Shibbal Sechie!

Boys Over Flowers star Jang Ja-yeon has killed herself, committing suicide last Saturday on 7th March 2009. Her body was found hanging from a stairwell by her sister in the evening and to date everybody is asking why did Jang Ja-yeon kill herself and commit suicide just when her career seemed to be on the brink of breaking out this year?

All the usual reasons and plausible explanations have surfaced to help explain why Jang Ja-yeon might have chosen to take her own life. The pretty Korean star of Boys Over Flowers, the hit drama serial showing on TV now in the country based on the hit Japanese manga Hana Yori Dango, was set to be one of the breakout stars in 2009 with a few movies set to debut this year. Jang Ja-yeon was said to have run-ins and trouble with her management agency, tough schedule and the requisite Korean show business disease – depression. Her sister mentioned that Ja-yeon wanted to die due to all the pressure she was feeling and put under.

While being under the media glare and spotlight will undoubtedly bring its stress and pressure, and stars should learn how to handle it properly, perhaps their management agencies should also do their part by not putting them under undue pressure and help them to cope with the work and schedules. On hindsight it might have been good to help her get help for the depression but then pushing her to work even harder at the same time just doesn’t help.

One wonders how many more Korean stars will choose to end their lives this year?

It has often been said that Korean men are chauvinistic and handsome. Another trait of theirs that is often swept under the rug, and hidden under the recent years of a wave of the new age Korean male image, is their violent behavior towards anything that irritates or frustrates them. This includes their parents, siblings, friends, family, children and wives. If you watch Korean movies, the violence is celebrated in many ways and most of the films of recent years produced from their stagnant scene is mostly of the gangster genre. Directors like Kim Ki Duk help fuel the opinion by releasing film after film that honors and glorifies violence in every angle, perpetuated by both Korean men and women, mostly from the men though.

Came across this Korean film commercial that was released to market both the film that it was taken from, and the car that was used in it. The producers initially included a scene whereby the woman was slapped by the man, and the person who put it up caught the act. It probably made some headlines in South Korea, since the offending scene was subsequently removed. Advertisers were accused of glorifying violent treatment of women in the country, which truth be told is actually quite common and accepted by the women no less. Korean women do not even want to talk about it, and some of the younger ones have the misguided view that their boyfriends are kind, gentle and nice. Wait till they get married or are refused sex.

Despite all this, the commercial was actually pretty good and who really cares about the slapping scene? The car looked quite cool with its sleek black design, not something you would normally associate with Korean made cars, which have long had the bad reputation of many years past of being no better than cheap used cars. They are of course much better now, and since they are still relatively cheap compared to cars from other countries, have become quite popular.

You wonder if the commercial could be made for another angle though. Man rides in cool car with woman. They enjoy a nice ride out with the wind blowing in their faces. Man slaps woman. They fight and argue. They later make up and the car saves the day as they enjoy another great ride that soothes both their souls and bodies. “How to save your marriage” might be a very viable title for the short clip since it does portray quite realistically what many modern women tend to accept as an apology when they feel like leaving their husbands after getting slapped, which is to get a real nice new ride. Of course, this probably applies only to the materialistic ones. It might be something that happens regularly in Korea, you never know. Seems to be the case when you watch them in K dramas.

I can still remember this K-drama What Happened in Bali very vividly from many years back. It was my first Korean drama DVD boxed set that I bought… without subtitles. I couldn’t understand or speak Korean at that time, but my pretty but slightly silly Korean pal recommended that I buy What Happened in Bali as she thought it was an excellent series. She promptly forgot to check if there were subtitles and I was just as silly to have bought it without checking it myself either.

I still have it sitting at home, but since then I’ve picked up the language sufficiently well to understand it in parts. I also went ahead and bought a new set with English subtitles so that I could go ahead and finish the whole series understanding perfectly why they were crying and looking like the end of the world was upon them.

What Happened in Bali not only inspired me to pick up the Korean language, but I also fell in love with the location where the drama was shot. It was Bali, one of the offshore islands in Indonesia. Famous for its surf, sand and batik shirts, I made my way there about a year after watching it. God, the trip was quite tiring but the beautiful white sandy beaches more than made up for it. I had a great time surfing as well. The waves were awesome. The Balinese people were also very friendly and welcoming to visitors. I was fascinated by their local architecture and swore to myself that I would retire there sometime in the future. The resort I stayed in was also excellent, great service staff, beautiful rooms and some of the most beautiful Bali custom made shades we’ve seen this side of the world.

I’ve heard that many Koreans flock to Bali for the same reasons but wonder if just as many are leaving now that the Korean won has depreciated to just about being worth nothing. Okay, that was exaggerating things a little, but I do hope that Korean drama DVD sets are much cheaper now because of the cheaper won, and also that Soh Nyuh Shi Dae will make an appearance in a concert here so that I can cheer them on!

SNSD’s Gee, which is taking the Korean pop music scene by storm, has been given a makeover with the use of traditional instruments, not necessarily all Korean instruments though. It actually sounds better than Girls’ Generation’s own version and the guzheng (Chinese zither) player is awesome with some spectacular runs of her own.

The guitarist tries to strike a cool pose but looks decidedly lame beside the two ladies who are just feeling it in the studio. What do you think of this version of Soh Nyuh Shi Dae’s ‘Gee’ and which do you like more?

Here’s an incredible video of a five year old blind girl from South Korea who is able to play piano by ear. After hearing any song just once or a couple of times, Yoo Ye Eun can recite it on the piano in her own unique way. Ye Eun has never received any form of coaching on the instrument, and her mother told the audience and judges that since young, the precocious tot has been able to master any song on her own. The amazing part of it all is that Yoo Ye Eun is blind. She can even play accompaniment to someone singing, and do it in the perfect key. Yoo Ye Eun might be blind, but she is very talented. She is fortunate to receive such warm applause and acceptance as well, since Korea society is known to be a little less accepting of the disabled.

Let’s hope that Yoo Ye Eun will be able to nurture her piano playing talents and become an accomplished musician in the future, all the while changing the Korean’s perception of the disabled.