TREATED

If you haven't heard, Hangeng won his year-long lawsuit against SM entertainment because they are ungrateful jerks, to say the least. When artists becomes recognized internationally and money starts pouring in for the company, the company should at least take care of them. What kind of company doesn't let a singer go home for two years, doesn't let him rest when he's being overworked, or speeds up I.V. dripping to the point that it probably could have killed the poor guy? He ended up with chronic throat and stomach problems. Thank God Hangeng left. Doesn't he look so much happier and cuter here? Of course I wish he could go back to SuJu, but I'd much rather see him alive. I wonder how many other SM artists want to sue their company.

YO PEOPLE

Hey. I don't really have anything to say. I'm just bored. Actually, that's not true. I have six finals I could be studying for. Well five, really. One is computer programming and it's open notes, open internet. At least it has been for past quizzes, so I hope it stays the same. I don't feel like studying for finals right now. Or practicing for my piano recital, which is in two days. Gosh I'm whiny. Too bad I go to a nerd school. Now I know why they say ignorance is bliss.

Jang Dong Gun vs Jay Chou

The Warrior's Way is coming out next week I think, or something, and SHINee's Obsession track is going to the be theme song for the movie. And that reminded me that The Green Hornet ft. Jay Chou is coming out in January and I wonder if any of his songs are going to be used in the movie. I hope so because it's such a pity otherwise. Jay Chou is a freakin' musical genius and if he's going to be recognized in the U.S., music should at least part of it. The Green Hornet was supposed to come out January of this year, but they decided to make it 3D. Whatever, if the 3D effects are good, then it will be worth it.

What's with Hollywood's sudden interest in da azns? There are two movies starring Asian actors coming out within a month of each other [although it was really supposed to be a year]. First Taiwan, now Korea. It's really funny how both Asian actors are so stereotypical. For starters, Jay Chou wears red a ton in the movie. Then the Korean dude's like some samurai [which, btw, is Japanese for all the white folks out there] and the Taiwanese guy's a modern day combination of a ninja and Bruce Lee. Oh and, Rain was also a ninja in Ninja Assassin. Is Hollywood not aware that there are other types of martial arts besides the traditional Japanese ones? Geez. Either way, I'm curious to see which one comes out better.

-Q

Agents of Secret Stuff

Everyone knows who nigahiga is right? Good. He and Wongfu (maybe it's WongFu... whatever, it's the thought that counts) Productions have made an AWESOME movie. I'm not gonna embed the video here because you have to have the youtube website surrounding it to experience the whole deal. Or I just don't wan't to spend effort getting the code. Either one (I prefer the first BTW).

And I agree completely about the Big Bang comeback!!! Dude, allkpop.com has absolutely NOTHING exciting in their featured news things. It's freaking depressing. I was looking forward to seeing some exciting news on allkpop.com for the Thanksgiving weekend but nooo... I get to see something about SNSD in Japan. JAPAN. Not KOREA. RAWR.

But Thanksgiving was fun. My dad had some students over, and since they were all Asian, we got to teach them about Thanksgiving lol. So fun. Did I mention that I have just discovered that I make killer stuffing? Yummm.

~~Julia

HP7

Heyllo there. It's officially Thanksgiving Break yippee. Julia and I saw Harry Potter 7 [Part I] today, which was very exciting. The movies have been getting less and less satisfying but it seems like they put a lot of effort into the last one. Since they have two parts this time, they can incorporate more of the details of the book into the movie. That's what kind of bothered me about the previous movies, they had to cut a lot of the book parts out to make it fit the time limit. It was so creepy and disgusting at times, like a shower and probably a haircut too would have been more sanitary. Sorry, I'm a germaphobe. If I'm on the run, I'm still going to need two showers a day and at least a few bottles of hand sanitizer. Plus, I am ridiculously scared of snakes and that giant pet of Voldemort's really doesn't help. It was nice how they made the ending kind of a cliffhanger but also pretty satisfying. Can't wait for the next part!

Btw, wasn't Big Bang's comeback supposed to be in November? Well it's already the end of November so where's Big Bang?

-Q

Woah talk about UNEXPECTED.

Today, I was procrastinating, as usual, from doing my homework. So I went to Youtube. And lo and behold! there was a new G-Dragon video!!! Well technically it's a commercial feature thingy. But still... new songs and mv's are still new ^^

Check it out:


Not the best song I've ever since the beginning and end are extra special, but that's just G-Dragon *shrug*. I still love it :D

And I can't wait for Big Bang's new album!!! This month needs to go by faster. I saw a preview, and I was rather disappointed because I heard autotune :( People need to get over autotune. It was just some guy's excuse to cover up his terrible voice and now good artists are using it to cover up their great voices :P

~~Julia ^^

What's happening on december 18?

