Lana Kay

I decided to do some Kpop this week. I originally wanted to cover MBALQ (a popular kpop group who has since disbanded) and one of the major highlights of that group is that it was created by Rain (jung ji hoon). As I was writing out my post for MBLAQ I wondered how many of you were familiar with kpop or were newer Kpop fans...if you are I’m not sure you would even know who Rain is or his significance to the Kpop industry so I decided to cover him instead! Let’s go!

Profile: -Stage Name: Rain, Bi (pronounceed bee), 비 -Real Name: Jung Ji Hoon -Lable: (In order) JYP, JTune Camp, Cube Entertainment, R.A.I.N Company -Birthday: June 25th, 1982 -Height: About 6′ -Active: **1998**-present (2011-20013 military enlistment) -Spouse: Kim Tae Hee (Actress) -Children: 1 -Instagram: @rain_oppa -Twitter: @29rain

**1998–2000. Before becoming a soloist, Rain debuted as a member of a boy band named Fanclub (팬클럽).Despite releasing two albums, the group failed to be commercially successful.

Notable Acheivements -Rain became the first Korean to win an MTV award. (for his role in the movie Ninja Assassin (2009))  -In January 2008, Rain was tapped to sing the theme song of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, "Hand in Hand". He also performed at the Beijing Olympic closing ceremony in August, singing the closing theme song “Beijing, Beijing, I Love Beijing -Rain performed in a Pepsi commercial along side Christina Aguleria. -Rain was Time Magazine’s most influential person in the world in 2007, beating Stephen Colbert, who challenged Rain to a dance off in response 

 Rain is one of the original Hallu Stars and is often referred to in S. Korea as “World Star Rain” (which is kinda funny if you know anything about the American trash site WorldStar). His chart topping hits along with his acting success in SK and America has earned him legend status among idols. Many of today's current chart toppers cite Rain as an inspiration and role model. 

I’m going to start with Rain’s success as an actor and finish up with his music career.

Rains acting career began in 2003 acting in Sang Doo! Let's Go to School. The drama achieved good ratings and he won the Most Popular TV Actor award at the 2004 Baeksang Arts Awards. In 2004, Rain's popularity continued to climb when starred alongside Song Hye-kyo in the hit romantic comedy series Full House, which drew solid viewership ratings nationwide. The series was broadcast in various parts of Asia as well as the United States establishing Rain as a Hallyu star. His performance in Full House won him the Best Actor award at the KBS Drama Awards. 

In 2006, Rain made his big-screen debut in romantic comedy film I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (a personal favorite of mine that will probably be this weeks Feature Friday) The film won the Alfred Bauer Award at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival, and was selected as the opening film for the Hong Kong International Film Festival. Rain was nominated for and won the Best New Actor award at the 43rd Baeksang Arts Awards.

Back to the music! 

Rain cites many artist as role models and inspiration but none so much as Michael Jackson and...you can really tell Michael was a big influence because Rain has some long ass music videos! LMAO! Speaking of Michael Jackson, he died on Rain’s birthday in 2009...well technically I suppose it would have been June 26th in Korea at the time. Other musical inspirations include 80′s and 90′s pop/hip hop/and R&B artist. You can catch his tribute to some of these artist below (starting at 1:57)

Rain has countless music, video, and acting awards, too many to list here so you can find a complete list...here! ^_^ 

Rain has released both Korean and Japanese albums and has several of his hits recorded in English as well. Over the years rain has perfected his English and can speak it fluently. Other than Korean, rain also speaks Chinese and Japanese. 

I picked out some of Rain’s greatest hit’s and my personal favorites for you to watch and enjoy!  

Rainism

Love Song

I Do

Dan you tumblr and your 5 video maximum!! 

That awkward moment when you play the title character in a film and get out acted by everyone in the movie. >_<

I’m sorry, I have NEVER been able to see Jamie Foxx as anything but a comedian. At first I kinda felt bad about it, but the fact is he has consistently given underwhelming performances when given a serous role...except “Ray”, he did a pretty good job in that one. lol! 

