Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Happy Holidays from INFG!


We hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday! We wanna thank everyone for reading the blog and for your support. In the coming year, I hope to be more productive and active. Please give us a lot of attention and love. (I feel like I'm debuting in a rookie group.) INFG Fighting! Merry christmas!

Here are some songs to get you in the holiday spirit.

EXO - Miracles in December


[Crayon Pop] 크레용팝 꾸리스마스(Lonely Christmas)


History - All I Want For Christmas (is you)


2PM - Last Christmas


스타쉽플래닛 (Starship Planet) - 눈사탕 (Snow Candy)


SHINee - Colorful

MBLAQ - White Forever


Girl's Generation - Santa Baby


TVXQ! - Magic Castle

Saturday, December 21, 2013

MV BREAKDOWN:// BH: All I Want For Christmas

YG strong vocals Lee Hi and Park Bom join forces to form BH. Together they released a rendition of Mariah Carey's holiday hit, All I Want For Christmas (Is You). I am in love with Mariah's version.When I heard BH was forming, I have to admit I was slightly excited for a listen. I love Lee Hi and Park Bom has a beautiful voice, most of the time. The tempo of the song was slowed down a tad to make way for smooth riffs, melodic note extensions and just plan dragging it out to emphasize the great singers that they are. The song alone is quite lovely (some might say boring) but the video extends to level I would like to call "WTH, this is creepy."

The video starts off with a soft, white and pure feel. But then enters a horror-movie, substance leaking cabinet.

Why is she singing with her eyes closed. Is she dead?

Why is Park Bom just lying there with pill-like objects scattered on the floor? Is she dead?

Nope, she's alive. *Noms Dirty Floor Candies* And yet another horror movie reference, with a sheet-covered Lee Hi in the background.


Then there's an axe...(Lee Hi, what are you doing?)

You're scaring me now.

Park Bom drags a bag, on some creepy killer movie mode. (Fun Fact: This scene is similar to the one of the 2003 horror/thriller movie The Tale of Two Sisters where the step mom drags a bloody bag through the halls. BTW, Batzy recommends this movie.)

Here's an adorable little mouse getting his party grub on. He is so cute, he reminds me of my pet rat, Mr. Nibbles. (RIP, Mr. Nibbles *sobs*)

But then this happens:

Oh no, Mr Mouse?! (Was this really necessary. I hope the poor thing wasn't hurt in this video.)

There is also a cute scene with BH being playful and adorable,

but then creepiness fills the air again.

All in all, the song is well done but the video was definitely a nightmare before christmas. (See what I did there? :P)

Thursday, December 19, 2013

First Impressions:// You Who Came From The Stars (Version Batzy)

Boy did the graphics suck in the beginning of the drama. WTF was that anyways. Talk about terrible. At least by the end of the episode they seemed to be a little better.

Now lets be serious. I only decided to watch the drama because of Kim Soo Hyun. I figured, hey! I should try and write a first impressions like Unnie. And then the shower scene happened and my brain turned to mush. So read Panda's version instead.



I hear he will be going to the military after this is done. -whimpers-

Boys Before Friends' Final Leading Lady

With the American version of Boys Over Flowers premiering on Viki December 26, it's about time they decided on a permanent leading lady. I'm so very relieved that they settled on Dawn Morrow, an experienced actress and dancer for the role.

Dawn Morrow cast as Zoey (Makino Tsukushi) in Boys Before Friends, the American remake of Boys Over Flowers.

Age:  27
Height:  5'2"
Weight:  108 lbs
Hometown:  Jacksonville, FL

According to IMDb, Dawn began dancing at age four, and acting at 13. She's had small or uncredited roles on shows like Unfabulous, Victorious and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The good news is that she does have talent in both acting and dancing, which gives me hope for Boys Before Friends.



First Impressions:// You Who Came From the Stars

You Who Came From the Stars aka My Love From Another Star poster.
Otherwise known as My Love From Another Star, this drama is about an alien who comes to Earth in the Joseon era, and has waited 400 years for the coming of a comet which will enable him to return home. Of course being that this is a rom com melo fantasy, love will inevitably get in the way of his plans

The first episode did a good job of introducing the characters, establishing their dynamics, and setting the scene. It was entertaining from the start, though the writing will have to be masterful in order for things to be believable from a relationship standpoint. I have high hopes since screenwriter Park Ji Eun has had a good track record, most recently winning the best screenwriter award for the highly rated You Who Rolled In Unexpectedly.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Project For Awesome 2013

I saw this video by Simon and Martina. They are asking people to share this video anywhere and everywhere in order to save the lives of North Korean people and bring awareness to Liberty In North Korea. In North Korea, freedoms are nearly nonexistent as the regime controls almost everything that people think and do. Internet is illegal; watching k-dramas can be punishable by death. Several people are placed in labor camps and even publicly executed in front of their friends and families just for doing simple things that we may enjoy and even take for granted. Appreciate the freedoms that we have here and help others gain theirs. Share this video, vote for their campaign and help make a difference. Educate and inform, not only yourself but others.

Thank you.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Review:// Marry Him If You Dare

Marry Him If You Dare aka Mi Rae's Choice poster
Marry Him If You Dare is about a 32 year old call center employee who gets approached by her 57 year old future self, trying to set her on the right path to happiness. And the way to do that, would be to marry a different man than the one she is soon to meet. Seems easy enough as long as something like fate doesn't get in the way.

With a triangle involving Yoon Eun Hye, Lee Dong Gun and Jung Young Hwa, and written by Hong Jin Ah of the award winning The King 2 Hearts, expectations were high.

Monday, December 16, 2013

Boys Before Friends Trailer

Wake me up when the nightmare is over...