Or rather, what's happening after it? Well Top Combine's first official concert will be at the Beijing Century Theater on that day, and right after that their newest album will be released! They've already revealed two of their songs on Day Day Up [which has not been aired yet] called "Protagonist" [not to be confused with Outsider's] and "On the Way". It's like a month away!!! On the bright side, Big Bang's comeback is supposed to be this month. And B2st has a new album or something. The "Lights Go On Again" full song is supposed to be out today. The teaser MV was definitely a whole new style, and it sounded pretty good. I hope this month's comebacks are good, my iPod is in need of a new playlist.

Mini break

Yay I'm so excited we have a three-day weekend this week! Except that extra day is for parent-teacher conferences. Uh-oh. Those always make me nervous. And right after that mini break we have a test, a quiz, a paper due, and a presentation. See, I thought we would have like no homework this weekend because we just had about five tests and three quizzes. For one day there was a tiny ray of hope, and then the teachers killed it. This is why hope is dangerous. I have a feeling this isn't even the beginning of the hill. Our homework usually come in waves, meaning there are short periods of time where there's pretty much no homework, then the teachers pile it up and we sleep three hours a day. Last thing on my mind, Spanish test and chemistry quiz. I totally screwed up one part of the Spanish test because as usual, I didn't read the directions carefully enough. The verbs were already conjugated and all I had to do was put them in the right blank, but then I had to go and re-conjugate them and put them in blanks where they don't fit well. Then on the chem quiz, our teacher's paranoid about differentiating between "no reaction" and "no precipitation" so if I messed that up [I really can't remember what I wrote] then he's probably going to take off a bunch of points. Plus, I can't remember how many bases there were because we had to identify them. I only marked the ones with hydroxides since they were the most obvious, but there might have been an ammonia, which we didn't really discuss. If he marks off for that, that's just plain unfair. He always takes off for stuff he doesn't even talk about in class. Way to go teach, that's the way to get your students to learn. :P

Oh shoot I have the practice PLAN tomorrow. Nighty night then.

Shinee glog

I was procrastinating the other day and decided to dedicate a glog to SHINee (because they are absolutely awesome, wouldn't you agree?) Again, I'm procrastinating so I'm posting the link for the glog here:

SHINee Glog

Yep, I have a current SHINee obsession if you haven't noticed. I go through a different band every few weeks. I wonder which one's next. Now time for some Fugitive Plan B before I go to sleep. Urghh two tests and two quizzes today, another test and presentation-type thing tomorrow, then another test next Tuesday and choral reading Wednesday. The choral reading is turning out to be quite difficult. It's only because half the people in my group have a tendency to constantly over-complicate things. Then the other third either have a tendency to not talk, or not do anything in general. So that leaves us with a sixth of a group who can actually get this thing done. Oh, and there are only six people in the group so that means all of the work is going to be done by one person. And guess who that is, as usual? ME. I'm so tired and ready to give up, except I can't because my Asian side is telling me to keep working until my brain fries.

M.I.C DEBUT!!

Finally!! It's been almost a year since their single Yao Ming De Fan Nao, and their song with f(x), and they've even been on variety shows, but they haven't had an actual album. M.I.C is really a strange group, I mean, no band becomes this popular before they actually debut. They usually start collaborating with other groups and guest on shows after their first album. Their first MV (of their own) is titled Rockstar.



The other tracks are:
This Time, It's Really Your Fault
第几幕的爱
漫游记
要命的烦恼

Sorry, I could only translate one. My Chinese isn't very good.

Heyyyy....

Hello earthlings.

It's Julia, not Sherry this time.

Anybody else think Sherry is special? I do!!!

Back on topic.

I'm making this uber long so it looks like I contribute more to this site. Lol.

Anyways!!! Since Sherry talks about Top Combine a lot, let's go to the mundane things.... Big Bang is coming out with a new album in... what... a couple of weeks at the most!!! To be less specific, November. No definite dates though :( But on the bright side, it's something for us fans to Google and Youtube search again!

I can't wait :)

Since Sherry complains about her life here I thought, "Why not?" Here it is, rant numero uno:
We had a chemistry test today. One that had problems that he didn't really explain clearly on the test. Thanks, teach. And I don't get computer programming. It's so silly and one little mistake and BOOM, your program that you spent an hour on won't work and then it's on to the hour long hunt to try to find out what's wrong with it. Extra fun.

And SNSD came out with a new album. Yaaaayyy....... I really caaareeee.......