As far a “Django Unchained” goes, I have some seriously mixed emotions about this movie. On the one hand, I friggin loved it! On the other hand, I was thoroughly annoyed. Before I really get into it I want to let you all know that there will be MAJOR SPOILERS in this post. Also, this is a  Quentin Tarantino film so there is blood and explosions. 

Summary:

“Two years before the Civil War, Django (Jamie Foxx), a slave, finds himself accompanying an unorthodox German bounty hunter named Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) on a mission to capture the vicious Brittle brothers. Their mission successful, Schultz frees Django, and together they hunt the South's most-wanted criminals. Their travels take them to the infamous plantation of shady Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), where Django's long-lost wife (Kerry Washington) is still a slave.”

Now, for the good! Dr. King Schultz-

My favorite quote from this character:

“Mister Candie, normally I would say "Auf wiedersehen," but since what "auf wiedersehen" actually means is "'till I see you again", and since I never wish to see you again, to you, sir, I say goodbye! “

The British Bounty Hunter extraordinaire! An excellent performance by Christoph Waltz, he deserved all the awards he won for this roll (and he won a “shit ton”) including the 2013 Academy Award AND Golden Globe for “Best Supporting Actor”. His character was deep, sympathetic, and a force of chaotic good! Christoph’s portrayal of Schultz's sharp shooting whit and gun-work keep me enthralled through the entire film. For me what stood out the most about this character was the suitableness in him mannerisms. The way he did his best to show a caviler attitude towards the distress and mistreatment of those around him and the way his face and actions would give him away. Schultz is the type of man who is well aware of the heinous acts of man but is always surprised when he comes face to face with it. 

Calvin Candie~

Guys..Leo was seriously snubbed for this role. I mean really. To be fair...to br fair...if I had to choose between Loe’s performance and Cristoph’s, I’d pick Christoph (which seems to be the general consensus) but Leo barely got mentioned during the award season at all! That’s some total BS considering how much attention Jamie Foxx got for his lackluster roll. 

You can see all the nominations and wins for this movie HERE.

Leo is a great actor. He puts his all into every roll e plays in and he is one of the only reasons I agreed to watch this movie the first time I did. I knew that even if I was unimpressed with the movie itself I would at least enjoy his performance, which I did. Most memorable of course was the scene where Leo literally cut his hand but kept acting through the scene anyway. I do believe it was not too long after this that people started advocating for Leo to get an Oscar...which he deserved for several performances before this!

Candi is one Evil son of a bitch that you love to hate! A cold, unfeeling, hateful man and the perfect villain for this movie. He’s also the perfect portrayal of the privileged living in their own skewed reality...Like how he loves french things but can’t speak french and others are advised not to speak it around him for fear of embarrassing him. Or the fact that he named his slaves after the three musketeers not even having read the books or knowing the author was black (Bi-racial actually). Ignorance is bliss. Willful ignorance is pathetic. 

Stephen~

If you don’t know what an Uncle Tom is....it’s Stephen. A person (specifically a black person) who sucks up to someone (specifically a white person/people) and is only out for themselves, so much so that they will rat on, sell out, and altogether betray their own people. Real life examples include Omarosa and Ben Carson.

While Stephens character was funny at times, I hated him more that Candi I think. >_< 

The early version of the “KKK”~ 

Okay this scene was just Hilarious! I don’t care what anyone says, it’s funny as hell and always will be!

On to...Django~ 

Okay...Jamie Foxx had his moments.  Like-

and 

About 4 years ago I adopted a cat from a rescue. The whole litter was named after 70′s songs and the cat I picked out was named “Smoke On The Water”…I only call him that when he is in trouble! Normally I just call him MoeMoe or Smokey.

My MoeMoe sleeps in some very odd positions, so I decided to catch him on camera in as many weird positions as I could and this is what I came out with. 

Ahhh to be in High School again...actually I’ll pass on that, but there were a lot of good times during lunch watching YouTube videos in the computer lab. Here are few that were really popular! ^_^

Junior Senior - Move Your Feet 

Not gonna lie guys, I was pretty pissed when they redid this song for “Trolls”. -__-

The Duck Song

You got any grapes?...WTF was was up with us? lol

The Ultimate Showdown

Good guys, bad guys, and explosions as far as the eye can see!

