In Lieu of APink News Season Four, There’s “APink Showtime”!

MBC has a running variety show called SHOWTIME featuring a different idol Group as its hosts, Season One had EXO, Season Two had BEAST, and for Season Three, Showtime introduced its very first Female hosts with Apink!

The Girls Ready for Adventure

Apink fans have been clamoring for a fourth Season to their beloved Reality Series APink News, and with Showtime, we get the next best thing, featuring the same kind of fun, interesting and personable stories we’ve come to expect from those zany Apink Ladies!

Panic for some when the Bungee Jump Challenge Comes Up!

Just checked out the first episode and it's already so GOOD! The girls go to a Activity Center where they are asked to show their bravery by BUNGEE JUMPING! Tuff tomboy Eunji couldn't WAIT to try it and once she was harnessed up, she took a HUGE leap into the fray (followed by the always-game and equally aggressive Namjoo), but it’s when Nauen is up for her turn that it gets hilarious, as Naeun is simply PETRIFIED to jump!

Eunji Jumps

 Naeun had done Bungee Jumping before, but it was in tandem with another person, and this time doing it alone, she finds she has no nerve at all! When the Ride Atttendant reaches for her back harness to stabilize her, Naeun flinches away, pleading “Please Don’t Push Me!!”, LOL! 

A Scared Naeun on the platform

The man assures her he has no intention of shoving her off and was only there to hold her in place. Thinking that Naeun is prepared to jump, the man counts her off, “1, 2, 3…Bunjeeeeeeeeeee!”…But instead of jumping, she turns around and says, "Hold on, hold on, not yet" HAHAHA!
   The attendant lets Naeun compose herself and says, “Okay, let’s try it again, 1, 2, 3, Goooooo!”  But once again Naeun can’t bring herself to jump off of the launch platform. She chides herself for being chicken, hitting herself on the head and hopping around in frustration, so freaking CUTE! The girls tell her not to feel pressure even though Eunji and Namjoo jumped, because they are the “Weird kids” with no common sense, LOLOL! But Naeun knows if she doesn’t jump she will regret it.

"Weird Kids" Namjoo and Eunji waiting at the bottom

  They try one more time, “1, 2, 3…Jumpppppp…” where Nauen becomes completely immobile, LOLOL! Bomi: “She’s Frozen.” Chorong: “She turned into a statue”. Bomi: “At least say you’re scared or something” LOL, Poor Naeun! Finally, the man lets Naeun off the hook, telling her to come off the platform!

A Completely Frozen Naeun

  Next up is wide eyed and innocent maknae Hayoung, who readily walks out and without hesitation, does a spectacular jump off!  This girl is really becoming a strong personality in APink with her  “I can do it” attitude, (reminds me so much of Goo Hara in Invincible Youth, where they called her the "Goo-ssian Bolt” because she would always do whatever they asked!) watching her giggling with nerves as she hung off the Bungee Line waiting for the boat to retrieve her, I knew that with this series, her popularity is going to go through the roof!

All Smiles Hayoung ready to Jump

   Next up was Bomi who did a fine (if very tearful) jump, but in the end, Naeun didn’t have to take the elevator ride of shame back down alone, as even Leader Chorong chickened out and couldn’t jump, HAHA! Much, of course, to Naeun’s relief! Eunji had to ease their guilty feelings by saying it was a win always since they at least TRIED to jump.

  The second half of the show had the girls sitting around chatting about various topics the staff brought up, including questions sent in by fellow celebrities.

Apink Roundtable

 One rather fun question was “Who looks best in Red Lipstick?”, one by one each girl applied the risque color to their lips and seductively posed, for my money, Bomi looked good in it, and MY GOD Naeun was SMOULDERING! Eunji chided her for pouting and doing all the trappings of cliché selfie poses, but Naeun couldn’t be stopped! YUMMY!

