[Video] Star Dance Battle 2011

Watched the whole of Star Dance Battle 2011 and gotta say it's quite boring overall with just these few exceptions. Actually these 2 groups are the one which I've wanted to see their performance the most when I saw the performance list.

Infinite


Like I've mentioned before, Infinite is a group that is really great dancing wise. And no doubt, they didn't disappoint. Their performace was so in sync and neat... And the moves are so clean.


 Just watch 1:41- 1:45. The best dance move ever. Awesome.


MBLAQ

Not that in-sync as compared to Infinite, but still great performance. One complain tho it has nth to do with MBLAQ. It's annoying that there was alot of audience shots shown during their dance performance, which cut us off from enjoying their dance.....

Yeah, that's about it for Star Dance Battle 2011. Watch the rest of the performance if you've really got nothing better to do and too much time to spare.....
Now, Just to share and show how 2010 Star Dance Battle was better.

Beast Star Dance Battle 2010


Awesome dance. In sync and neat + cool moves. What could be better than this? And the irony is that they actually lost to their opponent with this dance. Like come on?



SNSD Star Dance Battle 2009

Not saying it's the best performance; I'm just posting this coz it's SNSD. But this is much better than the other (those performance besides Infinite and MBLAQ) Star Dance Battle 2011 performance.

And since it's Star Dance Battle, I'm gonna post this too though it's not a New Year Special.

100409 MBC Star Dance Battle - SNSD Smooth Criminal

Gotta love the Moon Walk.

Watching these clips are better than watching the whole Star Dance Battle 2011 IMO. Happy Chinese New Year!

[Translation] SNSD YG Magazine 363

Link to original article @ soshified.
(Credit to DarthVader for mag scan).
Translation credit: bluedolphin30

SNSD- 9 individuals; 1 heart. Creating the current rise of girl groups!

It is actually not an easy task for a group to be united as one to achieve a common dream, much more; there are 9 members in total in SNSD. But they are not defeated by any obstacles or difficulties they faced.  Their future is still filled with a lot of uncertainties, but the 9 of them have already made up their mind to create a generation of their own and at the same time, they have actually started the current rise of girl groups!

Successfully Enlightened members!

The word “enlightened” can be in 2 forms/types. One is enlightened with a positive connotation attached to it, while the other form is a leaping type of change, but it can still be consider a type of enlightenment!That particular chosen member is actually … their dismay (?)!

Jessica

The one often known as the “Ice Princess” is none other than Jessica! This is a well-known fact and when they just debuted, that was what people often called her back then! But starting from don’t know when, the Ice Princess, Jessica melted automatically.  It will still be better if she didn’t melt as the members cannot accept the melted Ice Princess!However the other members didn’t dare to tell her that. It was only during an accidental opportunity in a radio interview that SNSD gets to say “actually they can’t stand the Jessica who keeps behaving in an unexpected manner!” HyoYeon added that, “Especially when she is in a good mood. You know…. Since she’s in such a good mood, how would I dare to mention it to her~” The Jessica who became more lively after being enlightened should be a good thing, but the fact that the members could not accept it puts Jessica on the spot!

SeoHyun

Being the Maknae of SNSD and the one who is always known as the ‘role model’ of SNSD by her onnies, it has been public’s knowledge that SeoHyun is the “prim and proper/serious” type! Prim and Proper/serious here refers to the fact that regardless of what she does, it will always be the right thing to do; for example she has never ruin her own image and always continues to do what she believes in. If she feels that she is not performing as well as her onnies, she will keep on practicing on her own until she meets her own expectations! SeoHyun also persisted in going to school without any complains that it is tiring to juggle work with school as she remains committed to her beliefs that “Being an idol doesn’t mean that the person has no substance/depth”. In order to prove this point, she persisted in continuing her studies! The “prim and proper” SeoHyun still remains, but just that after becoming the “sweet potato couple” in WGM2, we have to admit that the Maknae we know has really changed! Not only does she now know how to get along with boys, she even took the huge initiative to hold YongHwa’s hands~ Also, she no longer shuns away from having skinship with “Husband Yoong”. In contrast to the awkwardness between YongHwa and her and how she kept her distance in the beginning, the SeoHyun now is much more open and cheerful!