Very soon +]

Is it me or is anyone else reallllly looking forward to Top Combine's new album? Kenny's weibo [what's the difference between a blog and a weibo?] said he was done with his part a few days ago. They're also practicing the choreography for their MV possibly. I'm guessing it'll be another month or two. I wish they did more magazine photoshoots, like SHINee. They just have a photobook, and I can't even get access to one because I'm on the other side of the flipping world. I need more photos for my screensaver XD

And it hurts

You know how when people get injured in sports it's usually because of some spectacular save or something along those lines? Well I sprained my wrist a few days ago and it's the lamest thing ever. It's technically because of volleyball, but really not. My arm/wrist is already crooked and it's been chronically inflaming for over a year now. Reason? Violin. Apparently, my arm conformed to the shape of my violin and twists unnaturally, so when the ball hit it, it completely turned the other way and now it's sprained. *Sigh* This is so sad. Plus, I have all-state orchestra auditions in less than a week and I've been averaging barely four hours of sleep everyday because of that. If I don't make it, I'm gonna be so pissed. It's like three thirty in the morning and I have a chem quiz tomorrow that I still haven't studied for.

Shinee says "hello"

Yeah that was a pretty lame title, but I couldn't come up with anything better. My brain is completely fried from schoolwork. Ugh. On the bright side, Shinee's MV for Hello came out today!! It's one of the best MV's I've seen in a while. B2st's new album also came out last week, and so did U-KISS, but I think Shinee's comeback was the best. The video is so sweet, and they all look cute. Taemin with the doll, kyaa~

Who...

Is that circled in red with the rest of Super Junior? If you look closely at the face you'll realize it's Henry! I didn't recognize him at all at first; he used to be so skinny and now he's all ripped. I thought the skinny worked better for him before, it added to his cuteness. Now he's like Chinese Siwon haha. I wonder if he's officially part of SuJu now since Hangeng left, Kangin's in the army, and Kibum and Yesung are MIA. Hope so!! Zhou Mi too ^^



Image: allkpop

New Album Soon?

I saw a couple of days ago on Kenny's blog that they're back from the US so does that mean they have a new album coming out soon? Btw, I don't stalk their blogs. I was just showing my friends some selcas of pretty boys and I came across it ^^ Yeah, that's not much better. Whatever.

Anyone seen Wang Leehom's new movie, Love In Disguise? It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I don't have very high expectations for movies directed by singers. They're new so I cut them some slack. Parts of his movie were kind of ridiculous, but in a funny way. Go watch it, judge for yourself.

Rant Time! Ok, so-- I have some real issues with my volleyball coach. She thinks she knows everything and it's hilarious when she tries to demonstrate the "correct" way and she screws up three times before finally getting it right. Way to go Coach. Her constructive criticism is not constructive at all. The words "coach" and "constructive" don't even belong in the same sentence without the word "not" in between. She always makes really demeaning and sometimes even straightout rude remarks about our passing or whatever it is we're working on. She just doesn't understand that we need time, especially since we have people who have never played on our team. Now that I've gotten that out, I'm gonna go focus on something that actually matters in life: homework.

Top Combine training in LA

Agenda:
1. Top Combine is coming to the US to prepare for their new album! Even though they're going to LA, nowhere near where I live, it's closer than halfway across the world. It would be so cool if I see them on vacation or something. And their new album could be out in two months, which is almost exactly a year after their last album. Ah~ I can't wait! *fangirl moment*

2. I've just started watching the new Meteor Shower and I'm kind of disappointed. For starters, it took forever for Yunhai to remember Yuxun, and if I didn't like the first Meteor Shower so much I would've already lost interest at that point. And now it's dragging on. Ugh, that's what I hate most about Asian dramas; they take forever. Speaking of dramas, I recently found out that China or Taiwan is doing a remake of Full House with Wu Zun. I haven't seen Wu Zun in a drama in ages. I don't know anything more than the fact that it's supposed to air this year. You know how Baidu's motto is "If you Baidu it, then you'll know"? Well they should really change it because I Baidu'd Wu Zun Full House in as many ways as possible and nothing came up :P

3. Finally, I hope Top Combine films a drama sometime! I bet Li Mao would be like Zhu Zixiao, 搞笑 ^^


Ok, piano time. You know how important that is to duh azns.

Catchy K/Cpop songs

We're trying to come up with some songs for our fitness class aka torture chamber. Last year, she made us run two miles a day, and she hates slow people :P I'm azn, so I was destined to be hated by her. Well whatever. We're going to make the class more interesting by creating a CD of catchy Asian songs to play during fitness. So far, I have this:

I'm back by Danson tang
Last farewell bybig bang
Heaven by ft island
Gara gara go by big bang
A boy by g dragon
Heartbreaker by g dragon
bad girl good girl by miss a
chitty chitty bang bang by lee hyori
rainbows by alice nine
vi vi vi by sug
39galaxyz by sug
lachata
no other
wrong number by dbsk
shadow jump by hey say jump
t express by xing
wan ku-will pan
sorry sorry
lucifer-shinee
gee-snsd?
lollipop pt 2
abracadabra-brown eyed girls
love ya-ss501
haru haru
killer-jj lin

