Random Musings: Celebrity Doppelgangers, Lee Hyori Never Gets Off Easy And T-ara’s Angel In Disguise?

Happy Easter to all those that follow that holiday and happy holiday for everyone else, I on the other hand will be spending the week that is supposedly meant to be a mid-semester break but is in reality just a fancy way of saying that we’re giving new a week to study before destroying your spirit with a billion exams, the calm before the storm as they say. However I can’t let the prospects of failing courses get in the way of writing meaningless rumblings so shall we get started? We have celebrity doppelgangers of the animal and human type, how Lee Hyori never seems to get a break and is Core Contents CEO, Kim Kwang Soo, T-ara’s Angel in disguise?

Celebrity Doppelgangers and something that’s a bit weirder and worrying.

You have to admire the skills of netizens at times; they can find links and connections to nearly anything and everything. Take in point this week’s article about Celebrity and their Doggy Doppelgangers or how G.NA looks very similar to actresses Hwang Shin Hye given the right angle, lighting, clothing, hair, well pretty much everything really. That’s like saying I COULD look like So Ji Sub if I had his hair, face, body, clothing, shoes, etc but we’ll let that slide for the time being.

The resemblence is striking

But those doggy images were quite something, I’ve seem a few of them in the past but seeing them all arranged like that in the article is amazing for several facts, one, that someone actually went around finding a picture of a dog and then somehow managed to find a picture of a celebrity in the same pose and two, that someone actually then went around compiling all those comparison shots for the greater doggy good. In some ways thou it’s a bit strange, it seems like in Asia the animal obsession seems to be dogs while over here in the English internet world, our obsession seems to be with kitties (KITTIES!!!). But the tides could perhaps be changing over in the land of the morning calm with what is probably the most absurd thing I’ve seen in recent times, and that’s saying a lot considering the stuff I’ve seen on the internet.

Stupid Human And Human Writing Taking Up More Space Than Kitty!

I’m sure a few of you have watched the sitcom “High Kick, The Short Legs Strike Back,” and it’s cast of interesting characters. One of those characters happen to be the slightly awkward teacher Park Ha Sun. One of the scenes in the sitcom involved Park Ha Sun acting cute to her boyfriend Seo Ji Suk by making kitty sounds. Well someone upper management thought that was absolutely brilliant and decided that they needed to make an album out of it. Look it’s simpler for me to just point you to the video below and you can make your own decisions.

Kitty Roly Poly, No 1 in the Kitty Charts Forever!

But it wouldn’t be a random musing if I wasn’t complaining like a polar bear with a hair loss problem and you’d be right, I wish to file a complaint about this. It’s funny, absurd, abnormal, quirky and overall a great little joke to extend the story of the sitcom out into the real world and give fans something a bit more after the sitcom has ended but you want us to pay $6 for 12 tracks of kitty sounds? Do you really have to nickel and dime us for something like this? It’s a little joke, something that’s a bit unsubstantial that could have been a nice little gift to fans for following the sitcom and going along with Park Ha Sun’s character but obviously some annoying wall of flesh in the marketing and planning department decided that this would be a great way to suck some more money out of us fans. Maybe I don’t value the work involved in creating even a joke album like this as highly as I should, but this could have been the Nyan cat of the Korean netizen world if it was the great one-off price of Free.

“Yes you are! And you’re sitting there! Hi, kitty!” Source: XKCD

Maybe I’m just a cheapskate, the album seems to be a pretty popular ring tone right now and I suspect most people aren’t buying the whole album, but just one or two tracks at 50 cents each. I guess in a good way, the rise of digital distribution is the reason why such things like this can even exist. It would have been extremely stupid for many reasons to do something like this in the old CD and Tape era.

Yes! Join the Uprising! Source: Ayame Kenoshi

Another good thing is that this could slowly give rise to the popularity of kitties in the Korean netizen community, who would then join the international community of kitty lovers in the English internet community. I for one welcome our new kitty overlords into my life and into the life of many Korean netizens, maybe this will help them become less angry and obnoxious because frankly how could you write angry and negative comments in front of a kitty?

Lee Hyori scribbles on her body; some childish man follows her lead to disastrous effect.

So where to begin, well let’s just go through some of the news articles involving Lee Hyori over the last week or two shall we? Lee Hyori was once enemy No 1 for other agencies and the one person they wanted their celebrities to avoid, she described her boyfriend as old and ugly, she revealed her house showing her love for kitties and animals, while showing off how big the house is, she wants to have a reunion with her old Fin.K.L members, she was spotted crying at the wedding of her old manager and she looked like Twiggy in a recent photo shoot. However the article I want to mention in particular is the article where she had to apologise for scribbling on her body and showing up at a fashion show.

“…I’m sorry. I wanted to stand out…” Well Atleast She’s Honest About It

First things first, she did well to quickly apologise in her trademark witty fashion, annoying as it is this isn’t really the time or place to advocate scribbling on your own arm in the pursuit of fashion when there is a vocal group of humourless fans breathing down your neck.  If I was to actually make a complaint about this then I would say that coming to a public fashion show with scribbles along your body (And I don’t really think they were hennas but actually drawn on with a felt tip pin) then it does make it seem like you didn’t really place a high amount of value or significance in the fashion show along with the fact that yes it is still true that tattoos are a bit taboo in the peninsula despite recent trend changes.

