Mention Seo Taiji’s name to any one in Korea, and you will receive recognition for this guy. Even my father, a caucasian male over 60, who doesn’t listen to Korean music, knows of him. That’s how much influence this guy has on the Korean media, culture, and of course music. He was probably the one who really revolutionise the Korean music industry. Back then the ahjumma style music dominated the industry, but along came Seo Taiji, who brought with him rapping, the KPop dance style, and a new style of music to be included into the mainstream realm. More »

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A few months ago, I was shocked by the US dollar to Korean won exchange rate when it was actually less than 900 KRW to $1. After having the exchange rate at a steady 1,000 KRW to $1 for the last decade, that low rate really hit me in the face. It’s kind of ironic that it did, though. I grew up in the mid-90s, where it was 800 KRW to $1. But then the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis aka IMF Crisis occurred, and I remember the won rate going up high as 1,800 KRW to $1. Of course I didn’t really understand the implication of such things. All I know is that it was good for us Americans to exchange USD to KRW. Sadly to say, I still do believe in that since my main source of income are in dollars. However, today proved to be an insane day in the monetary world. At least for me. More »

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To say that I have never driven in Seoul, South Korea is a lie. To say that I have driven on the US military bases in Seoul, South Korea is the truth. However, to say that I have never driven on South Korean soil is the truth. Confused? Bottom line: I have yet to drive outside of the US military bases in Seoul or anywhere in South Korea. Why? Here’s why:

1) Public transportation is cheap and effective. 2) I live near the base so I can easily walk to and from there. 3) I think I’d rather jump off of the Seoul Tower before even attempting to drive in the dreaded traffic. 4) I usually do not go anywhere far to need a car. 5) I have a personal chauffeur by the name of Daddy, and I’ll take advantage of that as long as I can. More »

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Okay so they’ve finally casted the lead female for Hana Yori Dango, unfortunately it’s not some sexy boy toy who can pass off as a girl. It’s Gu Hye Seon.

Never seen her in anything before but she’s won a few big awards: 2007 SBS Acting Awards (New Star Award) and 2006 KBS Acting Awards (New Actress Award). Not only that but she’s sang the theme song for her drama Pure 19 and been in a few music videos. She’s got to be good right?

Honestly she’s a little too mature looking for me. While she does embody the innocent girl look, she’s not quite the perfect fit for me. I would have definitely gone for a bigger star or at least a cuter one like Kim Tae Hee. If you’ve seen the Japanese Hana Yori Dango, Kim Tae Hee and Mao Inoue might as well be twins.

Again I’m disappointed with the cast but hopefully the show will still be good. I’m still praying for them to boot Gu Hye Seon for a boy toy.

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All these news about the recent Korean celebrity suicides made me think about the past. My mind went down memory lane, and then I decided to Youtube videos of my favourite ahjumma style songs. Or at least the old songs from when I enjoyed as a child. One of the songs I entered was 인디안 인형처럼 (Indian Inhyung Chu-lum = Like an Indian Doll) originally done by Nami. More »

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* Have a reason to go out and eat . . . CHECK — It’s someone’s birthday.

* Make sure you have a decent size group . . . CHECK — Get two families for seven people.

* Go to a traditional restaurant . . . CHECK — After discovering there’s an actual parking lot . . . for like five cars!

* Sit on the floor . . . CHECK — Make sure you have a floor cushion for the padding on your bottom.

* Let the birthday person choose what they were craving . . . CHECK — Bulgogi!

* The restaurant ahjummas starts bringing the food and let the fun times begin! More »

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TVXQ has officially released their fourth album, Mirotic, only a few days ago but even before then it has hit number 1 on the charts. I’m glad they’re back in Korea again so they can put these fake talentless boy bands to shame.

The new album is title Mirotic which is the combination of a coined Korean word “miro” and the English word “tic”. The word “miro” means “lost or maze” which has lead people to believe the definition is the feeling of being wrapped in love with no way out.

Listening to the entire album, I was more of a fan of the slow songs (especially Jae Joong’s solo) over the upbeat ones although “Wrong Number” and “Crazy Love” were one of my favorites. I really enjoyed the entire album with its techno pop feel; definitely a hit for a comeback album. More »

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As Americans have Thanksgiving, Koreans have Chuseok. Every year on Chuseok, Korean families visit their hometowns and have a large feast with their families in this three-day holiday. But this year in NYC, we got our own experience of Chuseok although it wasn’t exactly traditional. This year at the Chuseok Festival in NYC, we got to see amazing performances from the talents from JYP Entertainment.

