There are so many different interpretations of the word “aphrodisiac.” Its basic definition is of something consumed to intensify sexual desires or arousal. However, when you search for Asian aphrodisiacs, the food doesn’t look all that appetizing. Let’s take for example the South Korean hagfish. These disgusting bottom-feeding, phallic creatures of the deep are also known as slime eels because once the animal is stressed, it secretes a slimy, white, foul smelling substance. However, once the goopy creatures are salted, broiled in sesame oil and served with panchan, they are considered Viagra. More »

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I’m actually against Valentine’s Day, going as far as to call it “Crappytine’s Day”. But I figure I’ll stop being a curmudgeon just for the next fifteen minutes as I write this entry. I’m even going to be generous and put up more than one song (it’s a “special” occasion), so tadah! Hope you all enjoy this week’s selections. Happy Crappytine’s Valentine’s Day! More »

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Hey, thanks to everyone who spent time to send the Wonder Girls a message for Valentine’s Day. Also, thanks to the people who said nice things about Ningin. All of these gestures are really appreciated.

As I said previously, we really enjoy being the bridge that connects Asian pop stars with their fans. It’s something we hope to be doing a lot more of in the future. More »

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Hot on the heels of their previous Haruhi season 2 troll, famed publisher Kadokawa has, once again, decisively trolled the entire anime world. In addition to their “work” on Haruhi season 2, Kadokawa had announced the release of 涼宮ハルヒちゃんの憂鬱 (The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi-chan), a parody of the original Haruhi anime, based on a wildly popular series of 4-koma (4 panel) manga drawn by Puyo. Sadly, it was only slated for YouTube distribution (Kadokawa is one of the first Japanese media companies with its own official YouTube channel), but at least we had a release date - Friday, February 13! More »

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Again, the Jabbawockeez have taken modern hip-hop dancing and made it more than just a street sport. These first-season America’s Best Dance Crew winners are now being featured in the Gatorade TV ad series “Quest for G”.

The ads features all-star athletes NY Yankee Derek Jeter, NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson, Boston Celtic Kevin Garnett, Olympic gymnast Alicia Sacramone, Olympic sprinter Usain Bold and Olympic Volleyball team Misty May-Treanor and Keri Walsh parodying Monty Python and the Holy Grail. While on their quest to find the “Holy G,” they run into several other athletes like Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul Jabbar and the Jabbawockeez. Break dancing is a sport! More »

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Happy early Valentines’ day everyone! Despite being a day early, I’m delivering my top 10 favorite love songs. While some of them are a bit emo, they’re still really good songs.

Hope you guys enjoy your (fake) holiday. Remember! There’s still White Day and Black Day to follow.

Enjoi. More »

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I finally got the chance to speak to the Beat Freak and former Harajuku Girl Rino Nakasone, and what a great experience it was. In search of the dance flavors that originally inspired her to break out from the mold, the Okinawan-born performer came to Los Angeles ten years ago and has traced out a colorful and accomplished career for herself. What you see on stage is pretty much what you get in person: a boisterous and vibrant personality. What you may not get the chance to see on television, however, is her endless reserve of hearty laughter (and equally enthusiastic arm slaps). Even after only speaking briefly with her, it was apparent that she’s bubbling with warmth and personable energy: More »

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Wonderful Kimmie Mai, a 22-year-old DePaul University student and Chicago resident, first caught wind of the Wonder Girls during their performance at the 29th Dragon Film Awards. Asides from seeing Ye Eun and Yoo Bin on We Got Married, Kimmie Mai—who is pretty new to k-pop music—wasn’t familiar with the Wonder Girls, but she was instantly drawn to one of the Wonder Girls after the Dragon Film performance. After figuring out the Wonder Girls’ names, Kimmie Mai found out her soon-to-be favorite Wonder Girl was—yep, you guessed it—Ye Eun. Since then, Kimmie Mai has been a devoted Wonderful and Eunsun lover: Of course, Ye Eun is now the face I’ll never forget. More »

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Five fabulous crews are left on Randy Jackson’s America’s Best Dance Crew. Tonight’s challenge was to emulate eye popping illusions. With the help of illusionist and magician Franz Harary, the teams used his suggestions on which props to use in defying reality in their choreography. Although only two groups out of five conjured up magic this week, four made it to next weeks episode. The judges had it going on this week with Shane Sparks looking nice in his Jabbawockeez tee. Also, Lil’Mama is looking much better every week: she’s choosing fashionable beauty over Brooklyn street style, and what a pretty choice it is. More »

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Normally, my stance on ABDC themes is that no matter how absurd some of them may be (re: stamina challenge), what really counts at the end of the day is how the crews own the challenges: incorporation, interpretation and execution are key. With a fun element like magic in play, the performances were all entertaining in their own right. However, it seems that for the first time this season, these challenges proved to be real choke up’s when it came to cohesion and choreography. More »