I've never actually heard of like half of it, since I don't have any girl bands/artists on my iPod. And I don't listen to disbanded groups. That part is all Julia. Oh and she also had

Super girl by suju m
Hallelujah by big bang
Beautiful hangover by big bang

I just think the lyrics are sort of weird for a Caucasian audience. We suffer enough Asian jokes already, no need for more. Last year, I went through an entire year in Spanish of this guy trying to say "wo shi ni de super girl" or something like that. It was something out of S.H.E and I have no idea where he got it from. The point is, it was annoying. If it wasn't for that issue, I would add Ring Ding Dong and Bingeul Bingeul. They're just catchy and perfect for running.

I also wish I could add some more cpop to make it even out, but cpop songs tend to be slower and not as catchy. They're more about the lyrics and in some cases, the instrumental aspect of the song [eg. Jay Chou], while kpop relies more on the catchiness of the song. So much of it is autotuned these days. Even Big Bang :[ So for cpop, I wanna add Disparate-Wei Chen, Grandness Equal to Heaven-Top Combine, Wo Bu Shuai-Yu Haoming [PS the new "Meteor Shower" has more than half the episodes out already!], and Tuxedo by this new three-guy band called Tuxedo [yeah I know, creative title right?]. They're kind of like HIT-5, who debuted, disappeared, and made a comeback. Sort of. I think two of them are twinkies and one was raised in Germany. Like 3/4 of their song is in English haha. At least I can understand it better.

Two things

One: That landslide in China? Pretty bad. I heard the death toll's higher than the earthquake, but I'm not sure which earthquake. I would assume it's the Qinghai back in April since it's the most recent, larger one to compare with. I really wanna help but they only accept cash and I would prefer to send clothing or canned goods or something. I'm in high school, my cash isn't very accessible. Not a good year for China disaster-wise. First the earthquake, then floods, now the landslide. Ouch.

Two: O.K. so WongFu Productions and some other Youtubers started this ISA (International Secret Agents) Concert thing back in 2008 and it's gotten quite big. This year, they've got Poreotics and Jay Park. I thought it was just a Youtube thing, but wow Jay Park's gonna be there. It's a great way to get more people to learn about Asian media, or at least realize it exists. Now I wish I'd gotten tickets.

I lied, one more. This is kinda trivial but I thought it was pretty cool. I was getting my hair cut today and I saw this photo of Kenny from Top Combine above the mirror. I always thought that photo looked familiar.. It's a bit strange though, since my hairdresser is Korean and I didn't think Top Combine is popular in Korea.

He's pretty, isn't he? ^^

Heechul and Zhou Mi to star in chinese drama

I have no idea when it airs but I can't wait to see "Melody of Youth" (青春旋律). I've never seen a Kim Heechul drama but I bet he's a good actor. Kind of a drama queen isn't he? This one's in Chinese though so it'll be interesting to see if he's got a knack for picking up languages. I wonder how good of an actor Zhou Mi is.

Heechul (Shen Tai 申泰) plays a 24-year old gamer who is invited from Korea to participate in a video game contest. My Chinese isn't very good but I think the Baidu page says that Heechul discovers that he actually isn't just a Korean farmer's boy, he is the successor of the biggest agricultural company in Korea. How very Asian drama. The pauper finds out that he's rich and gets the girl. Possibly. Then there's Zhou Mi (Gao Da 高达). He comes from a rich family but wants to make his own imprint on this world, without using family connections. He starts his own business and hits a wall. Well, many walls. Gao Da just isn't very good a running a business. Rich boy leaves family and sees the real world. Again, very Asian drama. So to wrap up, air soon!!

Zhou Mi, Heechul at Melody of Youth press conference. 8/9/10

Image/Info: Baidu

Headless chickens

I'm pissed. It's midnight and I can't sleep. I moved over a month ago and I still have no bed frame. Actually, my room consists of a mattress and a lamp. Yeah that's sad. This past month, I've learned that I should just make my own furniture. Furniture stores are so unreliable. I wonder if I can sue them. And I know this isn't really Asian related but I just need to rant. Plus, it just hit me that school starts in like a week and something and I've been so much of a couch potato that I've had nightmares of my P.E. teacher chasing after me screaming at me for being such a lazy bum. I'm so going to fail fitness testing.

