Pipe Full of Dreams

Probably the man with the longest reach in the Korean music industry JYP (Park Jin-Young's initials in the English-friendly name order), a.k.a Rain/Bi's former producer, is certainly a force to be reckoned with. After conquering the Korean market he helped bring forth the Hallyu wave to the rest of Asia by engineering the rise of one of the biggest stars there is over there; Bi/Rain. There are other groups that he has produced as well, but since I really do not give a could care less, they shall not be mentioned.

Rain and himself parted company last year, due to creative differences. Ever since then I have gotten repeated whiffs of someone trying to be younger than he really is. Especially when he dances. Justin Timberlake and Usher certainly don't move anything like Chris Brown and Omarion. Why? With age comes the realisation that sexy does not necessarily mean flashy. In trying to go up against his younger, hotter, better looking, if slightly (read: a heckuva lot) dumber ex-protege he has gone through all manner of age-defying processes all of which has done nothing but earn him the moniker "gorilla".

Rumours of plastic surgery, extreme weight loss and dodgy taste in clothing aside, JYP is still a good producer. Good as in not revolutionary, as in a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10. He's good enough to have worked with some of the bigger names in the American music industry, but on a personal note, it tends to be the music I skip, because everyone else produces music in a similar manner in the R&B/hip hop field nowadays, less than memorable album filler that masquerades as a mjor release (don't worry I won't start that again). On the other hand I have liked the production on Rain/Bi's albums including my current favourite "With U".

Which brings me to the ultimate reason for this post: his latest bid to take over the world (i.e. the American music market) involves five gamine girls aged 15 to 19 called the Wondergirls. Winsome and pretty with voices that can barely hold a tune (think Cassie), I shocked the living daylights out of myself by actually liking their new single "I'm So Hot". Light, frothy and which as much depth as a hair on a mosquito's behind, it is the type of song that could have been a summer hit in the US. Enjoy!

Go Rain Go!

Speed Racer finally premiered on May 9th 2008 after much anticipation, drooling and chomping at the bit. The Wachowski brothers' live-action adaptation of a much beloved children's anime from Japan which I'm sure they still show in Nigeria. Heaven knows the programming doesn't change much. Anyhoo, one of the biggest Korean megastars--actor, singer, dancer and all around hottie-McHot-hot Bi/Rain (real name Jung Ji Hoon)-- made his first appearance in a Hollywood production as Taejo Togokhan a Japanese racer with an axe to grind with bad guy Royalton. I must say, he acquitted himself nicely. He gave a solid performance, and even though I don't quite understand why the Taejo ends up cheering wildly in the end, I think he did a credible job. His "anglais" needs much work for his next feature Ninja Assassin (again them Wachowski boys)but time and editing might help sort that out.

A couple of things to note:

After watching this movie, you will end up colourblind. The at times stunning, other times miasmic, colour palette will end up painfully and permanently soldered to your retinas rendering you incapable of anything other than black/white differentiation.

I caught Bi dancing during his fight scenes. Oh dear. Let's hope that no-one else noticed.

The producers/directors decided to add hints of Bi's Korean heritage by having his character's first name as Taejo, meaning "great ancestor" (according to wikipedia). Then they decided to have a Japanese company use Korean script to write stuff on their banners, banking on the fact that most audiences won't be able to differentiate between Japanese and Korean. Oh for shame. Or I may be casting aspersions as to their motivation for doing something so daft. Not cool.

Even though this isn't quite a review, I will give it a 3 out of 5 + 0.5 for having Bi in it

Rain is Coming to a Screen Near You!

For the few who are unaware, the Wachowski Brothers (responsible for the Matrix trilogy) are remaking the the Japanese anime Speed Racer. An integral part of any Nigerian kid's childhood due to the incessant repeats on our national TV station NTA, Speed Racer is is near and dear to my heart. What's got me all atwitter is that Rain/Bi, South Korea's hottest singer in both looks and popularity, is playing the part of the Japanese racer Taejo Togokan. Apart from the fact that most of the American audience won't notice that he is very obviously not a native Japanese speaker ( I wonder how they are going to get around that particular issue) I am quite chuffed that he will be making his first splash overseas as an actor and not as a singer.


Why acting and not singing? Well, he's had this annoying pipe dream for a while now that he's going to make it big in the American market since he's already conquered Asia. Given a whole host of huge reasons, including the fact that his brand of pop skews towards the R & B genre and America has long since moved on to "alternative" pop, and the American music industry is amazingly resitant to anything not remotely homegrown (reggaton, dancehall, heck even Daft Punk has a hard time) I do not feel that a failed pop career would be an ideal position for him to be in. A better introduction for him would be the big screen, where i'm sure he will put his best foot forward and show himself off wonderfully well in what i'm sure is going to be a very limited role. He is a solid actor with a few great productions under his belt including I'm a Cyborg But That's Ok with the fabulous director Park Chan Wook, of the Vengeance trilogy. They've got a production still with Rain about to punch the living daylights out of Emile Hirsch. I'm so excited!!! He is one of the few people I would actually squeal for, he's so cute! Ok. obligatory drooling done with.











My only misgivings so far are about the age of the characters with the actors seemingly a tad too old for the roles that they are portraying and the fact that the series is Japanese in origin, and yet they get a South Korean to play the lone Japanese character. There's also the thing about cartoons coming to the big screen and being butchered (see: Transformers) No matter, we will see what camera trickery (there is talk of full focus filming, where both the fore- and background remain in focus) we are going to be collectively dazzled with.