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Alright I have had it with this guy! Korea’s pop sensation Se7en was scheduled to finally debut this Valentines day. But what does he do? He stands us up AGAIN and doesn’t even leave us any chocolate or roses! Se7en’s American debut song “Girls” was initially supposed to be released on February 14th. However, it needs to be pushed back to so that he can prepare for promotional activities. More »

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As you know, Ningin was at the NYCC’09 to get the scoop on all things Yatterman.  From the Yatterman press conference to the world premiere, we trekked to gather all the information that Arashi and Miike Takashi fans want to know.  Sho Sakurai humbly sat next to his cool director during the press conference, and they talked about their movie making experience right away.  Both Miike-san and Sho-kun addressed the audience with very sincere greetings. Miike-san went first by welcoming attendees: he seemed to have an aura of ultra coolness and told everyone to not catch a cold in this winter weather. Then Sho took the mic and impressed everyone with an English greeting. More »

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TMZ and Fox News are reporting that yesterday, Los Angeles resident Lucie J. Kim filed a class-action law suit worth $4 billion against Miley Cyrus for that terrible picture.

According to the suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Asian Pacific Islanders in Los Angeles (well over 1 million individuals) are each entitled to the minimum damages for a civil rights violation: $4,000. If you do the math, that’s around $4 billion. Sounds like enough to bankrupt Hannah Montana, and that’s only in the most forgiving scenario. More »

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For several reasons, I never bothered to hang out at Seoul Station in my twenty plus years of living in Seoul. I’ve been told by friends that it’s a nice place to chill and whatnot, but I think my hatred for Line 1 (the subway line that runs through Seoul Station) made me stay away from that place for years. That is, until today. Now that I’ve actually hung out there, I can say with certainty that I am not going to hang out there ever again. Or at least not in the evening. Aside from my hatred of Line 1, I did not enjoy my time there with the homeless folks and the beggars. More »

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NYCC’09 gave us a sneak preview of big things to come during one of its panels on Saturday. Although the talk on “Asian Americans and Superheroes: Secret Identities” was not as well advertised as other panels, the audience still packed itself into the room. The overcapacity crowd made their own space by some sitting on the floor, while others trailed into the hallway. The impressive amount of attendees definitely made curious onlookers question the people in line waiting to get inside; I think I had to answer at least eight groups of people asking me what the lecture was on before I actually got into the room! More »

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Being an artist, I was incredibly interested with Manga Studio. I’ve always wanted to create my own manga, but never had the cash to buy supplies. Then, at New York Comic Con 2009, I found a solution.

Smith Micro Software product manager Sarina Dupont showed Jessica and I the incredible wonders of Manga Studio EX4. This amazing program includes everything you would need as a manga artist: a variety of tones, word bubbles, coloring tools and even a brush for when you want to color your art! Also, the software’s tools are incredibly customizable. One of the best features is that it’s even Adobe Photoshop compatible. We were able to see the program in action with Lincy Chan, author of the manga Rhysmyth. Of course, she was very experienced with the program and made everything look easy! More »

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Last week, I mentioned I didn’t catch the theme of this week’s challenge, and in case you haven’t caught wind of it yet, this week is all about magic tricks. Here is a list of the crews’ illusory challenges and their featured songs for the upcoming episode. I’ve gotta say, it was funny the powers that be decided to throw out two T. Pain songs because I’m still reeling from last week’s Lonely Island SNL digital short—featuring none other than T. Pain. I guess people can’t get enough of auto-tune nowadays… (Poseidon, look. at. meeeee.) Anyhooow, there isn’t much diversity as these are pretty much club and hip hop anthems, but as always, the songs always inform the theme of the crews’ dances, so you’ll just have to wait and see how these work out. For now, enjoy! More »

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If you’re a Clamp fan, more specifically an xxxHolic and Tsubasa fan, there are two new OVAs coming out. From what I gather from the website and with a confirmation at Wikipedia, xxxHolic Shunmuki DVD will be released on February 17 and the Tsubasa Shunraiki DVD on March 17. Here’s the link to the official site. Those proficient in Japanese will be able to read it, unlike me. More »

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We all know that the Wonder Girls conducted an English interview with Ningin at the 2008 Chuseok Festival. Well, the Wonder Girls came back to the U.S. and hung out at the Grammy-Nominated Artist Exhibition in Los Angeles. There, Dipdive interviewed the Wonder Girls (more specifically, Ye Eun).  More »

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Valentine’s Day is quickly creeping towards us. Ningin plans to do a special V-Day event with blog articles related to this magic and commercially created day of love. Besides articles, we were trying to think of what else we can do. After the invasion of the Wonderfuls (nickname for fans of the Wonder Girls) these past few days, we got our idea. More »

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