The plain members!

To put it simple, it means that ….. there is not much change! (At this time, millions of Sones must be getting ready to hurl anything they can at me…) Don’t get agitated, there are reasons why I say they are plain!

Tiffany

When SNSD debuted, Tiffany and Yoona were the member that the public recognizes first and their popularity were really high then! Only that as time goes by, just like what Tiffany said before, “Popularity is like season!” meaning that popularity changes just like the season.  Tiffany’s position in SNSD stays the same; she didn’t deteriorate but she didn’t especially stand out either. The levels of her dancing and singing skills are still kept at standard! And she’s still the group’s most important eye-smile in-charge and the irreplaceable 2^nd main lead singer. Besides, Tiffany is also the group’s “manager” who always monitors/supervises the members’ activities. For eg. during their promotion period for their 3^rd mini album , Tiffany accidentally hurt her ligament and had to stop her activities and stay at home to recuperate. But the Tiffany that rested at home wasn’t idle either. Not only did she try hard to recuperate her legs, she also monitors SNSD’s news and every single thing on the members!

Yoona

It is not an overstatement if we use the phrase “everything is just nice” to describe Yoona. Maybe we can account this to her Gemini personality as Gemini knows a little of everything right? Yoona has that exact trait! Dancing wise, Yoona is not the best one in the group, but no matter which group’s dance or any type of dance, Yoona seems to be able to manage and grasp them very well! SNSD’s dance teacher also said before that Yoona is always able to look cool when dancing to male dance routines! In variety, Yoona is definitely ranked below TaeYeon, SooYoung, Sunny and Yuri, as she’ll always break out into laughter when she does impersonation. Tiffany also mentioned before that Yoona needs to have members with her for her variety skills to be good. It seems like there won’t be much “laughing effect” if we ask Yoona to do something funny alone by herself! Singing is definitely not her strongest point too; moreover, Yoona has always been unconfident of her own singing. There was once during a solo interview where the producer asked Yoona to sing a small part, and even though she didn’t reject it, her lack of confidence already betrayed her. But compared to not being able to carry a tune, actually what Yoona lacks is the confidence in singing. At least the Solo CF song she sang for the cosmetic brand which she endorsed wasn’t that bad at all!

The members who became stronger through time and ordeals!

It has already been 4 years since SNSD debuted and during these 4 years, each of them grew up and improved! They still have a long way to go and it is perfectly normal to be faced with setbacks; the following members definitely have the quality of growing stronger through ordeals/difficulties!

TaeYeon

Without failure, there’s no success. TaeYeon isn’t born with that perfect vocal of hers. Actually when they just debuted, although TaeYeon has always been known to be the one with the best vocal in SNSD, but at that time TaeYeon’s singing ability wasn’t at the peak yet.  Whether it is dancing or singing, as long as you practice more, it will yield results and TaeYeon is the best example! Furthermore, TaeYeon likes to sing songs with high difficulty, which was why she chose to sing the challenging song during their concert tour at that time. Currently, TaeYeon’s singing ability has reached the peak, if not it is not possible for her to sing the high dynamics and high ranged duet, with her teacher, The One! Furthermore, TaeYeon is the lead singer of the group, so most of the higher ranged and difficult parts will be given to her, that is why after performing a thousand times of the song, she’ll sing the difficult parts for a thousand times too, so how will it be possible if she don’t improve!

Yuri

In the beginning, Yuri wasn’t one of the members that get noticed easily but her healthy dark skin became her unique point, if not she won’t be known as the “Black Pearl”~ But in these 4 years, the one with the biggest change will definitely be Yuri. Even SNSD members agreed! Yes, from inside out, head to toe, Yuri changed from a mischievous/playful Black Pearl, to a charming sexy goddess! From a reserved young girl to a fashion goddess. That is undeniable.  If you have watched Yuri’s solo performance in their 1^st concert tour, you will definitely have a deep impression of her! In addition, your former opinion of her will change and she will gain a lot of points in your book~ Not because of that sexy performance by Yuri, but the amount of efforts and hard work that are put in by her behind the stage. To add on, her ambitious/competitive nature made it such that regardless of whether it is performance or entertainment (variety), she will want to put in her best and show all of us her perfect performance! Till now, Yuri’s popularity has been on the rise significantly, and she even proclaimed proudly in a show that she is the most popular member in SNSD!