This is gonna be such a great ride, and I can’t wait for the NEXT episode to be subbed and posted!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

That was Hong Jinyoung

Hong Jin Young

So I was checking out the latest episode of Running Man, and I come across this absolutely gorgeous young girl guest(when I first saw her, I thought she looked a bit like Dal Shabet’s Serri) playfully teasing the cast with her cuteness. 

When Sukjin informed the rest of Running Man that this girl might ACT nice, just wait til you see the REAL girl, she sweetly (and HILARIOUSLY) replied in the most innocent voice, “Who, Me?”, cracking everyone up! Damn, who WAS this girl?

 Her name, it was soon revealed, was a miss Hong Jinyoung, and as soon as I heard it, I knew I’d seen her before. The name was SO familiar, and then all at once I remembered where I’d been first introduced to this beauty: Late last year, when I was at the peak of my APink love, I was religiously watching that Season’s “We Got Married” for Naeun and SHINee’s Taemin. During the middle of this season, beautiful host Lee Jihye (of vocal duo S#arp) announced she was leaving the show. This devastated me because I’d always had a mad-on for her, but was immediately placated when they introduced her replacement- an absolutely STUNNING beauty by the name of, you guessed it, Hong Jin Young!

Though I was to learn that Jinyoung was in fact a well-known trot singer (most famously for her song “Love Battery”), this was the first I’d ever heard of her, but I was SO overwhelmed by her beauty, I took a WHOLE BUNCH of screencaps of her (all of which you see here, LOL), determined to find out more about her!

Well, I never DID explore any more of her, and that’s why I’d forgotten all about her til her appearance on Running Man- and OH BOY was she as SEXY and COY as Sukjin predicted!!! She was so much fun, very playful and super DETERMINED to win the challenges presented to her! 

  This episode was in fact, FULL of pretty and Cool ladies (Fei of MissA, Model Kang Seunghyun and Sassy Baek Jiyoung, but out of all of ‘em, it was Hong Jinyoung that had me smiling throughout! Awww, what a Gal!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

My Girl's Day Love Continues with a Terrific Performance of "Darling"!

  Ever since falling in love with Girls Day’s new single “Darling”, I’ve gotten about six different live performances of the girls performing the song, and I’ve loved every one so far, but WOW, their performance of Darling that the girls did on this past Sunday’s “Inkigayo” has to be the BEST one yet!!!
 For one thing, when the rapper introducing the song, instead of the girls emerging from behind a curtain, the song begins with the girls’ lovely backsides where they’re already on stage and simply turn around as the song gets going! And speaking of turning, another thing that this perf gets right is the camera focusing on all the spins and twirling the girls do during the song…you really get the “light and breezy” feel of the tune!
 The camerawork also gets some really nice captures of the girl’s solo screentime shots, all of them look great, (and might I add how freaking damn GORGEOUS Hyeri is here, ARRRGH!)

...but perhaps MOST important of all, this is the FIRST performance that really focuses on what I consider the “hook” of the performance- that alluring, sexy and CUTE Hip-Shaking Butt-Dance Move during the chorus!!! MAN, to me, THIS is the seller of the song, I can’t believe the other shows only show a few seconds of it, thankfully this show captures it every time, so perfect! 

 Besides all that, they look so HAPPY singing and dancing up there (I love how the performance ends with Minah cutely mugging at the camera before it goes to group shot pose) MAN, does this performance make me smile!!! 
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Babes Make The Dream Team!!

Hyeri, Serri, SeungAh and Dahye

  Just caught the latest episode of Korean sports variety show “Let’s Go Dream Team II” where I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were four pretty idols as guests- Serri from Dal Shabet, SeungAh from Rainbow, and in a lucky bit of timing, my newly discovered Girl’s Day bias Hyeri!!! 

What Luck!!! Three girls from some of my FAVORITE K-pop Idol Groups!!! The fourth girl was Dahye of BESTie whom I actually didn’t know, but I was sure to remember her after this show, because damn was she pretty!