Ok this is Asian related. 1) Guo Jingming is gay? He's so pretty! I've always thought it was kind of a waste that he's not an actor or singer. I guess it wouldn't surprise me if it was revealed that he is gay [has it been confirmed by any chance?]. His books are written in a chao romantic Asian drama way, something only romance-obsessed girls would watch. Or people getting in touch with their inner Asian, like me. If you've seen or read Summer's Desire, it's like that, but personally I think it's 5 times more dramatic. Not to say they're bad or anything. His books quite-well written, and it means a lot coming from me, a person who only understands every other word. --I think I lost my point.. Moving on. 2) That completely fake Chinese travel show that SJM is on that I mentioned earlier? Called Korean Impression btw. Turns out it's hosted by Zhou Mi. I saw like 5 min of it and it's aiight. Zhou Mi's a good host. Figures, since it was his major. I think they should cut out the girl though. She's more like a crazed fangirl than a host. They should get Xie Na. She has a way of making everything interesting.

SJM

You know SJM still exists? I thought after Hangeng left it sort of fell apart or something but it's still there. They're doing some totally scripted Chinese show where they introduce different cultures and stuff. And they're on the new Semir posters. I can't believe after what SM did to Hangeng ta men hai you lian zai zhong guo zuo advertisements. Not that I want SJM to vanish, I just hope SM learned their lesson. After all, Super Junior isn't the first group to make a huge fuss over the contracts.

I recently googled "Henry Lau" cuz I was wondering what happened to him after the whole Hangeng fiasco and apparently he's currently studying at Berkelee [no it's not a typo it's a music school in Boston]. Speaking of the Hangeng fiasco, why was Hangeng the only SuJu person who left SME? I heard five other SJ's sued too. What happened to them? I wonder who the leader is now. Oh, and it'd be cool to see Henry on one of Peter Chao's videos. When SJM's new album comes out [which will be soon, hopefully] they can promote it on PChao's vids. Kevjumba, Nigahiga too. Aznn kids got tuu stick tuugedahh eh? Just a thought ^^ Wan an, sweet dreams, etc.

All Kinds of New stuff for Me to Comment on :D

So summer is when all of those South Korean freaks start releasing stuff (note the difference between South and North Korean freaks (^_^)V). Anyways, there are tons of sucky new bands, like Sistar, Infinity, and D-Na... From what they sound like now, their only excuse is that they're newbies. I really hope they improve because I'm running out of new asian songs to listen to -_-

Se7en came out with a new album, for starters. After his fans waited a couple of years since his last release anyways... Frankly, I don't think the songs are that good because the sirens in the background of Better Together annoy the crap out of me. And Digital Bounce is.... "special" although TOP from Big Bang features :D

Better Together


Big Bang came out with a new song called Tell Me Goodbye :D and Taeyang and Top both released some solo songs. Also, it's been announced that Big Bang will come out with a new song on August 25. YAY XD

Tell Me Goodbye


Turn It Up (TOP)


I Need a Girl (Taeyang)


That's it for now since if I commented on every MV released this summer it'd be waaay too long... Bye (^_^)/

~Julia (got tired of sherry making all the posts ;D)

Doraemon FTW

I have this recent obsession with Happy Camp, this Chinese variety show. I've been trying to watch all the episodes and when Top Combine guested on it, the Happy Camp hosts did a surprise sanitation check on their dorms. It was revealed that Caesar is a bit of a neat freak and reads cookbooks before bed every night. And then it gets stranger. When they got to Kenny's room he was... well kinda weird to be honest. He had Doraemon pjs and his bed was Doraemon colored and he had a special section for his millions of Doraemon toys. Who would've known he was such a Doraemon fan.

Yeah that's Jay Chou on my browser bar. XD

Peace.

Usher and cpop sensations

It pays to live in China. Even though you might lose pretty much your entire childhood to the pressures of school, it's still worth it to live in China just to see Usher AND Jay Chou AND Wang Leehom AND Will Pan AND Han Geng on the same stage. I'm not sure if they're all going to be there but fans are showing their support for their Asian idols on Usher's site. Usher is making his debut in China on July 11 at Beijing's Wukesong Arena. I really need to find a way to get there and get tickets in 9 days. Argh.
Speaking of Wang Leehom, what the heck happened to him? I guess he's more into the film industry now, with Da Bing Xiao Jiang costarring Jackie Chan last year and Lian Ai Tong Gao this year (self-directed). And if Baidu is right, then he hasn't had a concert since February and his next one is in September. Plus, his last album was two years ago. Maybe he's busy working on a new album. Please, please have a new album out soon. I hope he didn't decide to move back to New York and disappear from the world of Asian media.

