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Thursday, Oct 15, 2009 8:48PM / Members only
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Plagiarism~~
Tuesday, Sep 29, 2009 11:04AM / Members only
It's midterms week right now so I'm at work grading writing assignments.Just upset at some of the kids plagiarizing passages from the internet...If you can't spell 'introduce' properly and then write about the 'hierarchy of the patriarch system' then I get suspicious. The assignment was to write a letter to a pen pal introducing themselves and Korea. I don't mind if the student doesn't use perfect grammar or spelling, I'm really happy when I see that they are at least trying. Sigh...I even found that one of the students copied her passage from ANOTHER Korean middle school's essay contest website. Then I found the ACTUAL passage on a tourism site.
The worst part is I can't even give them a 0....the lowest grade I can give out of 5 is a 2. And the class average must be a 4 (I mentioned this before in another blog I think...) So now I'm boosting up other kid's grades to give these kids a 2. Only thing keeping me sane right now is the fact that I'm going to Japan soon! Can't wait!
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More KPOP Controvery *Dum Dum Dum
Friday, Sep 25, 2009 9:51AM / Members only
So the reason I've been updating so much this week (which is really unlike me) is that I've kind of missed AliveNotDead ~~ so I'm back
! More rumors are circulating so more updates on the 2PM/Jaebum situation. For those who don't understand please refer to the previous posts! JYP Flying Out to Seattle:Apparently JYP himself is flying out to Seattle to meet with Jay to discuss a few things. Of course the fan clubs are nervous and suspicious that JYP is just going to convince Jay to tell him to make an official message along the lines of, "Please support 2PM as a 6 member group and I'm really happy and fine now so don't worry about me etc..." and this time it can't be fake or an IP address from a different country....Rumors of Rebellion Amongst Remaining 6 Members:Fans have been circling the JYPE building since the controversy started and someone who is friends with a manager at JYPE has got the scoop (they posted stuff they knew, then deleted it a few hours alter in fear that their friend would fine out
) Turns out that there are some of the remaining members that are refusing to go onto stage as 6 members. They want Jay back and they're defying JYP/JYPE which makes JYP pretty short-tempered these days. All staff have been warned that they can't say anything but we all know....stuff always gets out one way or another. 2PM was booked for a Model contest show and also the Dream concert...they announced that 2PM would be performing as 6 members at these two events but now it seems that the company only wants Nickhun (the most popular member) to perform, and he's not going to do it either. Two other members will be singing but the stations can't record it because 2PM has officially halted ALL activities including their MV shooting and new album jacket shootings.News has been slow lately because there are just news articles coming out every 10 minutes contradicting each other so....so far that's the two big ones. It's getting more and more interesting. I just hope that the ending will have a successful 2PM with 7 members, I'd hate to see them lose everything because of this!Can you resist these boys? Haha I took the liberty of adding their names through PS.
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Update on KPOP Controversy~~ Jaebum Park (Part 2)
Wednesday, Sep 23, 2009 9:15AM / Members only
So last time I wrote about something big that's going on in the KPOP world and currently it's still going on. Since the last time I wrote, it was about the fans boycotting the company right?The boycott continues....Two Days Ago:In 2PM's official fancafe, Jay posted a message to his fans stating (translated):Everybody...There's a reason I left...JYP (Owner/Founder of JYPE) and 2PM are like family to me...During this tough time they stayed by my side...It's already hard...please don't make it harder.Sorry to make you worry so much.Fans were confused after this message...because this means they don't need to boycott anymore because it really was Jay's choice to leave. JYPE immediately releases a statement saying that this message is from Jay (Even though it took them days to release official statements when Jay was still in Korea
)Later...the IP address was found to be from South Korea. Not Seattle, where Jay currently is. Fan club announces they will be continuing the boycott....they believe JYPE is trying to manipulate the situation by using Jay's account to write the message, or make people believe it was Jay by sending out an official statement soon.Fans have also been using post-its to post supportive messages all over the JYP buildings in Seoul and New York.
They even got together and did a Flash Mob Dance to 2PM's Again & Again in Seoul.Yesterday:One of the members of 2PM, WooYoung posted a message on his homepage (quite similar to Jay's "message") translated:It's frustratingWhy don't our fans understand our hearts?Jaebum's heart.JYP's heart.And our hearts...It's so frustrating I think I'm going crazy.There were apparently fans that were outside the JYPE building a little before the message was posted and fans saw WooYoung talking one on one with JYP (whose car tires had holes in them...) after a supposed stock holder's/investor's meeting...so they think that even if WooYoung was the one to write the mesage he was pressured by JYP/Investors. Fans have also stated that they will not believe anything that is online from 2PM because celebrity accounts are known to be hacked into frequently. Also because WooYoung was one of the first members to show support for Jay publicly after the controvert broke out. They won't believe unless they see it in video from the 2PM boys because the fans have announced that they feel deep mistrust with JYPE.
