find. Although I haven’t been to China in particular I think it was safe to warn her about the “Engrish” barrier and toilets (at least lack of western style ones in rural areas). Ah yes I remember my trips abroad and I think I will take the rest of this post to reminisce a little. More »

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On Christmas Eve, capsule’s “Live in Tokyo” EP went on sale on both the Japan and US iTunes Stores. In 2008, iTunes passed Walmart in music sales, making it the number 1 music retailer in the US. This makes the trendsetting electronic Japanese duo now widely available to the American music market. All that’s left is for America to give them a listen. More »

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Hong Seok Cheon’s Chinese restaurant catches on fire in Itaewon. Apparently, the suspect is a U.S. military soldier named “Corporal G.”

What a way to start the new year. At least, it looks like the fire wasn’t started with a homophobic agenda. Instead, an intoxicated G.I. decided he had some warming up to do. Well, that’s one way to start the year with a bang.

I’m glad there weren’t any casualties. Hong doesn’t need any more stress like that!

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Hong Seok Cheon’s Chinese restaurant catches on fire in Itaewon. Apparently the suspect is a US military soldier named “Corporal G”.

What a way to start the new year. At least it looked like the fire wasn’t started as a homophobic agenda. Instead an intoxicated GI decided he needed some warming up to do. Well that’s one way to start the year with a bang.

I’m glad there weren’t any casualties. Hong doesn’t need any more stress like that!

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Two words that are hardly paired together: veteran kamikaze. While it may seem contradictory for a veteran kamikazes to exist, feature-length documentary Wings of Defeat proves otherwise. Through rare interviews of Japanese veteran kamikaze pilots, the documentary explores the human experience of being a WWII kamikaze pilot. I had the opportunity of to briefly interview Risa Morimoto, producer and director of Wings of Defeat. More »

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The first two anime series of 2009 have pre-aired online, and if their premises are any indication of the season to come, we’re in for a wild, wild ride. Both Akikan and Maria+Holic can be classified under “romantic comedy” in the anime sense of the term, but they are… quite unique. After all, the classic harem situation has been done to death, and the ravenous anime otakus are always craving something new and exciting to latch onto. So how does Akikan and Maria+Holic distance themselves from the monotony? More »

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The first Music Round Up of the year! I’ve kept this going strong for the past year and I’m so happy that we’re finally in the new year.

But before the year could end, Apop stars put on their last performances of 2008. Here’s a few that I found the most entertaining; however, this is only a handful of them. There are plenty more!

Enjoi. More »

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Heaven, I’m in Heaven . . . when we’re off together dancing kimbap to kimbap!

Kudos to those who know the original song and the original singer. Seriously, if this wonderful Kimbap Cheonguk (Heaven) chain restaurant ever disappeared from South Korea, I’d cry. If it ever disappeared out of my neighbourhood, I’d go on a rampage to the headquarters! Not that it will happen, since there are two of these in my neighbourhood — a mere minute apart from one another — so as long as one remains . . . More »

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From Rekuru:

With 2009 coming to a close and 2010 on the horizon, I couldn’t help but think to myself: self, what kind of subjects have they not yet made an anime for (at least, in the last several years)? And that led me to come up with a humble little list. I mean, if they can make spinning tops and collecting cards exciting, what else could they do?

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Happy New Year from Ningin! 2008 has been a year for us to remember. Who would have guessed we’d have so many exclusive interviews, great contests, special events, and above all, Asian entertainment news! Check out out Ningin End of the Year special page right here. More »

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It’s time for Seung Ri to shine and get really dirty in the process. His solo single “Strong Baby” is an upbeat catchy song that reminds me of Justin Timberlake. Well, he likes NSYNC so I’m not surprised.

First thing I noticed is G-Dragon. His little cameo was always cute; however, Seung Ri standing next to G-Dragon makes him more masculine than usual. I guess its supposed to show viewers how mature Seung Ri is becoming, but it just made me cringe.

We start with this “CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK” dance thing. You tell me what the hell that means. We’ve also got him in his car with the crazy chick in the front driving. He’s so mature he can’t even drive a car. He does get with the “Last Farewell” lady in the end so I guess it’s a plus for his maturity but then he takes off his shirt and shows his abs. I’m not saying his abs were bad but I’m used to Seung Ri being the little unimportant brother of Big Bang. All I can say is good luck with your solo career Seung Ri. I still like Tae Yang’s solo “Look Only at Me” MV better. More »

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Clouds Of Rain Bi, an online petition aiming to aid Rain in his legal troubles, was an international effort started by fans in June 2007. With almost 9000 signature submissions to date, the online document is still going strong. Most people are aware that this legal issue has ended in Rain’s favor (at least, in theory); however, others continue to blindly sign it. More »

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