While it may be presumptuous to say that I am 100% bilingual, it is safe to say that I am bilingual, only not 100%. Unlike a lot of my peers who had mixed families, where one of the parents was Korean, I was lucky enough to have a mother who spoke her native language to me 95% of the time. Of course, I’m sure living in Korea gave me an advantage over my peers who lived in the states for the most part, but I’m thinking about the ones who have lived here most of the time instead.

It’s funny. At work, my Korean ahjumma co-workers keep praising me at how I’m so lucky to speak English and Korean well. Even the other day, when I went to do my hair, I was a translator for my friend, and the stylist told me that he’s jealous that I am fortunate to speak both languages. Even my mother, gets praises from her peers, saying that she’s lucky to have a daughter who speaks Korean and English instead of just the latter. I admit, being bilingual really is a useful skill, but I will admit that my Korean’s pretty weak. Sure, I can speak, read, and write Hangeul, but my speaking skills are at the level of an eight-year old, and my reading and writing skills are of those belonging to a seven-year old.
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Tags: ahjumma, bilingual, discrimination, hangeul, korea, language, united states

In my previous article, I touched base on how fans and antifans effect the lives of celebrities. Whether we file these actions under the Fan or AntiFan label, sometimes the outcome can be one in the same. In this article you will read how the constant obsessive behavior has led to greater expense and even cost some people their lives…

Cruelness does seem like a waste of effort for many, yet for some of these antifans it seems to be the only thing on their agenda. Rapper Jang Woo Hyuk (from H.O.T. / J.T.L) as well as singer Lee Minwoo (from Shinwha) both had antifans reserve tickets to performances. Therefore making them unavailable for purchase and subsequently the concerts were cancelled to poor attendee numbers. Singer ChaeYeon & Suju Member Heechul had to fight rumors that they were dating. No matter how Heechul openly denied and defended Chae Yeon it only seemed to energize more rumors and attacks. Couplings seem to fuel the best scandal. Several years ago Rain & Hyori were rumored to be sleeping together. Their closeness was linked to the many performances they were working on during award ceremony season. Yet people note Danny Ahn’s radio show when Kim Tae Woo asked Rain via phone convo if they were together. The rumor is JYPE studios covered up the radio broadcast by paying a member another band to expose himself on live TV, but Rain/JYPE filed a lawsuit against the people who kept printing these rumor and won in court.
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Tags: AntiFan, Assault, dbsk, dongbangshinki, fans, Fanship, Kim Yuna, Stalking, Suju, TVXS

Wonder Girls fan in New York City? Well, this Friday October 17th, Swerve and BaseNYC will have an album release party for the Wonder Girls latest release - “The Wonder Years - Trilogy“. At the party you will find autographed CDs, posters, and random other promotional goodies will be given out - all for free. The Wonder Girls will not appear at the event, although there will be a special message from them just for the event. DJ Ko will be the guest DJ at the party. It’s a shame I’m not 21. I’d kill for the autographed CD or even poster. More info about the event is included below.

Location:
Hiro Ballroom at the Maritime Hotel
88 9th Ave.
(Between 16th and 17th Street)

Dress Code:
Wear your very best, since dress code is strictly monitored. Undershirts, boots, jeans, baggy jeans, or sneakers are not permitted. Groups of gentlemen must be accompanied by women.

Contact:
info@basenyc.com - Reserve your very own V.I.P. area.
guestlist@basenyc.com - $15 guest list ends at 11:30PM / doors open at 10:00 PM

Other Info:
Ages 21 and over. Preferential line treatment will be given to ladies, gentlemen accompanied by them, and table reservations.

Tags: hiro ballroom, jyp, new york city, release party, wonder girls

Tora-san arrived on the screen when anything was possible if you worked hard enough, and people were forward-thinking and full of energy… A penniless, comic anti-hero, Tora-san lacked good looks and smarts and remained oblivious to the country’s modernization, living solely to bring happiness to those he loved.
–Yoji Yamada, Director

It’s a busy month for Japan Society in New York City! They spent an entire weekend at the New York Anime Festival, then invited us in for a private advance look at the new gallery exhibition New Bamboo. Then we dropped by to sit it on Dan Pink’s Adventures in Manga lecture. Now Monthly Classics begins again with Best of Tora-san on Friday, October 17, at 7:30pm!

Last year the Japan Society Film Program launched the highly successful Monthly Classics film series. A classic Japanese film was screened once a month as part of a curated series that ran for over several months. Last year’s series was the classic Nikkatsu films that defined the modern yakuza genre. The term Nikatsu came from Nikkatsu studio, Japan’s oldest film studio that produced many of the most popular yakuza films of the 1960s and 70s.

This year Tora-san, Our Lovable Tramp (Otoko wa tsuraiyo), the movie that introduced Tora-san to the world in 1969, kicks off the Best of Tora-san film series.
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Tags: films, Japan Society, Japanese Cinema, Kiyoshi Atsumi, Monthly Classics, movies, new york, Tora-san, Yoji Yamada

Japanese singer Ayumi Hamasaki is in Shanghai for six days for a concert and a music video shoot. When Ayumi arrived at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport this past Sunday, bitch was greeted by more than a hundred of her fans. They pushed and shoved just to catch a glimpse of their idol. One fan was lucky enough to get the diva’s autograph, and probably her diamond ring too.  See, Ayumi claimed that she lost her diamond ring at the airport and is now urging anyone who happened to have picked it up contact her via email. Good luck, Ayumi. The ring is probably sitting pretty in the black market of Timbuktu now.  Better yet, go on eBay China and see if it’s listed for sale. Try to haggle with the seller on the “Buy it Now” price. It’s the Chinese. You should bargain for everything before you seal the deal.