A-Dramas

I've been through quite a few Asian dramas lately, trying to find some good, shorter mainland idol dramas because they definitely exist. There are tons of people in China, someone has to film a good, short drama. Anyways, I don't really finish most of the dramas I watch. They get too long so I usually quit about halfway through. So yeah, I have yet to finish the following:

Oh! My Lady
Haha this is a pretty hilarious drama. Choi Siwon's not too bad of an actor for a singer. But I think it could move a little bit faster, sometimes it just feels like it's dragging and dramas are long enough as it is. Out of all the actors, I have to say Siwon's "daughter", Ye Eun, is my favorite. She's so cute ^^

Black and White
I think the title fits the drama well. Two cops, different as black and white. They dress like it too. First time watching a Vic Zhou drama, and I think he's a really good actor. He plays an absolute playboy, and I thought this was just his typical role, like how Wu Chun usually plays the strong, silent type or whatever, but apparently this is different? I just saw it on the video comment and I guess Vic doesn't really do the playboy type. He totally got me though. This drama has a lot of new actors, like Mark Chao and Ivy Chen. Mark Chao's completely new, this is his first drama. Ivy Chen is new to dramas I think, because I saw her in Hear Me (which is one of the best non-action movies I have ever seen, but then again I haven't seen a lot of non-action movies.) And then they have Kingone, who plays a druggie. It was totally believable though. The drama can be confusing at times, especially since I'm watching without eng subs. Halfway through Black&White, let's see if I actually finish this one.

Let's Watch Meteor Shower!

Lol @ Zhu Zixiao. He's like my favorite actor ever.

The first and only mainland drama I have ever watched. Well I'm not sure. Does Huan Zhu Ge Ge count as a drama? The title really doesn't sound as stupid in Chinese. It's basically just Boys Over Flowers-Chinese version. China has remade a few Korean dramas, it's about time for vice versa to happen don't you think? And it is. 甜蜜蜜-Korean version was supposed to star Park Yong Ha, then he committed suicide a few days ago. Anyways, I'm pretty excited that they're making Meteor Shower 2, I just hope it's good. Sequels tend to get boring, and C-dramas are already kinda long. Duan Mulei's hair looks better in the second one, in my opinion. I just have something against a guy with hair as long as a girl's shortcut, with the exception of Xiao Wu. His ponytail was cute (teehee).

I heard they're remaking Huan Zhu Ge Ge as well. It's 30 episodes, which sounds like a lot but is actually a ton shorter than the old ones. I wish they were using the same actors, but I guess look alikes will have to do. Loved Zhao Wei.

Image sources: Baidu Forums

Bing tang hu lu

Mmm yumm. I loved this stuff when I lived in Beijing,
and they were really common too. A lot of vendors wander around selling them. It's basically just a candied fruits kebab, traditionally hawthorn (shan zha), that's really popular in northern China. Anyways, so I went back last year and spent two days searching for them, only to be informed that they weren't sold on the streets anymore in the summer because it's too hot and they were melting or something. :( They do sell them in stores though, but it's just not the same. Look how delicious it looks in all of its unpackaged glory. And then compare it to the processed ones. They added a whole bunch of sugar and whatnot.

Top Combine has the saddest story, no doubt

I was looking at some old (well maybe not that old) interviews of Top Combine and I found this one of them on The Story Behind. There was this really sad part where Jin Ensheng/Kim Eunsung/Xiao Wu talks about his experience with a car bomb. Video's down below but if you don't have the time to watch it, it goes something like this: Xiao Wu and his older sister and mom were in a taxi one day when a car bomb in the taxi blew up. Xiao Wu came out unscathed because he was sitting on his mother's lap and thus, was protected by his mother. His sister on the other hand, was close to death. His mom walked (?) all the way to the hospital carrying Xiao Wu and dragging his sister. Unfortunately, the doctor said that there was no hope for his sister so his mom knelt in front of the hospital for an entire day until the doctor agreed to try to help his sister. His sister did survive, and ended up in a coma. The hospital bills were extremely expensive and the family did whatever they could to make ends meet. The next year though, Xiao Wu's father died and left his mother with the responsibility of taking care of the children, including his sister's bills. His mother even considered the possibility of suicide, but decided that her children needed her. Now that Xiao Wu is all grown up, he thought that he could finally repay his mother for everything she did for him and his sister. But now that Xiao Wu is all famous and in China and everything, he can't be there for his family. I heard somewhere that he used to cry every night when he first went to China. The kid's still somehow optimistic. His teachers called him Sunshine Boy hehe. I bet you can't find a sadder story behind a boy band than Top Combine. Xiao Wu, jia you!



If you're wondering about the flower in front of his face, it's because he fell in the shower the night before and got six stitches, so he had to keep the wound away from light.

