Oddness/Weirdness

Today was SHINee Taemin's 21st birthday in Korea (he's still 20 in international age), which means he's fully a man now.  Yes, that means it's perfectly okay to ogle him now, you nasty pervs you!  Seriously though, this is a post in appreciation of Taemin and how he's grown over the years.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Another preview of G-Dragon 's editorial for Vogue Korea's 17th Anniversary issue   was leaked today and, while I knew it was going to be good, I didn't know they were aiming for spectacular.  I should have known after this! Behold... shirtless bohemian rocker god GD:

Lovers of G-Dragon 's fashion rejoice, because the man himself will be featured on the cover of Vogue Korea's 17th Anniversary issue .  You'll need to get your $$ ready once again, since there will be not one, not two, but THREE different covers for this hotly anticipated Vogue issue.

It's that time of year again.  Right now all the music shows are preoccupied with their half yearly specials, in which they get all the popular groups to do some sort of special stage.  These performances can be anywhere from really good to weird to just plain boring, but  SHINee 's " Dream Girl " special stage is definitely one of the good ones.  Check it out:

Let's be honest here... I rarely watch Kpop music videos that aren't a product of one of my favorite groups, and that's because I'm pretty biased.  I don't tend to think that other groups will have a great video with an equally great song, and I'm often right (in my opinion, anyway).  So you can imagine my surprise when I found these mv gems.  Not only do these videos incorporate imagery that wows me, they're also songs that I'd download and listen to over and over.  Oh, and by the way, there's only one actual Kpop mv included in this list.  Go figure.

If you used Google Reader in the past, then you are well aware that it was shut down by the powers that be on July 1st.  I know a lot of people were mad about this development, so you the following could very well have been you when it was first announced:

It's been exactly a year since 2NE1 released their last official mv, and they're finally, finally back with a new one.  This new mv was released on July 7th and it's called " Falling in Love ".

JYJ's Kim Junsu or, as you might know him, XIAH has released a new special preview mv called " 11am ".  This song is from his upcoming album, "Incredible" and it is incredible, that's for sure.  Be sure to watch this in HD with the subtitles on for optimal enjoyment.

SHINee has once again proven that they are made of AWESOME.  On July 1st those shining boys were doing their usual at the Hong Kong Dome Festival (which consists of performing in the hot sun in at least 3 layers of clothes each), when a super heavy rain storm started... and they just kept going... while looking like they were having fun.  Nope, I'm not exaggerating.  Check it out:

Last week, Big Bang's  Taeyang  headed on over to Paris to take in a few shows at  Men's SS 2014 Fashion Week .  This was kind of a surprise, seeing as this is usually G-Dragon 's deal, but good for him!  It was nice to see another Big Bang member in the spotlight. Since  I've made no secret of my dislike of Youngbae 's style in the past year  (with his over usage of bandanna print and his love of too-big-for-his-frame clothing), it's pretty obvious why I was a little worried.  Would he wear something embarrassing like an all over scarf print jump suit, a lá CL 's " Baddest Female " mv ?  Would he wear something even worse?  Welllll... yes and no. Taeyang wearing Givenchy and Kenzo at the Kenzo show, 130629.

Beatburger has just released an official video of their June 15th performance on the UMF Korea stage, which includes some nice SHINee footage.  Take a look:

The official word is out!  YG Entertainment has finally released a teaser photo for 2NE1's much anticipated new single, "Falling In Love".

Part 2 of the   SHINee World 2013- Boys Meet U Japan Arena Tour in Saitama Day 1 and 2 Mega Post.   Click here for Part 1 . As reported by fans that attended the concerts, security was extremely tight and many Shawols were not able to use their cameras to take videos or pics.  However, some fans were sneaky enough to take LQ pics, fancams and fan accounts and I have compiled a large selection of them for you.  Since there are so many, I have made two separate posts for easier viewing. Scroll down for fancams and fan accounts from SHINee World 2013 JAT in Saitama.   Click here for more pics .

Part 1 of the   SHINee World 2013- Boys Meet U Japan Arena Tour in Saitama   Day 1 and 2 Mega Post.   Click here for Part 2 . As reported by fans that attended the concerts, security was extremely tight and many Shawols were not able to use their cameras to take videos or pics.  However, some fans were sneaky enough to take LQ pics, fancams and fan accounts and I have compiled a large selection of them for you.  Since there are so many, I have made two separate posts for easier viewing. Scroll down for pics from SHINee World 2013 JAT in Saitama.   Click here for fancams and fan accounts.

YG Entertainment 's CEO, Mr. Yang Hyun Suk himself, has recently taken to the YG-Life blog to expound on what's going to be going on with YG artists for the 2nd half of 2013.  On the 25th he dropped some G-Dragon knowledge that has sent Kpop fans into a tizzy, but where's the news on Taeyang 's new album?  That's what I really want to know.

