Tuesday 13 April 2010

Now all you need to do is be a real band.

A. N. Jell, you angels, look what you went and did (or rather your merchandise mad production company), you went and made a whole website just about A. N. Jell. Forget You're beautiful (with just a single tab dedicated to the mother ship drama), this website is doing exactly what is says in the URL - www.anjells.com - and is there celebrating the band.

If I have already lost you at this point I apologise; let me give you a little of the background squeeze. A. N. Jell is the name of a four membered fictional band from the South Korean TV drama You're Beautiful [미남이시네요]. Aired in South Korea from October to November 2009, this drama features actors and K-pop starlets alike: Park Shin-hye (actress and model), Jang Geun Suk (actor), Jung YongHwa (member of C. N. Blue) and Lee HongKi (member of F. T. Island). It is about a three member K-pop band who has a new member join, Go Mi Nam. Unfortunately, Go Mi Nam is forced to leave for the U.S. to correct a plastic surgery fail, so Go Mi Nyu (Park Shin-hye), his identical twin sister (who is a sister-in-training) is approached by his manager to pose as him for the duration of his recovery. Against her wishes, she accepts in order to fulfill her brother's dream of finding their mother. Posing as Mi Nam, Mi Nyu enters the group (A. N. JELL) and meets its members; Hwang Tae Kyung (Jang Geun Suk), Kang Shin Woo (Jung YongHwa) and Jeremy (Lee HongKi).
Initially hated on by Tae Kyung, the group's leader and composer, Mi Nyu slowly falls in love with him, only to find herself entangled in a love triangle between him and Shin Woo (who loves her). Jeremy also harbors a one-sided love for her despite not knowing she's a girl (this plot line is wonderful, sadly the other two find out relatively early on). Additionally, Mi Nyu finds herself rivaled against Yoo He Yi, an actress who also has feelings for Tae Kyung.
So that's it in a nutshell.

So this new website, bless its soul, has multiple language options! Yay! Not for everything, but definitely for some important things. It also has some rather interesting tabs, considering it is a website for an imaginary band (the word fake sounds a little harsh considering some of them are actually in bands).
So, let's see. Ah yes, the 'Schedule' tab under 'A. N. Jell' is looking eerily empty. The album tab is a blast though! We have the first album, Archangel, featuring 'I'm a loner' - wait, isn't that a C. N. Blue song?!? Oh, and the second album Colorful island, and third Code name bluenation- it doesn't take a genius to see the trend here (re-invention of F. T. Island and C. N. Blue for any of you who might of already forgotten the origins of ShinWoo and Jeremy). It may just be me, but this seems a little too creepy and encroaching... fake but entirely convincing albums - front cover, track list and all. Hmm.

Anyways, not to speak badly of all the effort that has evidently gone into this, let's inspect the best bit of the site, the character profiles!
First up, Shin Woo:
What may be too small to see here is the stats. I will give you a run down of the best bits. Hobbies: thinking and collecting tea. Need I state, dreamboat. Ideal girlfriend: cute and tidy style. Forget the cute bit, tidy style?! I'm tidy, do you hear me ShinWoo, very tidy indeed. Apparently, according to this, he has no individual skills. Well, OK then, that's fine with me. I'll take him as he stands, and I'll work on my cute.

And dear, dear Jeremy:
What does Jeremy have for us then. Taking care of Joelie (his dog) and 'party' are his two hobby highlights - what a fun time gal. I wonder what 'party' translates to in real life actions..? Favourite foods: all kinds of fruit. Excellent, we have tea on one hand and fruit on the other - one could hardly wish for more from two teenage boys. I think I would be just fine residing in the A. N. house.

And leader:
His personality is perfection and charisma, yikes! His ideal girl is a good wife and a wise mother? Really? And his food types stipulate no sesame and no crustaceans, but he likes deep water. OK, if you say so. Wait for it though, individual skill is grinding radish. YIIIIIIIIIIKES! I think I love the person that wrote and decided this.

After this, Go Mi Nam's is kind of a downer, so I think I'll stop here, but you get the picture. I think I may appreciate this website as more of a work of comic genius over and above anything else, but who said K-pop wasn't about comedy, certainly not me!

5 comments:

Bunny said...