Hyeri of Girl's Day

SeungAh of Rainbow

Serri of Dal Shabet

Dahye of BESTie

  Aww, this was such a fun episode, the girls were really into it, ESPECIALLY Hyeri who was laughing and cheering like she was a regular part of the cast, additionally. that episode’s Water-Park Themed Challenge ensured I’d get to see all four girls in wet t-shirts throughout the entire show...I gotta admit, it was very enticing to see their flower-printed bikinis peeking through the wet shirts like Hyeri's in the screencap below:

It was fun watching the girls in each of the many challenges, but the absolute highlight was when they got to the last segment where teammates had to force opponents off the platforms into the water via foam “battering ram blocks”, and they had all four girls up against each other, Serri and Hyeri on one team, and Seungah and Dahye on the other!

I’d seen Serri kicking butt in several of these Challenge shows before (most recently the mud-wrestling episode), so I knew she had the strength and skills to be a major player, but it was a surprise to see how tuff Dahye was! SeungAh was a spirited great asset to her team, but poor slight Hyeri was hilariously just as much a powderpuff that you’d expect from the diminutive girl, LOL! This was quite a show, and a GREAT experience for a new Hyeri/Girl's Day fan to enjoy!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Today, It’s (Finally) Girl’s Day!!

Everyday, Girl's Day!

Girl’s Day was one of the few K-pop Idol girl groups that never really got into despite the fact that I’ve loved just about every album and single they’ve released- through forums I managed to get just about all of their albums in MP3 format and was constantly amazed by how every album had such SOLID, catchy pop- perfect tunes, but unlike a lot of other groups, I never felt like actually venturing further into their fandom and finding out more about the girls.

 Well, the time has finally come to acknowledge how freaking GREAT these girls are- with the release of their latest single “Darling”, my admiration for them finally SPILLED OVER into true fan LOVE, and at LAST I’ve gone out and ordered some of their albums to own and cherish! Along with their latest album “Girls Day Summer Party” (featuring the aforementioned song “Darling”) I also ordered another past favorite of mine, their excellent album “Expectation”, and I’m sure I’ll be ordering even more in the coming days!

  I think part of the reason that I never tried to get their physical CDs before was that their very first EP “Girl’s Day Party #1” was no longer available, this CD featured two of my favorite songs from them, “Shuppy Shuppy”  and “Gyattung”, and I guess I figured if I couldn’t own THAT album, why bother with some of the other ones? But it finally came to the point where the omission of Girl’s Day in my K-pop collection couldn't be ignored and I had to pick up whatever I could!

A group full of fun personalities!

 Another element that took me awhile to realize is how much fun the individual members are, now that I’m FINALLY getting around to KNOWING them. Just like other K-pop acts, it was seeing them on shows like “Weekly Idol” that I got to see the group’s “dynamic” and see what each member’s “role” was in the group, as well as their individual personalities and quirks. Up until then, just about the only girl I knew was Minah, whom I referred to mostly as “that loud-mouthed chick who always wants attention”. 

Girl's Day: Minah

  This changed the first time I saw older fancam footage of the girls doing appearances when they were just starting out, and saw that her zaniness (as far as I could discern) didn’t seem to be an act she put on, she was JUST as loud, goofy and zany when she was performing in small venues for small crowds! 

Girl's Day's resident silly girl Minah

Then as I saw her on shows I realized that she was actually very sweet, though with a very rough tomboyish kind of veneer. Plus, she has a deep, strong voice that really like...at first I didn't know who was singing what lines in the songs, but seeing them perform I found out that every line I really liked ended up being sung by Minah- a very husky voice. Now I love her!

Girl's Day Innocent Yura

 Yura always struck me as the one in the background, and whenever the group would come out in matching outfits with slight variations, they always gave her the playful, childish one (like overalls, suspenders, etc) and it wasn’t until I saw her on variety shows that I realized it was because she was the “innocent” one in the group. Now her image totally matches her and she makes me smile with her naïve and adorable comments and questions!