Image Source: http://maobeili.blog.163.com/blog/static/404131200811710955592/

New chinese girl band-- iMe

It's a pan-Asia girl band with three Chinese members, one South Korean, and one Thai. The "i" stands for "international", "idol", and "idea", and the "Me" represents their individuality, but also the idea of the group as a whole. So the name "iMe" means an international and cosmopolitan idol group. The girls are all "九零后", which means they have to be born after 1990. The purpose of iMe is to show each of their unique characteristics and abilities, as well as how amazing they can be when their abilities are combined. iMe is signed under 天娱传媒 Day Amusement Media OR eeMedia, or maybe they're the same thing. I don't know, Baidu says one thing, Google says another. They're also signed under Korean DoReMi and Thai True Fantasia. They trained in South Korea and released the EP Ai Yi Ya 哎咿呀 (I have no idea what that translates to. I think it's like the Korean "aigoo".) The director for that MV also directed some of DBSK's, Super Junior's, and SNSD's MVs. Jin Ensheng from Top Combine stars as the nerdy boy, and his mushroom hairdo perfects the image.



Bios:

李媛希 (Mocika)-The Fashionista
Position: Leader, lead vocal (bass)
Nicknames: XiXi, Lady Xi, Princess XiXi, Brother Xi, Little Monkey
Nationality: Chinese
Birthplace: Yaan, Sichuan
Birthdate: 2/10/1990
Animal representation: Horse 　　
Language: Chinese English Korean 　　　　
Blood type: B 　　
Body weight: 42kg 　　
Height: 160cm 　　
Constellation: Aquarius 　　
University: Sichuan University of Electronic Science and Technology 　　
Hobbies: Singing, dancing, window-shop, eat　　
Currently attending: Sichuan University of Electronic Science and Technology　　　 　　
Most enchanting place(??): Eye, facial features, leg, waist 　　
Favorite color: Golden color, blue color, pink color 　　
Most afraid of: Nothing　　
Favorite season: Spring 　　
Idols: Beyonce, Elva Hsiao, Jam Hsiao
Favorite movie: Dreamgirls 　　
Work: On the map travels (Cover Girl individual single tune)


刘美含 (Mikan)- Angel Devil
Position: Vice-initiates, the lead dancer
Nickname: MeiMei, Nizi, 小魔仙 、米糠
Nationality: China　 　　
In team duty: Vice, lead dancer, treble 　　
Place of birth: Shenzhen, Guangdong　 　　
Date of birth: 4/9/1991
Zodiac: Sheep　 　　
Language: Chinese English Japanese Cantonese Korean 　　
Blood type: B　 　　
Body weight: 38kg　 　　
Height: 158cm　 　　
Musical instrument: Piano
Constellation: Aries 　　
Hobbies: Singing, performing, swimming, dancing, drawing　　
School: Shenzhen Foreign Language-Japanese, Beijing Foreign Studies University (recommended)　　 　　
Most enchanting place(??): Face shape (oval face) nose (high nose) and wrist 　　
Favorite color: Pink color　 　　
Most is afraid thing: Insects 　　
Favorite season: Xia &qiu　 　　
Favorite bands: w-inds, DBSK
Favorite book: ：《陪安东尼度过漫长岁月》 "Accompanied Antony To pass Long Years" 　　
Idols: Mom and Dad　 　
Favorite subjects: Japanese, language, fine arts, music 　　
Least favorite subjects: All science subjects　
Most wanted: Various branches perfect score examination paper ~w-inds concert ticket 　　
Favorite animal: Dog


易秋兰 (Niki)-The Confident Angel
Position: Dancer, rap
Nicknames：Purple, Blue 　　
Nationality：Chinese　 　　
Birthplace：Chengdu, Sichuan 　　
Birthdate：11/8/1987　　
Languages：Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean
Blood type: A 　　
Weight：45kg　 　　
Constellation：Scorpio 　　
Hobbies：Singing, dancing, performing, eating, traveling
Favorite seasons：Summer and winter 　　
Favorite songs：《If I ain't got you》、《流浪记》 　　
Favorite movie：Step Up《舞出我人生》系列、Harry Potter《哈利·波特》系列 　　
Favorite animal：Dog 　　
Least favorite animal：Mouse


那琳 (Zara)
Thai name: ที่Lin
Position: Dance, tenor
Nicknames: LinEr
Nationality: Thai, German
Hobbies: Singing, dancing
Languages: Chinese, Thai


沈泫京
Korean name: 심현경

Shim Hyun Kyung
Position: Dancer, treble
Hobbies: Singing, dancing
Nationality: Korean
Languages, Korean, Chinese
Nicknames: AhZi
Favorite band: DBSK
　　
[Sorry if i messed up anything. First time doing bios and such. This translating stuff is harder than I thought.]

Jay Chou!!!

I don't think Sherry mentioned Jay Chou, which is pretty strange because I thought she really liked him.... But anyways. Jay Chou isn't exactly Chinese, he's Taiwanese but whatever, he speaks Chinese. So Jay Chou is more serious than Top Combine (or whatever those Korean people made them into...) but some of his songs are really funny/strange...