The “More than meets the eye” members!

In SNSD, even though they are not the members that we first know, or the ones in charge of the appearance/looks of the group, but their outstanding qualities are what people admires! The phrase “more than meets the eye” is definitely a fitting description for them!  

Sunny

For Sunny, apart from the “village girl” and aegyo image, she is actually a girl that really likes to game! Whenever they have breaks, the publicly known gamer-pro, Sunny, will be gaming! Just that surprisingly, there is another side of her that we do not know of. During a variety show that they went on, they searched the bags of SNSD and a book found in Sunny’s bag, and the members joked that she put the book in just for the show. But unexpectedly, Sunny is in fact is a girl who likes to read, and just like Maknae, SeoHyun, she will specially choose inspirational books to read! When everyone thinks that “cute” is the only word to describe Sunny, in actual fact that is totally not true! Because she is also a person who knows the need of seeking self-improvement constantly.

HyoYeon

She, Kim Hyo Yeon is definitely a person that is more than meets the eye! Maybe the impression most people have of her is only…. that she dances very well, and that’s all. But in fact, HyoYeon is an extremely humorous girl and most importantly, she’s not trying to be funny deliberately, but her actions can make the members fall head over heels into laughter! Or maybe we can say that HyoYeon is the sunshine of SNSD~ No matter what she does; it will become something funny in the eyes of the members. Tiffany is very envious of this because she thinks that HyoYeon doesn’t have to try hard to be funny as she’s just acting natural but merely a casual remark from her can turn something boring into something funny! Also, group member, Yoona often recommend HyoYeon for variety shows as Yoona thinks too that HyoYeon has a good variety sense and should go on variety shows more often!

SooYoung

In terms of variety, SooYoung is definitely the Pro as she is extremely talented in impersonation, replies/answers and MC-ing! Just that there is very little chance for her to showcase her specialties. But she has a lot of chances to showcase her personal skills! SNSD members think that no matter who SooYoung imitates, she always sounds/looks like them and SooYoung will also practice some personal skills secretly on her own! But the thing that makes us feel that she is “more than meets the eye” is that she has such an incredibly warm heart! You will be a really lucky guy if you get SooYoung as your girlfriend. Why do we say that? When shopping around casually, if SooYoung sees a very pretty couple handphone charm or any couple items, she will buy them! There is no special reason for it, just that SooYoung feels,” If I don’t buy now, maybe next time they won’t have the same design anymore!”  So, don’t you think SooYoung’s future partner is a very lucky guy? For all you know, he will be receiving small gifts every day. Besides couple items, SooYoung even buys baby products too! The members said that if SooYoung sees something suitable and cute, she will think that it is such a waste if she doesn’t buy it, so she will end up buying it! 

[Music]Girls' Generation(소녀시대)_훗(Hoot)_뮤직비디오(MusicVideo)

Hoot MV (credit:sment)


OMG. SooYoung is soo freaking sexy in the black outfit in the gold room/elevator. And her hair finally looks normal! Gahh. From the MV, I love the move at 1:29-1.31 sideway shooting and 2.46- 2.53 side move+small heart and gun move.
Love the song. It's really catchy and it's not auto tuned!

[News] The Straits Time Review on Singapore Kpop Night

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
(plz credit to bluedolphin30 if you take the pic out)
Bias much? Totally Big Bang biased.

Korean boy bands The Boss, ZE:A and Infinite showed off their potential with synchronised sleep dance moves that came across a little too rehearsed.