Badgers : animated music video : MrWeebl

The guys at our school got a big kick out of this....I never knew why.

I’m a little late with this, I original wanted to post something MJ related on his 60th birthday which passed on Aug. 29th, but better late than never I suppose!

I’m sure all of you know by now that I was/am a HUGE Michael Jackson fan. If you weren’t around for the conversation here is the poster I made for my room and a pic of me getting MJ stuff for my birthday when I was a young Lana.

Anywhozel, I think today I just wanna post some of my favorite Michael songs in hopes you’ll enjoy them or perhaps find a song you’ve not heard before. ^_^ This is the first music Monday so think of this as a trial. 

Say, Say, Say: Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson 

Rockin’ Robin:

When I was in elementary school we would listen to this song during music class. My mom would even play it for me in the mornings at home! I mean...how can you not love it? Makes you wanna dance right?

Blame It On The Boogie

Off The Wall

Yes, it’s true. If you add baked good to any insult it is automatically funny. It’ll help you laugh off your frustration as well. The first time I realized this I was in high school playing Call Of Duty....My boyfriend at the time played so naturally I did too. Once I killed one of the other players and he called me a “Queef Cookie”. That is one of the hardest laughs I had had in a while. Soooo, from then on I pretty much always use this format when calling someone (usually something) out of their name. Allow me to give you some of my favorite examples in no particular order. 

Douche Waffel

Bitch Bagel

Twat Truffle 

Ass Muffin

Dick Pickle...okay that’s not a baked good but that came out while I was driving one day and it stuck.

She’s a peach, she’s a doll, she’s a pal of mine! 

I think it’s safe to say that if you have not seen Coraline you are missing out on a stop-motion masterpiece! I recently watched this film for the first time in several years and...I forgot how much this is NOT a kids move!

Quick Summary:

“While exploring her new home, a girl named Coraline (Dakota Fanning) discovers a secret door, behind which lies an alternate world that closely mirrors her own but, in many ways, is better...or is it?”

Also, I know it looks like it, but this is NOT a Tim Burton film. I think a lot of people make that mistake because the stop-motion animation was directed by  Henry Selick who also worked on “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “James and the Giant Peach”, both films Burton was a part of. 

I was thinking about this movie quite a bit after I watched it. One reason was that I found it quite interesting that Wybie (Below), was a character added to the film that was not in the original book. This was of interest to me when I found out that the novel had a lot of inner dialog and the only way for the audience to be able to hear this dialog was for Coraline to say it, so, to prevent her from spending more than half the movie talking to herself, Wybie was created. 

I think he was a fantastic addition really. It made me have hope for books like “The Vampire Lestat” where there is a ton of inner dialog. I always wanted to see a film version of that book but was quite worried about how they would be able to get such in depth inner conversations across to watchers who had not read the book. 

Anyway, back to Coraline. Some of the imagery was down right scary in this movie. When the “other mother” started to show her true form an things started to fall apart it was...disturbing. I felt so bad for “other Wybie”..the beldam (other mother) didn’t think he was smiling enough and look what she did to him!

Oh! Don’t forget about “Other Father!”

Oh! Also, also don’t forget about the ghost children who look the way the did when they died!!

Speaking of the ghost children...that was a really good scene. Freaky as hell, but good. Check it out!

Seriously though, the beldam is the main antagonist here and she is probably the least scary of everything I mentioned...

Speaking of, the actual beldam puppet sold at auction for $50,190 while the Coraline figuring in the blue sweater sold for $23,900!

Overall this was an excellent, whimsical, well planned film with lots of twists and turns. Of course there are some plot holes and things that were a little strange but when you turn a book into a movie it is bound to happen. If anything it alows you to let you imagination fill in the blanks without taking away from the movie. 

Since I mentioned leaving things to the imagination, personally I loved the performance by the two former circus women lol, it was my first clue (other than all the stuffed dogs) this move might be a little more adult that some parents probably bargained for! LMAO Look at dem tiddies, they left almost nothing to the imagination here!!

I recommend this movie 100%. If you are looking for other good stop motion films, may i suggest~