A Taste for You to Fall in Love

“Breakout” from her “Peace, Love, & Ice Cream” album

Epik High’s “Umbrella (우산)” feat. Younha

Story

From Wikipedia:

Born in South Korea to music loving parents, Younha began to play the piano at the age of 4. She developed an interest in Japanese Drama and began to teach herself Japanese. Before long, she was skilled enough to interpret to her school friends what would happen on Japanese television. What began as an interest in Japanese dramas developed into an interest in Japanese music. At the recommendation of an older student in her school’s broadcasting club, she listened to such artists as Utada Hikaru and Misia and soon began to like Japanese music. Younha began to dream about debuting as singer alongside her favorite artists.

In order to realize her dream, she began to seek out auditions within Korea. She claimed that she went through as many as 20 auditions. She also commented in her interview that certain companies refused to sign her to their labels because they believed she was not “pretty” enough, although she sang pretty well. Her mother also discouraged her dream and even locked her bedroom door to prevent Younha from leaving the house. Younha, however, climbed out the window and made it to the audition anyhow. At one audition, she made an overwhelming impression and signed a contract with a Korean company. Soon after, Younha’s voice was heard by a company in Japan. In order to make her childhood dream of debuting in Japan come true, Younha underwent recording while going back and forth between Korea and Japan. Quickly, Younha’s Japanese skills advanced so much that she surprised even the staff around her.

Name: Younha, 고윤하, ユンナ, 高潤荷

Birthday: April 29, 1988 @ Seoul, Korea

Website: http://www.lionmedia.co.kr/younha/ It’s beautiful, go visit!

Still undergoing revision!

“Crazy” feat. Eric (미쳤어)

Saturday Night (토요일 밤에)

Bad Boy (Remix.Big Bang)

About

Son Dam Bi, the attractive “female Rain,” showcases strong vocals and dancing to electronica and hip hop music.  Although she does sexy well (“Crazy”), she holds her own in softer melodies (“Slowly Forget” 느리게잊기).

Stats

Name: Son Dam Bi, 손담비, “The Crystal Queen”

Birthday: September 25, 1983

Website: http://www.sondambi.net/

Most noted for: her chair dance in “Crazy”

To meet Son Dam Bi yourself, watch her on MBC’s reality show,

“We Got Married” (우리 결혼했어요).

Waah, they’re so pretty!   And they sing really well.

This song might remind you of Baek Ji Young’s “Burden” 부담 (Budam), because their opening melodies are similar.

Other than this video, I know nothing about this group!  I couldn’t find anything about them, so if you know more information, please link us!

This is when I went with my friends to a Korean bbq restaurant.

The lemon is not customary, but they gave it to us because it was the dude’s birthday

Read some quick Do’s and Don’ts of K-bbq & appetizers at The Food Section.

Here are just a few of Korea’s numerous banchan’s 반찬, meaning appetizers.

Kimchi

Kimchi 김치

Spicy, pickled cabbage, best eaten with the meat as a combo.

Low in calories, high in fiber.

It’s like a super food, it has so many benefits that it’s officially in the top 5 of the World’s Healthiest Foods!

Kimchi is good for digestion and is believed to reduce the risk of cancer.

.

.

.

Kkagdugi

Kkakdugi 깍두기

Small daikon cubes, a variation of kimchi.

Traditionally a good combination with soups, such as beef or chicken soup.

.

.

.

.

.

Kongnamul

Kongnamul 콩나물

Cold, boiled bean sprouts with sesame oil.

Note, ‘namul’ 나물 is a general term for any Korean seasoned vegetable dish.

People unfamiliar with this vegetable might wonder, “What do I do with it?”

Well… you eat it!  Just think of it as broccoli.

Either you just eat it straight from the plate if served as banchan (appetizer),

or it will be part of a dish!  Remember, it’s justtttttt a vegetable.

.

Shigimchi namul

Japchae

Sigimchi Namul 시금치나물: Lightly parbroiled spinach dressed with sesame oil, garlic, and soy sauce.

Japchae 잡채: Stir fried cellophane noodles.

I hope this helps you to boldly and fearlessly attack the appetizers in the future!

Mucho thanks to Wikipedia!

Drinking alcohol with friends is an important pastime for Koreans.  So if you ever find yourself being poured a shot of soju, here’s what you need to know:

• Soju = a strong rice wine
• Don’t keep it in your mouth.  Toss your head back and down it!
• Give the best seat to your elders.  The seat of honor is the seat that faces the door, preferably enabling the person to have their back to the wall.  I just naturally prefer that seat, but I always have to give it up to my dad. T_T
• It is rude to refuse the first drink someone pours you.
• 1 glass is too small, 3 glasses are lacking, 5 glasses are proper, and more than 7 is too much.
• If an elder pours you a drink, kneel and take it with both hands respectfully.  Drink after resuming seat.
  