Look! Moustache Above Steve. Surely That’s Awesome To Everyone?

But these aren’t really tattoos nor has Lee Hyori ever been known to take herself too seriously. It just petty excuses to brandish the pitchforks again and get those keyboards warmed up. It’s ok to draw little watches and other scribbles using pens when we are younger (Or even when you’re older if you’re a bit childish and a friend of yours happens to be asleep) but when Lee Hyori does it in public? No no that is horrible and she must be forced to make an apology. I think I mention practically every week about how humourless some of the netizen community seems to be these days. Surely they must laugh on occasions as well? They can’t be that old and cranky can they? Seriously Lee Hyori wrote Steve along with a moustache on her neck, how is that not funny and what part of that warrants the amount of hate this seems to have gotten from the vocal minority? Go look at some kitty pictures and lighten up please? You’re starting to make the rest of us Korean netizens look needlessly aggressive and conservative. 

Core Content CEO Kim Kwang Soo, T-ara’s angel in disguise or just behind the times?

I’ve been meaning to discuss this for a few weeks now and I think now is a good time to bring this topic up for discussion. We’ve had rumours for the past few weeks about a shakeup to the T-ara member line up and it has recently been confirmed that T-ara will be going from a 7 to 9 member team. T-ara has also been in the news for other items such as Jiyeon taking a farewell photo with fans in Thailand, a photshopped photo of Hyomin that transformed her into a rocket firing soldier, Boram acting very cute, T-ara receiving a massive offer from a famous Japanese publishing company and Core Contents getting sued for cancelling a concert on short notice.

He’s lucky the members haven’t tried to have him replaced after this.

There is one particular quote from Core Contents CEO Kim Kwang Soo that has got a lot of fans up in arms and it’s this one “…But if any member shows a lack of effort and it results in the loss/damage of other members, then we are willing to replace that member, or even add more members…” That is quite the statement to be making in public and it’s understandable that fans are a bit antsy about it; he is practically threatening the members in public that they will be replaced if they don’t work harder. Let’s step back a bit and mention a few articles before continuing. We’ve had Soyeon appear on stage despite an injury, we’ve also had Eunjung follow the team to Paris despite her injury as well, we had news before T-ara only sleeps 30mins to 2 hours per day, they have continued their ridiculous concept sense by dressing up as catwoman (Not the first time mind you) and they’ve only recently opened up a fanclub due to CEO Kim Kwang Soo insistence that fanclubs are not really that important.

Someone in this company really likes cats, that’s fine by me

All of this may seem like I’m going to side with T-ara and you’d be right but let’s play devil’s advocate for a bit and perhaps try to understand the counter-argument for all off this. Despite what some may perceive as heavy-handiness and old fashioned managerial methods, CEO Kim Kwang Soo has done extremely well in terms of marketing and running his numerous idol groups over the years. He’s been able to grow T-ara into the their current powerhouse status in just a few short years and for the most part the members have followed his lead without too much complaining or rebelling. They obviously have confidence in their CEO to do what’s right for them and are willing to follow his lead despite what he is saying in public. If I was to make an argument for the quote above, I guess it could just be a way of telling the members that they need to be on their toes and not become complacent, perhaps prodding the flame a bit to make it shine a bit brighter.

Hey i wouldn’t mind working for a guy that gave me money like that

However execution of such ideas is a fickle thing and to an outside observer like us, it comes across as rather dictatorial and harsh. He seems to be indirectly saying that he believes certain members aren’t pulling their weight, thus affecting the other members, and he is willing to cut his losses on said member without too much care or concern. This along with his dogged insistence about not opening fan groups and his consistent referencing of how he “has worked over 30 years in the industry” makes him sound like a guy that perhaps has the best intentions in mind but is executing his idea like the industry would have a few decades back. It’s obviously worked well up until now, thus his insistence in not changing but there is just so much a person can take before cracking isn’t there?

Look at him, he wouldn’t hurt a fly.

If you are publicly making statements that seem to thinly suggest that you lack confidence in your own group then what makes you think us consumers will be any more receptive to it? As the head of the group, you should be rallying your forces not telling them gloom and doom. Making comment like he has can go two ways, it could harden the resolve of the members (Which is what he is hoping will happen) or it could further increase their worries and concerns, along with building up hidden angst amongst the members. It’s not very nice living a constant state of fear, knowing that you could be cut from the group at any given time despite all the work done up till now. You are now competing, not against other groups, but within your own group. That can work at times but it’s not a sure fire success story by any significant means. Frankly I think Kim Kwang Soo definitely cares for the success of the groups he is running but his execution is failing him lately, his treatment (or lack thereof) of his other groups like Coed School or 5dolls might suggest that his managerial skills aren’t as good as they used to be. Or all this talk about changing members could just be a brilliant noise-marketing technique to get us talking about a group that is currently not active in Korea, in which case the man’s a genius and we’ve just been trolled by an expert.