Too rehearsed? What does that mean? Their dance steps were too neat + in sync? I guess it may be better if they were totally messy + not in sync when they danced. -_-

Their songs such as Oh!, Gee, and Genie were almost beside the point. Their pitch was off - not that it mattered to the owners of innumerable cameras whose flashes went into overdrive for as long as the girls were on stage.

Pitch off? I didn't go for the concert,but from the fancams,they didn't sound off pitched. And do I have to mention it? SooYoung's in-ears were totally not working throughout their 3-4 songs and she kept pointing to it throughout the performance but I don't think the sound people fixed that at all. To add on, I don't think SNSD had much time to rehearse before the concert since their schedule were insanely packed. They touched down only a few hrs before the concert.

Then they were gone and chants of "Big Bang! Big Bang!" echoed throughout the venue, urging the popular hip-hop Korean boyband to speedily come on stage for their debute live performance in Singapore. Their overly rehearsed rookie counter-parts would do well to take a leaf from their books.

I think it's unfair to compare them. Big Bang don't dance around that much since their genre is kinda different and they perform differently. The other groups focus mostly on dance choreography while Big Bang works the crowd easily since their song genre allows them to do so. Just imagine them dancing to Gee and trying to work the crowd Big Bang style? It's kinda impossible with that choreography.

Yea, whatever it is, Big Bang is awesome and so are the rest.

[Video]SNSD - the making of GENIE Japanese Ver. MV/Song [3/3] Cut

Seo Hyun's Chinese is really good! I wanna hear Jessica's full version of 至少还有你 and Minho is just soo freaking adorable there.

TaeYeon in Singapore [1/6/2010 Tuesday]

As expected. Fans haunted TaeYeon down in Singapore. Run TaeYeon Run! I was expecting fans to update her whereabouts and traces of her in Singapore after news of TaeYeon in Singapore spreaded like wildfire with the photo of her in Universal Studio on Monday.Sure enough, there were lots of rumors and updates of her whereabouts online (twitter/forum etc)today and I was sitting by the computer tracking all the on-goings online. Lol. Yeah, I'm too free and have got nothing better to do. I could have flew down in time and try to catch a glimpse of her, but I just didn't.

It's kinda amusing and interesting looking at all those updates. Earlier in the day, there were rumors of her at Tanah Merah interchange? Then at Suntec, then her going on the duck tour. And at the same time there were rumors of her at orchard, ion, etc. Lol. Seems like she can teleport. Yeah. Up to that point nobody knows for sure where she was and all was just rumors, but looking the updates it seems like there's a high possibility of her in Suntec area. Then came THE update. She's at the Singapore Flyer! Lol. Seriously bad choice for her to go there at that time. Since the rumor of her in Suntec had been floating around and I guess there's quite alot of fans around the area already. And being in Suntec, I thought that there's an extremely high possibility of her going for the Singapore Flyer ride and it's definitely one of the smart choice to camp at on that day. To add it on, the ride is kinda LONG, so leaving it enough time for fans to flock there in time to "hunt" her down and "prey on her". Sure enough, looking at the fancams and pictures, there were quite alot of fans there waiting for her when she finished her ride.

Somehow the whole situation seems like a hunter and prey thing to me. It just seems like TaeYeon is the prey that had gone into a shelter and when she came out, there were a flock of hunters waiting for her there, waiting to shoot her down. I wasn't there, so I may be wrong, but from the fancams and photos, it seems like after she came out, the hunters were there armed at their positions, waiting to aim and shoot at her (I mean literally, the fans were armed with their cameras, aiming and shooting at her). Seriously kind of pity her. I mean she's here for a vacation with her family. And her family is just regular people just like you and me. I mean how would you feel if suddenly an army of people were there shooting their cameras at you when you were having a holiday? Besides, how would TaeYeon have felt there?

Looking at the fancam, I seriously think that she was extremely nice given the situation. I was surprised when she actually waved at one of the camera and she didn't look pissed. If it was me, I would have been really pissed. (Actually, I think if it was SooYoung, she would have been pissed too.... Hahah. Don't get me wrong, she's my fav in SNSD. But I think she'll be the type that will just show on her face or through words directly to the fans if she's pissed and if she thinks that something is wrong and I really love her for it). People were disturbing her holiday and shooting at her and her family members. Clearly, her family members are not used to cameras being pointed at them and shooting at them.