• Offer alcohol to your elders first, pouring with both hands.
• Do not pour your own drink.  Ever.  It goes against the whole concept of comradeship.
• When you’re holding out the cup, hold it in your right hand, while your left hand grasps your right arm.
  
• Koreans toast by saying “Gunbae!” (kind of like “Bottoms up!”)
• A love shot is where you link arms with another person, and you drink from each others glasses
  

As a side note, the two main Korean breweries are Hite and OB.

Additional information: The Art of Getting Sloshed, Court Rules Against Love Shots

“Super Rookie” (2005) caught my eye not because of Shinhwa leader Eric Moon, but because the drama highlights the inner workings of corporate culture.  As a university student stressing over looming job hunts, I’m eager to find out what I’ll be thrown into after school ends.

DramaFever.com says, “Breezy and fun, Super Rookie is a highly enjoyable comedy about a young man determined to shake things up in the stuffy corporate world.”  This first episode starts out a little slow, but some of the tediousness is necessary to lay out the background material.  Even so, there is plenty of comedy to let us expect a light-hearted mix of silliness, romance, betrayal, and a unique brand of jaw-dropping impudence in episodes to follow.  Already, Episode 1 displays Eric’s gift for physical comedy and commands respect for him as a serious actor.

Because Episode 1 is a broad overview and introduction, consider this post to be a Meet the Characters kind of deal.

Meet Kang Ho.  Stats: unmarried, jobless, nearly 30 years old.  First name is unusually monosyllabic, simply Ho.  Hobbies (& Life): loves comics/martial arts/cards.  Feed him on: instant ramen and soju (Korean alcohol).  Social image: a bum and slacker who can’t hang onto girls (don’t even mention a job).  Character: the biggest heart on this side of the planet. Except when he’s hungry, because then he’ll steal your fishcakes at lunch.  More on that later.

While the jokes are predictable (e.g. knowing he’s having a dream or that his impassioned speech will be falling short), Eric’s acting creates a lovable character, endearing despite his bumbling.  Kang Ho has an unbeatable reservoir of energy and a touch of misplaced smugness, which enables him to become an underdog who grins and keeps getting up when kicked down, insinuating himself into our hearts.

This is Kang Ho’s family.  His father, a mild-mannered man who gets pushed around by his wife, doesn’t have a job, although apparently nobody in this household has one.  The mother is my favorite, a sharp-tongued, assertive harpy who shakes her fist at them all.  I love the intonations she inflects in her voice, especially when she’s particularly agitated.  We will see that she frequently kicks, hits, and takes up arms against the other members of the household, which opens up hilarious opportunities for the others to languidly serve up some humor.

However, in terms of acting, younger brother Min is the best.  At first, Min is a little creepy, always pushing a lock of his hair to the side and looking out from below his bangs.  Studying to get into Korea’s #1 Seoul National University, Min is usually hitting the books.  Unfortunately, he’s worse than his brother – unable to retain any of the information, Min’s method of studying involves repeating phrases dully to himself aloud.

Here, Mother gives her dear son a good smack upside the head for being such an idiot…

…upon which he slams down his rice bowl and… asks for money.

Two birds of a feather hang out together.  Kang Ho’s best friend is Sung-tae, the epitome of all that is nerdy, sporting black-framed square glasses and living amongst shelves full of comic books.

Stats: went to a socially acceptable university, knows his stuff, but is still jobless.  Life: instant ramen, comic books, and résumés.  Social attitude: Awkward with a capital A, cannot get girls.  Character: gruff, grudging, desperate but is there in times of need.

Sung-tae’s small space exudes a cozy atmosphere, and will serve as a kind of headquarters and haven in the future.  I’m not sure if I like Sung-Tae, though.  I would liken him to the Disney donkey, Eeyore, because he’s always in a huff.  I can only assume that their friendship derives from a mutual love of manga.  And instant ramen.

This here is Bong-sam. Stats: college education funded by LK’s Prodigy program, new LK employee, independent stockbroker, filthy rich, nice car, poor background.  Hobbies: golf.  Chip in the shoulder: being a poor kid who only knew how to make fishcakes, father’s an alcoholic, mother ran for it.  Goal: intensely pursues carving out a place for himself in the world.  Character: ruthless, desperate in his own way, ambitious, makes choices that tend to bite him in the butt later.  Hurt, never healed, lashes back.

But all we know when we first see him is that he’s hot.  And ridiculously wealthy.  His house looks like a den of iniquity.  So far, everything about him seems ridiculously hot.