I've posted this on other mediums already but, just in case you don't follow me on Facebook or Twitter , here's the skinny on where you can buy your SHINee x Naver x Skechers stuff: UPDATED: With links for international buying.

I'll make this short and sweet because I know you're not visiting this post to read my words, you're here to see  SHINee's "Boys Meet U" photobook scans .  Get to scrolling!

The full pv for SHINee's "Breaking News" has just been released in Japan, meaning that an enterprising young Shawol has already managed to hijack it and post it up to some random internet video site that I've never even heard of.  Sadly I was not able to upload it here but I knew if I waited just a few minutes, someone would add it to YouTube.... and I was right.

SHINee's "Boys Meet U" album will be out on July 26th and Universal Music Japan has released an album medley for us Shawols waiting in breathless anticipation.  Brace yourselves! UPDATED: With English subs for their Performance A show video.

It's almost time for SHINee to release their " Boys Meet U " album, so they're ramping up all the teaser action.  I've got some individual teaser shots of the boys for you, plus some other little tidbits.  Read on!

Damn that SHINee !  I was just about to go to bed, was scrolling through my Twitter sources and what pops up?  The short version of a new Japanese pv called " Breaking News ".  Sigghhh... The perils of blogging about people that come out with stuff when I should be sleeping.  Seriously though, I'm actually very exited on the inside.  Go watch! UPDATED: Scroll down for the full song.

I'm usually fawning over G-Dragon's style on this blog but today I had to take a step back and wonder what the hell he was thinking when he woke up and chose his outfit for the day.  This outfit looks like a hodgepodge of pieces thrown on just to have something to cover his body, but you know what?  I'm quite sure he picked each piece for maximum effect.  Behold G-Dragon's airport style for today, as he came back from Japan:

Alright guys, I almost posted this to Facebook only but I refrained, mostly because I wanted to fangirl over it with everyone here.  This is just what the title says: 20+ minutes of all of  SHINee 's performances  at their 5th Anniversary Party on May 24th, courtesy of ETN Star File .  Apparently ETN Star File does a lot of concert footage and things like that.  Well, enjoy and be sure to post your fangirl/fanboy feels in the comments!

G-Dragon recently teamed up with Glaceu Vitamin Water to be their most recent spokesperson and has already released a series of commercials for the brand.  Next up for GD ?  A Cosmopolitan   Magazine spread (and interview) featuring him as what I take to be a mad scientist, cooking up some of that good old Vitamin Water.

TS Entertainment announced yesterday that their not-so-rookie-anymore super group, B.A.P, would be staging a large scale comeback on June 28th with their 3rd mini album.  They were recently caught filming an mv in Las Vegas and it's been revealed that they'll be releasing and promoting 3 songs from the new album.  What??! B.A.P's 1st teaser was released today.

As it stands this year over 30 rookie Kpop groups have debuted and only a very few have even made it to the public consciousness.  A couple of them have managed to catch my eye in the past few weeks, and those two would be  LC9  and Bangtan Boys .  The why of it lies solely in their debut music videos.  The two groups have surprised me with their brash, bold and take-no-prisoner videos and I'm pretty hard pressed to pick a favorite.  So... why not have them battle it out?

Today SHINee had the honor of appearing on stage at UMF Korea , or the Ultra Music Festival , with Beatburger .  UMF, which takes place annually, is the world's most famous outdoor electronica festival.  The festival was originally created with a focus on electronica, but it has grown over the years to showcase music from the biggest and best EMD (electronic dance music) artists to crossover EMD artists.  The festival takes place in Miami, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Ibiza and Korea, and thousands of people come from all over to attend.  So, to have SHINee perform there is pretty much a big deal.

So EXO won for the 2nd time with " Wolf " on Music Core today... yayyyy!  I'm extra happy for them because they are some hard working dongsaengs.  However I have to admit that my favorite part of this whole thing was when SHINee 's Jonghyun  appeared out of nowhere with a gigantic bouquet of flowers for them and ended up kind of taking over.

EXO has won their first comeback stage win ever with " Wolf " on KBS's Music Bank today and I'm so proud of them!  You can tell these boys have practiced their singing and dancing so hard and it has finally paid off.  Watch their full interview, performance and ending stage below:

Love him or hate him, you have to admit that G-Dragon is one stylish mother f-er.  When on stage, or out promoting, G-Dragon's outfits can veer from moderately outlandish to extreme eccentricity; he's in your face and he likes it that way.  But when he's out and about, hitting up those invitation only parties as GD , or at the airport as plain old Kwon Ji Yong, he's a tad bit more subdued... up to a point. Today is all about off-duty G-Dragon, but I like him any which way.  How about you?