I am sure Panda Unnie wanted to get her paws on this one but I just got linked to the trailer for Boys Before Friends. You know what that means...Batzy has to share the love and spread it to everyone else. Thanks to viki!

I think this trailer definitely shows what a train wreck this is. I liked the other adaptations and am considering that I might try to stomach this one but I make no promises. Some people have been saying the way the main actress delivers her lines seemed dull and unappealing. The way this trailer panned out, its hard to have hope for high standards on this adaptation. The story looks to be drowned in lack luster performance. I was on the bandwagon of being psyched about another BOF but my expectations are blown for this one. There really isn't much to say about it, I will let the video speak for itself. Besides, I am sure Panda will take it upon herself to rip this in her entries to come.



It just screams low budget awful. I have seen better shots from kids shooting Vine videos. I recall a time when the staff/cast responded to what was seen as "racist" comments from fans that are upset about this remake. These guys really should have taken the negative comments into consideration. Race was never the issue, screwing up a good thing is the problem here. Way to go.

Monday, December 9, 2013

Movie Review:// Commitment



Commitment stars Big Bang's T.O.P (Choi Seung Hyun) as Myung Hoon. Shortly after his father's death during an attempt to return home from a mission, Myung Hoon is dragged into a similar fate. He plays a young man who is forced to become a North Korean spy in South Korea in order to save his younger sister, Hye In (Kim You Jung). He goes under intensive training for about two years and begins his mission to bring back a package, which is later to be revealed as a bunch of diamonds, in exchange for his sister's freedom.

In South Korea, Myung Hoon is adopted by foster parents, who are also Unit 8 North Korean spies. They make their way posing in a local pharmacy while money laundering. While waiting for instructions from his handler, Moon Sang Chul (Jo Sung Ha), Myung Hoon takes on the alias of Dae Ho and is enrolled into high school. He then meets a girl named Hye In (Han Ye Ri), an aspiring dancer who is bullied at the school. Seeing as the girl with the same name as his younger sister was in trouble, he begins to befriend her and save her. (Because that's the type of stuff Oppas do.)

When things get complicated, Sang Chul personally comes to South Korea in a desperate attempt to retrieve the package. Things get heated in a final showdown between Myung Hoon, Sang Chul and Je-Moon (Cha Jung Min), the South Korean detective who has been managing cases of North Korean spies posing as deflectors and their murders.

This movie is a melodramatic/action film that's basis is revolving around a power struggle of two North Korean teams in South Korea, Unit 8, which Myung Hoon is a part of, and Sector 25. It takes place in 2009 and 2011, while Kim Jong Il was still in power.


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Pup and I ran to the movies to see Commitment, mainly for two reasons:
  • She loves T.O.P.
  • I learned the hard way, that Korean movies leave the theaters in a blink of an eye.

In October, I was one of three people to win a contest held by Asian In New York via their Facebook page. I won tickets to see Yoo Ah In's Tough as Iron. I shortly received an email stating if I could pick up the tickets at their Long Island City office and was warned that Asian movies leave the theaters pretty quickly. I picked up the tickets, got sick, tried to go see the movie a few days later and BAM... you guessed it, it was no longer showing. Highly disappointed, I took this as a learning experience. The words of that email echoed in my mind for a while and I vowed to run to any theater playing an Asian movie that I highly wanted to see, at the drop of a dime. When I found out Commitment was opening on Friday, December 6th, we were on a mission to see it. I was determined to see it and write a review. Game face and all, we managed to see it at the 5PM showing the following day.

Now that the movie is set up for you and the events that lead to me writing this review have been clarified, here's what I felt about it. (I am trying not to add spoilers here, and yes, I will be as objective as possible.)

I saw Secret Greatly a while long ago, I knew what kind of feel this movie was going to give off, though Commitment barely had any humor in it. T.O.P gave a pretty good performance despite reviews of him only being able to display one-emotion/ facial expression throughout the whole movie. (Something I expected as it IS T.O.P...and it fit well.) Even though he is 26, he was not out of place as a high school student and did suit the role. (The age gap is reasonably common in Kdramas/movies. ie: Lee Min Ho in Heirs.)

There was a great attempt at showing his character's struggle of being a killer for the sake of saving his sister and the transitioning weight of still just being a kid. This was depicted in his expression and actions between the bad ass vibe he gave during an altercation and his regret and sorrowful demeanor after. He is known to be a stiff and not dance very well, which gave for a good show when his action scenes came on. The hand to hand combat scenes were fast paced and his stiff, swift and steady movements led to some pretty sweet action. The camera work during these scenes flowed very well with his actions, unlike the sloppy and unappealing angles shown in the beginning of the movie while his on screen dad fought. (Yuck.)

I like how the movie didn't wrap up all this action and drama with a sappy, romantic ending where they live happily ever after just for the sake of tying up loose ends. The plot seemed a bit shaky and but not too hard to follow as I sat in the theater trying to piece together why certain things were happening. That's just part of the fun in watching a movie. I did get hang of it all by the end so there's no real complaint here. The action was standard and invoked some audible cringes and gasps. I enjoyed it and vowed to be cautious fangirl when watching a movie about attractive men as North Korean spies, since the ending is well... Go see for yourself.


Special shout out and thank yous go to Asian In New York for the opportunities and events that help keep me to up-to-date and informed on what's going on in the Asian Community.

Monday, December 2, 2013

Recap:// Attention Please 2007 Special

Misaki visualizes herself in Hawaii.
Misaki has become a confident cabin attendant after much trial and tribulation. Now she'll start training for international flights with a trip to Hawaii! Being from Hawaii, I was especially interested to see what sights and cultural aspects they would include. It turned out to be a mixed bag; while they did a nice job in choosing beautiful scenery and landmarks, the cultural references fell a little flat.