Some may actually say that she's a celebrity. She should had anticipated this type of situation since she's a well-known star and she's in an Asian country. Well, I think she would have expected some fans and some people to recognise her in Singapore and ask for her autographs and pictures and such and I think she's prepared to gladly oblige to those requests (seen by the fact that she took the photo with that fan at Universal Studio and by fan accounts that says that they had her autograph), but I don't think that she expected a flock of armed fans, pointing their cameras at her and her family and shouting her name and what-nots when they exited the Flyer. I mean if you really want to stalk, do it discreetly! Pointing the camera straight at them is rude (especially since her family members are there too and they're not public figures). Shouting and cheering when they came out was really rude as well. WTH. It's not even an autograph session. It's a private trip which is supposed to be as low-keyed as possible. Sadly speaking, to me, the whole situation just make me think that the celebrity is being treated like an animal on showcase. Visitors visiting, looking at the animal and cheering at the animal which was trapped in the cage.... Doesn't it fit the situation?

I know that it's extremely rare that Korean stars visits Singapore and it's definitely a good chance to catch a glimpse of TaeYeon in Singapore since we might never get a chance to do so ( Singapore's market is really small and looking at those past events which Korean stars had in Singapore, fans usually have to spend quite an amount of money in order to catch a glimpse of their favourite star up close). I was really tempted to catch a glimpse of TaeYeon in person too. But what I would do if I had been there would be to just try to go unnoticed and just look at her from a distance. If the place is not crowded, then I may try to go forward and ask for an autograph or photo (if I'm daring enough to do it). At the very least, try to not make her uncomfortable. She and her family are not performing on stage, there's no need to shout or cheer. They're just trying to spend time normally, so put down those cameras! Ask for permission if you really want to have a photo taken instead of just pointing the camera straight to their faces!

Do I still have to talk about the thing about the fan flashing the camera at her face and the crazy fan who grabbed her? That's only 2 people yeah, so I think they're just unable to control themselves.... Gotta learn how to behave.... Seriously she had to rights to get pissed.

Really admire TaeYeon for this. How she could still look not pissed or get angry over it. Actually from that fancam that was uploaded (that one that was uploaded widely on Youtube where she said "please" to the fan to stop filming when she exited the Flyer), I thought that was cool of her to do so. She did it really politely but still indicated that she was uncomfortable about being filmed. But somehow the way she said it makes her look kinda helpless in the situation. I mean she stopped 1 person from filming, but weren't there so many cameras still pointing at her at that time?

Till now, I still don't understand why she chose to come Singapore for her holiday since she may be recognizable here. I guess she didn't expect fans to go that far. Actually with the ease of the internet nowadays, news get spreaded freaking fast and wide. Imagine that if there's no internet, strangers won't be able to update each other of news and stuffs and of course such a thing won't happen. Hah. But without the internet, I guess people won't get to know SNSD, Korean stars or celebrities in general as much as they do now either and there won't be so much fandom going around. That's the plus and minus of technology.

Lastly, I'm really hoping fans aren't camping at the hotel that she's rumored to be staying at (if she's still in Singapore) or chasing her around. Give her some privacy and space. Let her enjoy her remaining trip here if she's still in Singapore. Be mature and think for her if you're really a fan. And here's a video that truely illustrate the point.


(credit to ittimab for uploading)

TaeYeon's in Singapore!

Cool. Was surprised when I saw on twitter that TaeYeon was spotted in Singapore at VivoCity and Universal Studio (there's a picture of her there). Kinda surprised she'll choose to visit Singapore for a holiday. Not ALL Singaporeans are into Kpop, but the number is definitely increasing with the Hallyu now. So I think even though alot of people may not recognise her if she walked by along the streets, but there'll definitely be people who are into Kpop and will know who she is. Hope she'll be able to tour around Singapore in peace since fans would probably trying to hunt her down in Singapore. Lol.