The website of a fictional k-pop band truly is a beautiful thing. I think the creepy element is somewhat amplified by the disorienting mix of Engrish and Korean, I immensely enjoyed the mis-spelling of "CHARACTOR" and "STROY" but also found I was often clicking wildly on things only to end up at blank pages and who knew if this was the fault of my lack of Korean or just more of the pseudo A.N.Jell madness.

As for the profiles, Shin Woo, that bloody dreamboat, collecting tea?! thinking?!??! as if we weren't already weak at the knees at the mention of him. And Jess, you are both tidy AND cute so there really is nothing to hold you back (aside from the fact he's a fictional character, but as for YongHwa, I think he's in Japan right now, that means there's not even an ocean holding you back...)

This whole entry has left me longing to re-watch the whole show, I'm still in a dvd dilhema, do I need the directors cut? will i even find the limited release again? why dont I have any money? why can't I spend all day, every day, watching this beautiful drama?

I here and now confess my undying love for "you're beautiful", through the lyrics of A.N.Jell :

"I will promise you

두눈엔 너만 담고 살아갈께
(From now on, I promise to live with my two eyes filled with only you)

I will promise you

두 팔은 널 안고 살아갈께
(From now on, I promise to live with my two arms holding you)

..."

even when we get to "걷다가 지칠 때엔 작은 의자도 되줄께
(In times when you walk while you feel tired, I promise to become your little chair)" I will promise you.

(lyric translation borrowed from http://yuyaindou.blogspot.com)

Jessica Jane said...

I was totally going to comment on the Engrish, but I feared it may sound critical or patronising, rather than adoring, so I witheld. But I'm so glad that you were enjoying it too.

As for the A. N. Jell lyrics, this is the first time I have had a look, and wow, they are supreme. I never knew that they were quite this heartfelt, though the sweet acting to accompany surely gave it away.

That you were talking about re-watching, I too have been considering this of late. I was looking at some maagazines in Tsutaya, and they are still publishing giant 8 page articles on the show. There is nothing new they have to show my, but this doesn't prevent me pawing over then for hours on end glossing over what Japanese I don't understand (which is a lot). What to do, what to do. I'm also not sure what to do about the DVD - evidently I'm holding out for now. But I don't know how long I can last. I know I will have it in time for us to watch if you don't already.

fizzywoohoo said...

So here I am again going through your / & jessica's wonderful site. I hope I'm not annoying you guys yet and that it's ok for me to participate in the celebration of all things kpop! (because real life friends who like kpop are a rarity for me)

I'm still having withdrawal syptoms actually because I still need my fix of You're Beautiful. I never imagined loving another series as much as I loved Boys Over Flowers but..A.N.Jell has made me eat my words. A friend of mine--who is also mad for Shin Woo--said, "I cannot believe that Shin Woo does not exist in this world! That's quite sad and unfair."

And even if I love Tae Kyung's character and melt at the thought of Shin Woo's actions...a part of me still thinks Jeremy has some sort of edge over them because *bless him* he loved "mi nam" not even knowing she was girl..though it is kinda one-sided. I still love the bus scene though.

Is the director's cut available online? You guys are way luckier because the dvds are available in your areas. I even want my own Pig-Rabbit! (yes, so that I can talk and complain to it as well, like Tae Kyung)

I haven't visited the website yet...looks like a lot of fun. Ok, will amuse myself at work reading up on the imaginary band...because fake is such a harsh word. =)

Jessica Jane said...

Hello there! Never annoying, not at all. We are so happy to have you read and join in on the all important discussions. Sorry we haven't been around much of late.

I understand your missing YB - I miss it all the time. Thank god for GIFs and the joys they can bring. Even the OST sets me off some days.
I've never actually watched Boys over flowers, but one of my good friends watched it and *loved it*, so I shall try to make sure I do soon.

Bless Jeremy for loving a boy. His character is the best! It's so hard to commit to a favourite.

As for the director's cut, I've not seen it online, but if I do I will let you know. I know you can buy pig rabbits though!!

Bunny said...

hello ladies,

directors cut here: http://www.yesasia.com/global/youre-beautiful-dvd-10-disc-english-subtitled-sbs-tv-drama-directors/1022558340-0-0-0-en/info.html its the korean edition with english subtitles and its not cheap :(

I think we probably have the same access to buying things as you, nothing is available in shops here, we have to order everything online, I have the american dvd box set (not directors cut) i bought offline, but even that is region 1 so only works on region free dvd players. I'm still wishing for a pig rabbit too!

and Jeremy, oh Jeremy !! i miss him !