Personally, I don't really like most of his songs, but I really like a decent number of them, hence my little obsession with Jay Chou at the moment ^^ I really like Ye Qu and She Wu (although She Wu is really strange =.=), as well as some other songs. Although Dragon Rider, Cai Hong, and Qi Li Xiang aren't bad songs, I just don't like them that much -.-

This is Ye Qu:


And this is Dragon Rider...


It's a rather strange MV isn't it....

The thing I like about Jay Chou is that he's actually really talented... He plays the guitar, drums, piano and cello apparently. And he writes his own songs. In fact, he became famous because he wrote songs. He's crazy talented... It makes me feel immature, but apparently all my immaturity was sucked out of me when I was born so...

Yeah so Jay Chou also directs/stars in some movies, like Secret. Secret's the only one I've watched so far since I'm not as big on the whole movie and drama thing but Secret wasn't actually bad although it was a strange story. Did I mention Jay Chou rocks at piano? Yes, yes I did ^^ So in Secret for some reason they had to be uber nerds and go for a piano battle.... and now this piano battle is all over the web and youtube.... =.= And I don't mean they whack each other with grand pianos, they somehow win/lose based on talent? And even stranger, they had a big audience as well... I love asians ^^



~Julia

3AM

I don't recall ever explaining what 3AM is, so here it is: 3AM=3 Asian Mafia. Our English teacher (and some of the students) gave the name Asian Mafia to my friends and I and it just sorta stuck. Like how the fans gave BoBo their name. Except we dont have any fans... Anyways, 2PM inspired us to upgrade it to 3AM. Catchy right? +]


PS. It's my special cyclops smiley. I have copyright.
PPS. We're not really a mafia. It's just the irony of our weakness and puniness and how hilarious it would be if we were. Please don't be mistaken. We don't want to deal with the government.

Cpop obsession

I'm going through a Cpop phase. Cpop playing all day long-Jay Chou, Wang Leehom, Will Pan. I've been looking for good mainland artists ever since I heard about the new wave of Chinese boy bands and the like. First of all, BoBo. I've recently become very very very obsessed with them. Like, in the past two hours XD I can't believe it's taken me this long to be obsessed. I'm not really a big fan of ballads, but I suppose they're not too bad. Their new album, Let's BoBo, has a few upbeat tracks, like Just Love. BoBo's quite poetic. And they're super cute ^^

Julia says this isn't the most attractive picture ever, but she had all of her immaturity sucked out of her at birth.
I'm pretty sure Fu Xinbo is a part-time shape-shifter. He looks different from every angle-- Danson Tang, Jaejoong, Show Luo, and even a little bit like Shun Oguri.

Moving on, Top Combine. First great mainland boy band. I can't say I liked them too much at first, but they've grown on me. Especially Cotton Candy. It's quite catchy. Top Combine is very much Korean-influenced. Their stylist, choreographer, and director are all from DBSK, Shinhwa, and another korean band I can't remember the name of. Plus, their maknae, Xiao Wu (otherwise known as Jin EnSheng/Kim Eunsung/Tanas), is Korean (name makes it pretty obvious). The song that he composed for their new album, Love Live , sounds pretty kpop. I just wish they didn't look like a DBSK replica. Maybe I'm wrong but I feel like their stylist DBSK-ed them. Or maybe I just don't like their shorter hair and the fact that you can't see their eyes if their hair is a tiny bit out of place. Being Asian and all, it's already kinda difficult to see one's eyes >.<

Before:

After:

I wonder why Xiao Mei is always in the middle? Shouldn't the leader be?

And this is the cutest dance ever!

Top Combine is co-hosting a new show too. I'm not exactly sure what it is but it's like uhmm a remake of Huan Zhu Ge Ge where contestants practice acting as characters from Huan Zhu Ge Ge or something like that. TC's getting chao popular.

VAE!!

Who's Vae? That's what I thought. What a weird name, but the dude's absolutely amazing. I was looking up cpop artists the other night and came across this guy. Vae's real name is Xu Song. He's like 23 or 24 years old and is now my idol for life probably. ^^ Vae's from AnHui province in China and graduated from high school as one of the top ten students in the province, he's pretty good with web graphics, published around 20 papers, won an award for one of them I think, and is currently a med student studying to be a dentist. On top of everything, he composes/records/mixes his own songs as a hobby. And they're not bad either (in my opinion). Sounds sorta like Jay Chou, "zhong guo feng" with the Chinese instrumental and western combo. Anyways, here's one of his songs: You He Bu Ke.



In order for life to be fair, a guy this talented has to be pretty ugly right? Wrong. Life's unfair.

Ni Hao there, as some of the orient like to say

So it's summer. And we need something to kill time. Hence, a blog! We decided to devote a blog to Asian media, Asian food, and other Asian stuff. Ta-ta for now. Laptop's running out of battery.

Your azn buddy for ever and ever