"everythings over, this world is over, the time is over.."

I cannot let this slip by unnoticed.

My current highlight of the weekly music shows, its not Beast performing 'Fiction' like perfection, its not Lee Hongki out of his freakin' mind clawing drunkenly at his bandmates, its not even Boyfriend and the most sickly cute genki fluffy sparkles debuts of all time...

...no, its the dance mime masterpiece 4 minutes of performance art that is the comeback single from H.O.T's Jang Woo Hyuk - "Time is (L)over" - see what he did there?! LOVER/OVER. wow.

For those unfamiliar, H.O.T were super popular 90s Korean boyband who have all gone solo whilst they got a bit older and did their military service etc. Woo Hyuk, the rapper of the group and widely known for his AMAZING dancing abilities, completely his military service last year, and decided to stick with the chic grown out crew cut hair and he seems to have a naturally affinity for luxury sportswear dressing, which admittedly is a great look for him, and yes he totally looks like Super Junior's Eunhyuk (or alternatively all the WooHyuk fans are going nuts in the comments everywhere they can saying "no Eunhyuk looks like Woohyuk, because Woohyuk came first and he's older and blah blah blah.." but really, no, everyone means Woohyuk reminds them of Eunhyuk, because most of us knew who Eunhyuk was before we had to look up who Woohyuk was, we're not disputing who was born first.... but anyway, this is really besides the point...) crossed maybe with a little Jo Kwon? and unbelievably is 33 years old?!

Oh in case any of our readers are confused as to whether or not its ok to crush on WooHyuk oppa? let me help you out.

I am not mocking Jang Woo Hyuk. The song is a total grower, and he really is amazing, the choreography is insanely brilliant... but really, are there not just moments of this that are... hilarious? I feel like he was working on this dance routine like some epic party trick possibly for the last 3 years (what else is he going to do in the army? popping and locking must have made the days fly by!). I do feel a little disappointed that he doesn't include that move where you stand with your elbows up and hands pointed down like a scarecrow and then spin one hand that hits the other and makes it spin and stop and sway,  could he not just have tagged that on at the end? I guess the laser eyes are pretty cool though ... and the ending is awesome, truly awesome. 

(This is the dance version of the MV. The other version was basically a dance too. but this one had more cool lasers and steps and stuff and you see the full routine. regular version here.)

Well done Woohyuk, this is without a doubt a superior solo track to that time that you covered Blazin Squad's "Flip Reverse It"...

Can not get over this ending. Its like laser quest, Digital Bounce, TRON, the end of Labyrinth, MC Escher, Clockwork Orange, semaphore.... I could go on. MASTERPIECE.

P.S.  "TIME IS OBER"

-BUNNY

Eric who?

So, the new Teen Top teaser came out today! At the mere sight of the article title I got so excited. After seeing their new year performance on KBS I was even more hyped for the comeback than I had been before, as if that was possible. But I watch the teaser, and not even a glimpse of my boys. You heard me, not one of them in sight, just some man called Eric! Take a look for yourselves:

Not that this Eric looks like a bad man, or even an unattractive man. But he is not my precious L.Joe. So, of course, I had to investigate - who the hell is Eric and what has he done with my boys?

First means first, the other tag on the post I first read this on was Shinhwa. What is 'Shinhwa', I wondered. Well, apparently it seems as though there were a little before my time, or at least my arrival onto the utopia that is the k-pop scene. They were a six member boy band that debuted in 1998. Apparently it is Andy, Eric's bandmate, who supervises Teen Top, but unfortunately he is otherwise disposed right now. Hmm, this left me thinking, does anyone else still remember them? What do their songs sound like? We all remember H.O.T, and their banger Candy. They are talked about all the time, and everyone likes having fun with their song, but why not Shinhwa because, let me tell you, they have evidently had some equally fabulous hits!

Let's see the debut video. It is so great. Titled 해결사 in Korean, it is also known as Problem Solver apparently:

Recognise any musical references that were relatively concurrent for the time, they hit at around 2:28? Cypress Hill anyone?? What a surprise that was! Not to mention the all gold shell suits. I was so happy that I had a reason to find this. I'm not really sure at the end - are they meant to be miners? Gold within the mine? I know that I value them at least.

So I wanted to know more about the members. Apparently Andy Lee, one member, was originally meant to be in H.O.T, which kind of makes sense. According to wikipedia his parents prohibited him from entering because he was too young. There is also Shin HyeSung, who originally auditioned in California and had a song on the You're Beautiful soundtrack in 2009. Eric Mun (the man in question) is also from L.A.
And there's Lee MinWoo who tried to have a (third!) comeback with his "M Rizing" project album in 2008, but apparently according even to him it failed. (note the "Brave new sound" at the beginning! So UKISS!) Not sure why, I think I like it. It may even have to have a post another time... Until then, check the comments for the low-down from a true fan.

So, then he came back again (5th time!) in June 2009. Should have been, with the title Minnovation!! Pretty much a mix between Se7en and Rain, so what's wrong with that? I'm going to have to embed it I like it that much:

Tick tick tick, tock tock tock. Still rocking the gold, and now some PVC too.

If I spot him coming back again, then this time I will be ready! Must be in the name, MinWoo.



Anyways, sorry for getting off of the point. There was also Jun Jin who had a bit of a solo career (but the video is a 19+, and not that sexy. Maybe he wasn't the right 'image' for S.Korean TV..?) and was on We Got Married and one half of a pair coined the 'Gundam couple'. Lastly there is Kim DongWan. (He also had a solo comeback but based it on J-Pop sounds, according to my sources. I hardly have a leg to stand on anymore saying that this was not a good move, the J-Pop, and Bunny will call my bluff. But really, I'm not so sure about it. Sounds more like he took a straight route to Balladsville, though apparently it did ok in S.Korea.) Again, you should really check out the comments to get the full effect of his career, and an actually accurate portrayal, from an expert on the subject...

So...seems like they have all been pretty busy, and were all pretty dreamy in their day/still are! Now it appears a few of them are finally catching up on their military service.

Honestly, I have forgotten the point of this post. I think it was just to make a note of Eric, and now look where it took me. A whole new crush on yet another MinWoo. Oh well, at least we know that Teen Top are in good hands, or are they? I will leave you with one more Shinhwa hit. Please enjoy the Tchaikovsky Swan Lake rap cover:

In all seriousness though, the Teen Top Supa Luv/Transform (it is different on different websites) teaser does sound great. They will be back on the 13th, woo. In the meantime, get well soon Daniel.




p.s.

*However, I now have it in good confidence that our initial youtube commenter was in fact correct! And Dongwan really was the first member of a k-pop boy band to use eyeliner, as confirmed by H.O.T and SES. I have so much respect for him.

Also, please visit here for a whole wealth of information on everything Shinhwa. Thank you again, Crystalis.