Upon arriving from the train station, we came across a park. We decided the logical thing was to follow the Koreans even though some of them didn’t know where they were going either. After walking for several minutes we decided that pathways were for squares and just walked on the grass. The whole time walking, we ranted and raved about the performance we were so excited to see. We found the festival in the up diagonal-ish direction in the park. After our experience with arrows, we decided that arrows are deceiving and evil. More »

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One thing I liked about growing up in Seoul was the fact that there were so much Japanese animes being broadcast on Korean televisions. I definitely took advantage of that and watched many, many animes in my elementary school days. However, I decided around sixth grade that I was “too old” to watch these “cartoons” and simply stopped watching them. I regret doing that, but thankfully my friends bought me back into the anime world in ninth grade with Slayers.

Once I got back into the wonderful world of animes, in the last ten years or so, I’ve been trying my hardest to reconnect myself to all my favourite animes from my childhood. To be honest, it proved to be a rather frustrating task. See, the animes that were shown on Korean televisions were all dubbed into Korean, Japanese titles were changed into Korean ones, and even the names of characters were changed to Korean names! Needless to say I had a fun time searching the American or Japanese titles for Tekuu no Escaflowne or Fushigi Yuugi. But the one that took me a while to find and had a pain of a time looking for due to it not being popular in Japan happened to be Mado King Granzort. More »

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Ningin has always had a lot of visitors from South Korea and other Asian countries. We’re quite proud of that actually because it means we’re transcending national and cultural boundaries. It doesn’t matter who or where you are, if you’re interested in Asian media, we’re happy to have you here! So to better serve our international members (and really everyone in general) allow me to introduce Tara Popp, our newest blogger from South Korea:

차렷, 경래, 안녕하세요! (Cha-lyut, gyung-lae, ahnyoung-ha-sae-yo! = Attention! Bow and say hello!) Well that is one way to say hello in South Korea, especially at an institute, I suppose. More »

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The long awaited Korean version of drama hit series Hana Yori Dango will air on KBS 2TV in the last week of December. Finally! Honestly, I can’t believe I had to wait so damn long for Korea to catch up. Aren’t they the melodrama gods?

So far there’s been a lot of hype for the show as it is one of the most popular series in all of Asian due to predecessors Meteor Garden (Taiwan) and Hana Yori Dango (Japan; creator of the series). With so much pressure, they’ve gathered some big names to help record the mini series like renowned director Jeon Gi-Sang (Sassy Girl Chuhyang, My Girl) and writer Yoon Ji-Ryeon (Sharp #3). However, they’ve got Group 8 to produce the film even though they failed with Goong S. More »

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Inspired by the infamous Danny Choo’s “A Week in Tokyo”, I wanted to share with you a day in New York. Honestly, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be but it is a fun tourist spot. I spent most of this day just walking through visiting various Asian hot spots namely the Kinokuniya Bookstore and Ktown. Eek! More »

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The New York Korean Film Festival hosted actor/director Yoo Ji-Tae the 4th week of August for several events. First being the opening reception, where the humble Mr. Yoo answered questions about his part in the cinematic celebration, that has become a staple of the New York art & culture scene.

There is a successful aura about everything that Yoo Ji-Tae works on like his role as the villain in top rated film Oldboy. He was a vital ingredient, in the reason the film was awarded the top prize at 2004 Cannes Film Festival. His many other works are well known throughout Korea and by foreign film aficionados. More the 2003 movie, which he also starred in, “Into the Mirror”, has just inspired a western remake called Mirrors.

The historical film “Hwang Jin Yi” was showing at the reception of the NYKFF. The Korean release of “Hwang Jin Yi” took place last year. The film stars himself along side actress Song Hye Kyo, and is based on a North Korean novel. The hype following this movie is do to its cinematic grandeur and has had many recent dramatic adaptations. Besides supporting this films North American release, he promoted his own directorial work with a short film called “Out of my Intention”. Due to the many press vying for time with the talented thespian the limit of five minutes was downgraded to three minutes as we waited for everyone to be seated. We were very lucky that the first two questions received time saving replies of smiles, blushes, and chuckling nods. More »

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Yesterday I went to Ktown in NYC. I was so excited I nearly knocked myself out when I saw the Korean supermarket (completely overpriced btw). I didn’t really do much other than explore the stores and visited the PC bang. It resembled the ones in Korea a lot except it was missing the clouds of smoke. I miss Taegu, Korea so much, especially after being NYC. Although all my friends aren’t there anymore, we all still talk about moving back one day and how much we regret leaving. Lol. ^^

Anyways here’s this week’s round up! More »

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Ciao a Tutti! MiaCarla here, number five in the new seven of the Ningin newbies! How very exciting to be apart of this fine blogging bunch. As an Italian-American born and raised in Brooklyn NY, I am not your average Asian media enthusiast … but from the first influences of 80’s anime and 90’s Korean Pop, there has always been a drive in me to aid Asian Media acceptance in the western mainstream. Now apart of this global campaign to seek out kindred, as well as diverse fans, to bring them together under one banner. Showing people that, the many facets, of Asian media do not have to be separated by ethnicity’s, language or genre. More »

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