SHINee has been spokespeople for Skechers since March of this year but now they're taking their partnership a bit further: UPDATED : With individual HD pics from the Skechers design photoshoot.

It's true.... The members of EXO-K and EXO-M are ALWAYS at the airport.  I'm never sure where they're going or what they're going to be doing when they get there, but I'm forever seeing the pics.  There's often some major fashion moments taking place in these pics; some good, some bad but always notable.  Enjoy: This post is image heavy

Damn guys!  There's so much good Kpop news these days, I don't even know what to do!  Today my feels are all about INFINITE and their newly announced 1st World Tour, One Great Step .

More dance stuff (yay!) and this time it's Block B's B-Bomb doing Repter 's choreography to Zion-T 's " Gray ".  This video was posted on June 1st but it's too good to overlook.

Remember all the way back in January of this year when it came out that  Block B  filed an injuction against their company,  Brand New Stardom  (aka  Stardom Entertainment ) for not paying them all their well earned money?  Well, guess what happened yesterday?  You guessed it... Block B lost.  I figured this was coming but DAMN is it f*cked up!

Yesterday Universal Music Japan posted up a little video of our favorite boys, SHINee , talking about their soon to be released Japanese album " Boys Meet U ".  You can watch it here with English subs, so take a look:

Henry Lau 's mv for " Trap " is finally out!  He also participated in a little Music Bank comeback action, with the help of his good chingus, Taemin and Khyuhyun .  Watch both videos below:

Now this is what I'm talking about right here!  By this I mean that  YG Entertainment unleashed  CL 's dance practice video for " The Baddest Female " on us mere mortals today and I am loving it.

SM Entertainment announced yesterday that they would be delaying the mv for Henry Lau 's debut song, " Trap " (featuring SHINee's Taemin and Super Junior's Kyuhyun ) because of quality issues.  They wanted to release the best mv they possibly can, so they're making us wait.  Booooo!  Hisss!  What's up with that?  Well some enterprising people uploaded the album to their YouTube page, which means we get to listen to it.  This also means that you need to listen quickly before SMent shuts those accounts down like they never existed before.

It's been a few weeks since SHINee ' s 5th Anniversary Party took place but it hasn't completely left my mind.  I'm still marveling that these boys are going strong 5 years later, since so many Kpop bands disappear quickly.  As I sat here thinking about it, I decided to take a look to see if any English subs had appeared and, what do you know??  Our favorite subber has done it again.  Take a look at Airyarielle0718 's subs of some of  nudepencil 's talk cuts from the fan party and enjoy!

Love CL 's " The Baddest Female " or hate it, you have to admit the girl can perform the hell out of a song.  She did just that on her first solo Inkigayo comeback stage, which took place on June 2nd, and if you've watched it already, you should watch it again:

Henry Lau of Super Junior M recently surprised us with the news about his upcoming solo album.

Super Junior-M's Henry Lau continues to make a bid for freedom from SM Entertainment 's basement by releasing the teaser for his mv, " Trap ".  Take a look:

EXO released their mv for their much anticipated new song, " Wolf " this morning and, even though it seems that so many people dislike it, I think I'm going to have to (as a reader called it) "pull an Erika".  "Pulling an Erika" is apparently what happens when I talk shit about the teasers to a new song, mv or album leading up to it's release, and then backpedal and say that I like it afterwards. :Deep sigh: This happens so often.  When will I learn?

On May 29, GD and YB , along with their good friends 2NE1 , showed up to the opening of the new Chrome Hearts  in Shinsegae department store in Seoul today.  This was a VIP only event, so only the coolest of the cool were in attendance. This post is image heavy.

On May 28 SMent dropped EXO 's newest teaser for their not yet released new single, " Wolf " .  I watched it last night and I was thinking I'd be able to be nice and just mention the facts but I really can't.  I have to admit it.  I think this is so.... damned... FUNNY and you know you do too.

SM Entertainment revealed today that their solo male artist will be no other than that Canadian cutie pie Henry Lau .  His first solo album, which is called " Trap ", will be released on June 7th through all the usual major music sites and he'll be touring the world to promote the album. Congratulations Henry!!  It has been 7 lonnnnggg years since he first became a trainee for SM.  Can you imagine?  I sure can't.

I would have to say that the big news of the day is SM Entertainment 's just released teaser photos of what they are saying is a new male solo artist.  Check them out:

2NE1 's CL has just released her mv for " The BADDEST FEMALE " and pretty much managed to throw some serious shade at all her contemporaries in one fell swoop.  

All the festivities for SHINee's 5th Anniversary have now concluded but I'm still thinking about how many smiles they've brought into my life.  The boys of SHINee were probably thinking the same thing about Shawols yesterday, during their 5th Anniversary Special Party , which was held on Saturday May 25th at Hwajung Gymnasium . Minho's secla to commemorate the day.