Latest News:Fans have presented JYPE with a petition for Jay's return to 2PM. All 17 boxes of it. And the 2PM internetional fan club has also been mailing petitions to JYPE from all over the world.I wonder what will happen next? I was supportive of the boycott in the beginning...now I'm not so sure.___________________________________________________________
Now something unrelated to the KPOP world haha...It's almost midterms week here so I don't really have any classes because they need to finish covering the material and as the native English teacher, they don't understand me as fast as they understand Korean.ChuSeok (Korean national holiday) is coming around the corner and I'm going to Japan! These two weeks are going to be mega busy because there are events every weekend ~ I'm going to be so tired but I can't wait! -
KPOP Controvery~~ 2PM (박재범, Jay Park)
Sunday, Sep 20, 2009 4:58PM / Members only
I'm gonna write about something that's going on in the entertainment world in Korea...something that I've been really interested in and been following for a while now.
The Situation (Thus Far):Park JaeBum was the leader of 2PM, a very popular Korean boy group. He was born in the US (3rd generation Korean-American) and before he went to Korea, didn't really speak Korean nor know a lot about Korean culture. In the past week, some netizens dug up his 4 year-old Myspace comments regarding his life in Korea. Here's an image of some of the stuff he said...people mostly focused on "Korea is gay, I hate Koreans etc..."
Netizens went out and called him a traitor to the country and there was even an online petition calling for him to commit suicide. He released a statement of apology saying that he has changed since those days. He said that he was having a hard time adjusting to life in Korea and he was venting to his friend. Other members of 2PM wrote supportive messages on their blogs but were met with floods of negative comments.
After 4 days of chaos, Jay released a statement that he was quitting 2PM because he didn't want to bring down the other members and was returning to America the same day. Fans found out about his flight and rushed to the airport...resulting in over 2,000 fans going to the airport to stop him from leaving. All 7 members of 2PM took him to the airport in tears and he left Korea. Upon landing in Seattle, some fans went to the airport to pick him up but none approached him. He was reported to have burst into tears when he saw his mother and only repeated the word sorry, over and over.
Currently, 2PM's fanclub is boycotting 2PM without Jay. Even though JYPE (the entertainment company) has sent out a official notice that 2PM will continue on without Jay asking fans to support Jay's decision to quit. Fans do not believe that JB quit on his own accord (Jay was signed to a 7-year contract which isn't close to being over, and entertainment companies are of course, first and foremost, businesses -__-") and are therefore trying to force JYPE to bring Jay back. They have sent out petitions, taken out ads in newspapers and even held a silent protest in front of the JYPE building. They have even returned over 3,000 unopened 2PM CDs...even signed ones.My Take on the Situation:I personally think that the netizens went too far in their criticism of JB. Yes, he was immature but who isn't when they're 17? Persecuting him for comments he wrote four years ago when he had moved to a country where he didn't know the language, didn't know the culture and was put into an environment entirely different to what he has experience in his life....who wouldn't be unhappy? Especially for somebody who came to the country hoping to get famous and training everyday in dancing, singing, rapping...uncertain about their future. I also thought that the translations of the comments were taken out of proportion due to a misunderstanding of American culture...I moved to Korea with some experience in Korean culture and a little bit of the language...and even then it was hard for me. As an Asian-American, most people who see me in Korea assume that I'm Korean-American and as I've written in previous blog, I have been discriminated against countless times because my Korean isn't fluent. I can't imagine how hard it was for him at that age and situation. I really hope his company can let him return to the group and to Korea.He has trained for four years to become the leader of a Korean pop group...but it only took 4 days for all his hard work to go down the drain. Many fans and other entertainers have come out and showed their support for him and even the netizens who criticized him before are retracting their comments but JYPE still hasn't confirmed Jay's return. I do think that on some level it is JYPE's responsibility to make sure that their trainees are taken care of when they first arrive, helping them adapt to life in Korea and culture shock. If he hadn't felt so lonely and out of place he might of have positive comments back then.Korea has been notorious for their netizen armies that will fixate on something negative and tear down celebrities and regular citizens. Choi Jin Shil, known as Korea's sweetheart committed suicide just a year ago because netizens accused her of being loan shark to her best friend's husband (who committed suicide earlier due to a failed business attempt).I could write about this stuff forever but I won't...gotta get back to cleaning! What do you guys think of the situation?Last but not least, here are some random videos of JaeBum and 2PM ^^This one is him singing/rapping 'Just Friends' by MusiqSoulchild. He's a brilliant dancer and his singing has improved a LOT from his beginning days.Fans wrote him a song...hoping that he will come back soon. Quite touching ~ I actually cried watching it ~~ there are English subtitles.LAST: 2PM's Again & Again Music video...their most popular song to date. I found one with English subtitles too =]
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- Born and raised in NYC. Music is my life. Traveling is my release. Currently teaching English in South Korea...
- Gender: Female
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