Boa’s US Debut Album
BoA’s new US debut album–which is in English for the first time–just dropped on March 17, under label SM Entertainment USA. It started on the Billboard 200 at #127, a rather lukewarm reception. The main problem with the music on this CD can be reduced to poor English pronunciation (some lyrics are unintelligible), and heavy abuse of auto-tune/vocoder effect. Simply because more people are using the T-Pain effect doesn’t mean an actually decent singer, like BoA, should do so for US albums…
01. I Did It For Love (Feat. Sean Garrett)
02. Energetic
03. Did Ya
04. Look Who’s Talking
05. Eat You Up
06. Obsessed
07. Touched
08. Scream
09. Girls On Top
10. Dress Off
11. Hypnotic Dancefloor
So checkout BoA-BoA (Retail) 2009-NiSHiNO for the dirty download.
BoA – Eat You Up
Korean singer BoA has a new single / video combination out, and guess what, it’s in English!! According to Wikipedia, this is her very first US debut, after falling into Korean irrelevance:
On September 2, 2008, BoA’s Korean record label, SM Entertainment announced that she will make her American debut under SM’s new subsidiary label SM Entertainment USA. A press conference was held on September 10, 2008 at the Seoul Imperial Palace Hotel, to clarify the details of her American debut, with the slogan “Best of Asia, Bring on America”. SM announced that her debut single, “Eat You Up”, would be released on October 14, 2008 on the internet via iTunes and many other online stores. However the single has been pushed back to October 21, 2008.The single will be released in stores on November 11, 2008; a remix of the song features rapper Flo Rida.
The vapid lyrics start “When I first saw you I knew things weren’t like it used to be / Boy you have got to be the finest thing in history” and don’t get any better. The music video feels a decade old, the incredibly heavy digital processing on her voice ruins the song–I never knew imitation T-Pain effect existed…
North Korea removed from “Terror List”
US President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice approved a controversial measure to remove the nation of North Korea from the official terrorism blacklist, the so called “axis of evil” last weekend after Korea agreed to verification inspection procedures for its nuclear plants. In exchange, North Korea will resume disabling its Yongbyon atomic complex.
According to U.S. removes N. Korea from terror list, the decision is not universally accepted:
Removing North Korea from the list was immediately criticized by some conservatives who said it goes too far and sends a bad signal to other U.S. adversaries, notably Iran. Hill, a lightning rod for conservative criticism on the issue, was noticeably absent at the State Department announcement.
Critics pilloried the development because they said it is not adequate to address its involvement in spreading nuclear weapons technology or its alleged uranium enrichment activities.
“By rewarding North Korea before the regime has carried out its commitments, we are encouraging this regime to continue its illicit nuclear program and violate its pledge to no longer provide nuclear assistance to extremist regimes,” said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Still remaining in the “axis of evil” are Iran, Iraq, Cuba, Libya, and Syria. The only question is if this classification actually accomplishes any good, besides denying modernization to nations which so desperately need it.
The Tragic Story of Choi Jin-sil’s Suicide
Choi Jin-sil (최진실) was a talented actress from South Korea. Nicknamed “The Nation’s Actress”, she starred in movies The Legend of Gingko (단적비연수), The Letter (편지), and My Bride My Love (나의 사랑, 나의 신부). A full list of her accomplishments on the screen can be found at wikipedia; she was a prolific TV and movie actress.
Her personal life was full of scandal and misfortune. A brief timeline might be the best format for presenting the history that led to her impulsive suicide:
- 1968 – Born on December 24
- 1988 – Starred in Joseon Dynasty 500 years (조선왕조 오백년)
- 1994 – Former manager Bae Byeong-su was murdered by her road manager, Jeon Yong-cheol
- 1998 – Met Cho Sung-min, a pitcher for Japanese pro baseball team the Yomiuri Giants, at a TV show
- 2000 – Married Cho Sung-min
- 2002 – Seperated from Cho Sung-min
- 2004 – Divorced Cho Sung-min for adultery, domestic violence, and debts
- 2008 September – Actor Ahn Jae-hwan committed suicide after incurring large debts due to failed business projects
- 2008 September – A rumour is started that Choi Jin-sil lent Ahn $2M; the police arrested a suspect who started the rumour for defamation
- 2008 October – Suicide by hanging
On October 1, the night before her death, Choi had a drink with her manager, and sent a text message with the text:
“take care of my children no matter what happens” and “I’m sorry”
Choi Jin-sil then went home, locked herself in the bathroom, and hung herself by the neck with the shower hose in the bathtub. Her mother reported that Choi was drunk when she returned home. Yang Jae-ho, chief investigator at Seoul’s Seocho Police Station, said “Given the results of an examination showing no trace of physical trauma on her body, we concluded that it was a suicide.”
And so, in a tragic story of perpetual depressive unhappiness, coupled with substance abuse, another bright flame is extinguished.
My Girl K-drama
In spite of it being up for download online, I decided to cave in and buy My Girl on Amazon:
It has a 4.5/5 rating on Amazon, which bodes well, and my girlfriend swears to heaven it’s the best drama she has ever seen. I was able to get one at a used price of $40, which is also good! It was produced in 2005 / 2006, so it’s fairly new, and assorted ratings around the net put it 90% or higher. Here’s a plot summary from IMDB:
The story concerns a young hotel magnate whose grandfather lingers near death, depressed of having never met his granddaughter, having dismissed her mother from his life years earlier. The manager, unable to locate his long lost sister, instead hires a young con artist who has tried to scam him to act as his sister for the benefit of his grandfather. Romantic and comic entanglements ensue between the two as their plan takes hold all to well. But what will happen when the grandfather makes a miraculous recovery and the two are forced to act as brother and sister, perhaps forever?
It’s worth pointing out that in Korea a girlfriend will call her boyfriend “older brother,” so typical American feelings might not get the joke!