At this moment where he’s on the phone, he asks, “Want me to pick you up?”  That, coupled with the scene would make me suspect his house is a front for brothels, but the synopsis didn’t mention anything about prostitutes, be they male or female.  Imagine that, a kdrama about prostitutes!  I’d watch it, that’d be something fresh.

Lee Mi-ok is Bong-sam’s ex-girlfriend.  Stats: broken, dumped, temp at LK.  Hobbies: getting over Bong-sam.  Crying a lot.  Social image: cold, a little rude, not respected much in the workplace since she’s a temp.  Bong-sam thinks she sobs too much and is clingy, making her his least favorite person.  Kang Ho is intrigued by her; perhaps he senses she’s more than a cold front.  Character: Very passive.  In hibernation.  Not very huggable until you break down her defenses.

You know, until now, I never thought of her name as “me-okay.”  She’s definitely not okay…

In the pouring rain, she jumps out at his car like something straight out of a Korean horror movie.  Still struggling with their break-up, Mi-ok confronts him and serves up the hard questions.  At this point, we’re not sure why they broke up, but apparently, Bong-sam has moved on quite sanguinely.

She sobs a lot, and this is where many people might get restless and be tempted to go do something else.  But I was fascinated and wanted to hear how Bong-sam addressed her questions.

Mi-ok: “From the very beginning… Did you mean to play me and throw me away?”

The question shakes Bong-sam.

Bong-sam: “Think whatever will make it easier for you.”

Alright, I accepted that.  At this point, there’s no looking back.  There’s nothing he can say.  “Yes” is obviously out of the question, unless he’s determined to destroy her.  “No” might give her hope, or revisit their past, and Bong-sam clearly simply wishes to get the hell on with his life and kick her out of the car.  I get the feeling he’d like to dust her off and make her a figment of the past.  It’s fitting that Mi-ok jumps out like those traditional ghosts – she’s kind of wearing white, and she kinda fits the long hair requirement.  Anyway, Mi-ok continues-

Mi-ok: “So my genuine feelings… they meant nothing to you?”

It’s true that Mi-ok looks clingy and sobby like Bong-sam said, but Mi-ok has to go through this.  Right now, she’s probably reeling and shocked.  I don’t think she looks angry, but her expressions show her disbelief and small begging hope that things are not as they seem.

Bong-sam: “Do you really think we make a good couple? [pause] And if we ever run into each other at work, please don’t act as if you know me.”

Way to nail down your coffin, you arrogant asshole.

This is a bar referred to either as “The Secretary” or “Fox’s.”  Apparently these two are sisters, and are usually preoccupied with looking young and applying makeup.  They look after Mi-ok, who lives upstairs.

As it turns out, Bong-sam was on his way to meet his new girlfriend, Hyun-ah.  However, their relationship status seems uncertain, because they claim to be simply school friends.

Stats: LK President’s daughter, hangs out with the elite, presumably much more filthy rich than Bong-sam. Character: Used to snapping her fingers and getting what she wants, flummoxed when she doesn’t.  Not a bad egg, just tossed into a Bong-sam/Mi-ok war that she wasn’t aware even existed.

Isn’t it odd that they’re all wearing suits?  And we know Bong-sam purposely wore a suit.  Maybe it’s a hint that although their status is far above Kang Ho’s, their friendships are not as strong.

Why do Korean dramas have so many urinal scenes?  And why do they TALK while using them?

After a discouraging dinner with Bong-sam’s friends – to which he was uninvited – Kang Ho rants at the world, singing along to 조용필‘s “킬리만자로의 표범” (“The Leopard of Kilimanjaro”) from his 8th album.  Watch the live performance in high quality on youtube.

Fortunately, he’s there to save Mi-ok from herself, because she was attempting to commit suicide.

Kang Ho decides to apply with Sung-Tae to the prestigious LK Corporation, figuring that if he must fail, he must fail with style.  LK also happens to be where Bong-sam, Hyun-ah, and Mi-ok work.  Bong-sam and Kang Ho went to high school together, Bong-sam and Mi-ok met because she works there as a temp, and Hyun-ah is the LK President’s daughter.

So it is only fitting that Kang Ho meets his little suicide attemptee at LK…

]]> http://seouldrama.wordpress.com/2009/07/25/super-rookie-ep-1/feed/ 0 seouldrama Super Rookie Interviewer Kang Ho Kang Ho awakens They look away hastily Interviewers Interviewees Join Daehan! Family Mother Ramen Stealing SungTae and Eric Bong Sam Bong Sam house Mi-ok bong sam tortured bridge Mi-ok ditched Barmaid #1 Barmaid #2 1.96_kbbq 1.97_crash party 1.99_urinal talk superRookie7