Since Ayumi’s chances of recovering that ring are almost none, my advice to her is to forget about it and spend a tiny fraction of her annual earnings to buy a new one. Like the U.S’ economy, Asia’s economy is sucking ass big time so I am all for her buying some high ticket items to help revive it.

Tags: Ayumi Hamasaki, lost diamond ring, Shanghai Hongqiao Airport

Two basic questions reveal much about any animal: What does it eat? Where does it live? Sung Kang’s a breed of his own in the film world, winning fans with roles that shatter Asian stereotypes. He lives in Los Angeles, and he eats, well, some interesting stuff. Since he owns a restaurant, I thought it would be fun to talk chow with Sung. And it was. You won’t believe what he does with ice cream.

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Tags: asian american, cuisine, finishing the game, Food, K-Drama, Saketini, sung kang, The Fast and the Furious 3: Tokyo Drift, The Motel

After being blacklisted by pretty much everyone in the Japanese music industry in 2000, Ami Suzuki keeps on keeping on. Her latest album, titled Supreme Show has been announced with a release date of November 11, 2008 to celebrate her 10th year in the music industry. Although she struggles to sell even a tiny fraction of what she was capable of back at the peak of her career ten years ago, she should not be ignored. With each album her sales and popularity seem to decrease significantly, but it seems as though her work keeps getting better, if her style of music is your cup of tea. Once again she works with super producer Nakata Yasutaka who has produced the entire album. Her songs, with their heavy beats, overflow with time, space, colors and various other characteristics. Am I talking nonsense? Probably. Try listening to the tracks from her latest few singles and you might understand. Just below I have included the promotional video to her tenth anniversary single, titled ONE.
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Tags: ami suzuki, jpop, music videos

Stalking, harassment, breaking & entering, these are not alien situations in the lives of celebrities. Many times the guilty party is jailed because of this dangerous affinity with a popular entertainer. When does the love and admiration for talented people take a turn downward? Is there a fine line between fanaticism and dangerous obsession? The Fan-Girl phenomenon is something the US media only sees every decade or so. Usually these fan-ships are not negative, they’re maybe some casualties of concert crushing, but all in all for most it is a positive experience.

In the West, we can especially pinpoint times where popular musicians inspired a mass hysteria such as the 1950’s rise of Rock-n-roll, or The Beatles Invasion in the 1960’s. Even the clone Boy-Band wars of the late 80’s and early 90’s had their own obsessive fan groups. On a American daytime talk-show (Rachel Ray) a 33 year old female talked about her obsession with NKOTB. She stated very normally how she saved a half-drunken water bottle belonging to Jordan Knight for over 12 years. This bottle was stolen, by her, out of a hotel hallway that she snuck onto as a teenager. So loving a celebrity this way can become a way of life that lasts into adulthood.
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Tags: AntiFan, Assault, dbsk, dongbangshinki, fans, Fanship, Kim Yuna, Stalking, Suju, TVXS

Why is it the most important thing for some people is that the candidate has the same religion as you, or talks the same way, or has the same skin color?  Would most of America be happy with a moron they identified with and felt was most similar to them, even if it meant the country was being run into the ground? Do their similarities trump anything, even performance and ability?  And in today’s world where so many people are influenced by mass media and group-think, doesn’t the lack of independent thought result in the breakdown of true democracy? You can’t have real democracy if among the public too many people are bigots, xenophobes, or idiots; at some point the system breaks down that way.  Check out the article below about the problems his campaign is facing in talking to voters who simply can’t bring themselves to vote for a non-White Christian male.  Also, check out this article about The Bradley Effect. Finally, here is a somewhat related Rolling Stone article about what this election is showing about America, not only in people’s hesitancy towards Obama, but also towards Sarah Palin.  Excerpts below.
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Tags: election, mccain, obama, racism

With Tokyo Game Show 2008 ending, it brought a couple of things that made me go absolutely “SQUEE” about some of the upcoming DS games.

I admit that I’m a nerd. I admit that I’m a gamer. It’s seen as a “bizarre” concept amongst my fellow Koreans, especially the older generations who sees this more for children who do poorly in schools, but do I care? No! Considering my decent GPA in high school and college, I deserve some fun! I like my games! I like my toys. Only problem is that gaming is one expensive hobby that hurts my wallet and bank account the most! Regardless of that, I am eagerly awaiting on a few games that are to come out for the DS — well couple that have yet to have a release date for the English speaking realm, but a girl can dream, right?
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Tags: chrono trigger ds, dick gumshoe, ds-lite, gyakuten kenji, itonokogiri keisuke, korea, miles edgeworth, mitsurugi reiji, my japanese coach, playstation one, school, suikoden, suikoden tierkreis, tokyo game show 2008, video game