Yura walking into the back wall, LOLOL

 I don’t think you can get the full Yura effect until you’ve seen her on Weekly Idol, giggling and squealing with delight at the various pranks and games they’re playing. There was this one time on the show where they were teasing her about how loud she sounded eating, she jokingly ran off...right into the back wall! As the other members fell about themselves cracking up, host Hyungdon laughed and said, “She really IS innocent!” Yura really has this adorable wide-eyed aura that makes me see her as a precious member!

The always smiling Yura

Sojin. Now onto the subject of Sojin. The first time I remember seeing her was for an old “Idol Olympics” special, and at the time, I thought she was rather rough-looking. I’d read people online saying how “hot” she was and think, “Man, was I looking at the same girl?” 

Sexy Leader Sojin

Fast forward two years and I’m seeing this performance of the girls doing “Please Tell Me” on a music show, and I am just FLOORED by how goddamn PRETTY Sojin is! Had to rub my eyes and do a double take! “Is THIS the same girl from the Idol Olympics!?” 

Sojin heating things up on Weekly Idol

   Now I know she’s the oldest member as well as the leader of Girl’s Day, so my respect for her has grown a lot, and additionally, on shows like Weekly Idol, Sojin shows how much charisma she has as the group’s mature member and she really DOES have a LOT of sexy charms, wow, NOW I GET IT! 

My Girl's Day bias, the pretty Hyeri

 And lastly we have Hyeri, my Girl’s Day bias! The first time I noticed her was when her hair was longer and wavier, (this was during their “Don’t Forget Me” promotions) she reminded me so much of Kara’s Goo Hara and APink’s Son Naeun (and even a bit of Amuro Namie) with her “Fairy-Dol” look, I was instantly enamored! 

  Besides her gorgeous looks, Hyeri is really outspoken and a really great "reactionist", like Minah, she's a bit of a tomboy and doesn't mind getting rough with the hosts! Plus she has these incredibly expressive eyebrows that make everything seem so...interesting!!!!

 My love for Hyeri took a hit when she cut her hair short into a bob style for most of Expectation, but even then she still managed to captivate me with every appearance. And now, with the "Darling" promotion, MAN, she’s looking more luscious than EVER, so girly and cute, just simply stunning! 

Hyeri in the "Darling" Music Video, so sassy!

SO YEAH, Girl's day has entered my short list of favorite K-pop artists- It’s funny because for years, every time Girl’s Day name would come up, my friend Car would say “I bet they become your next favorite group”, since it was true that I liked every release they put out (especially “Female President” which I particularly loved)  and now with their newest song Darling, I can finally say that “Everyday is Girl’s Day”! 

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

The Bold And The Beautiful

Ueto Aya as Sawa in Hirugao

Kichise Michiko as Rikako in Hirugao

 Because I love both Aya Ueto and Michiko Kichise, I decided to check out the first episode of their new drama Hirugao, the story of a prim and proper housewife getting pulled into a twisted tangle of lies and affairs when she crosses paths with the new chic woman in town.
 And while Aya Ueto was, naturally, very good as pretty young housewife Sawa and Michiko Kichise was, naturally, very good as the stunningly sexy Rikako, somehow this story just failed to grab me. In fact, more than enjoying the beauty I was seeing onscreen, I was spending more time being frustrated and angry at how dense Aya Ueto’s character has to be to get manipulated by such an obvious bad-news person like Kichise. 

Good Wife Sawa as her Clerk Job

Ribald Rikako planning her Next Affair

Not that’ I’d be any less susceptible to her charms., but heck, I’m a dude, and that’s our weakness, but an upstanding citizen like Sawa should know better than to keep getting involved in naughty Rikako’s schemes.
 I’ve got one more episode that I downloaded, so I’ll probably check that one out too, but so far I don’t think this one is gonna make my weekly playlist.
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com