How much does it cost to train an SNSD member?

CEO of SM Entertainment Kim Young Min shared that each Girls' Generation member costs approximately 3 million USD to discover and train. You can read further on the report by allkpop and soompi.



The other day, Taiwanese new girl group Super 7 became the talk of the town for attempting to imitate the style of SNSD. Super 7 is not the first group to do it, that's a fact.

If you think further about it, you can convince yourself that imitation is the best flattery. There is no question about the ability of SNSD as entertainers. Besides, artists from SM Entertainment like Super Junior, f(x), TVXQ, TRAX, BoA to name a few, are top notch artists.

Anyone can imitate successful examples, but what's lacking in the imitates?

The sheer amount of money invested onto an SNSD member showed us the willingness of SM Entertainment to see success on their artists. But, talent is not the only aspect of an artist's training. Personality and other aspects of personal development are also part of the training.

The result? SM Entertainment produces high quality artists. The quality is so tangible and real. There is no element of faking on the artists. It becomes kinda a second nature.

If Super 7 wants to imitate, let them be. But SM Entertainment can say, "Hey, don't you forget that we've spent so much money to create real quality."

IU introduces a new product for Steve Jobs?

Warning: playing this version of Good Day will make you go crazy!



Uncyclopedia entry of singer IU (Korean)

Taiwanese girl group Super 7 draws flak for callous remarks on SNSD

Some time ago, new Taiwanese girl group Super 7 drew heavy criticism for imitating Korean #1 girl group Girls' Generation.



When I checked allkpop this morning, they're making news again for accusing SNSD as "plastic idols".

In an interview with Taiwanese weekly Times Weekly 时报周刊, the group criticised Korean Girls' Generation for being "lacklusture" and "artificial beauties".

One Super 7 member remarked that a member of SNSD can sing well, another can dance well and another have good sense of humour but the rest have no special appeals. Another Super 7 member remarked: "SNSD members are artificial beauties who has undergone plastic surgery, but we are natural beauties. Each of us has C cup chest size, long legs and nice body proportions."

My response:
Not all SNSD members have gone under the knife. People like Taeyeon and Seohyun are natural beauties. I know YoonA can't sing well compared to the rest of the members but she has a successful acting career. There are four powerful vocalists in SNSD: Taeyeon, Seohyun, Sunny and Jessica. Hyoyeon, YoonA, Sooyoung and Yuri can dance well. Tiffany is the rapper.

The remark of "artificial beauties" angered me. The word is only used by arrogant people. You flaunting of assets in your MV makes you look cheap. Girls' Generation doesn't sell out their bodies to achieve fame but receive love for their talent.

Their changed their attitude later during the interview by stating that they looked up to Girls' Generation as their *unique* role model.

My response:
It's against all logic that you hold negative opinions on your role model. The girls have said it to save their face albeit pathetically. I see jealousy here.

3 weeks earlier, Super 7 drew controversy for performing Girls' Generation's "Hoot" during an important Taiwanese music award show, Golden Bell Awards 金钟奖.



As reported on Soompi, netizens questioned the motive behind covering someone's track at an important stage. The move drew criticisms from many, including Taiwanese.

Members of Super 7 were selected from an audition of 100 people. There are a total of ten members in Super 7, three of them serving as "reserved" members during unforseen circumstances. All members trained for one year prior to debut. The group has an average age of 22; the youngest member is currently 16.

My response:
By criticising Girls' Generation members as having no special appeals, they're downright insulting my favourite SNSD for training long years (3 - 7 years) and their agency spending huge sum (average 3 million USD per person) to become competent entertainers. The cover of Hoot during an important music award, IMO, is a cheap stunt to obtain popularity. Not forgetting that it disgraced a prestigious music award show and insulted Taiwan where many original music are produced.


It has been reported that Korean variety show Star King attempted to invite Super 7 as guests. The plan however, did not materialise.

Super 7's remark on SNSD has drew massive flak not only from SONEs but from the rest of K-pop fandom, even disapproval from citizens in their homeland. Their singing career will be heavily jeopardised, I don't know if SM Entertainment will choose to take action for concept plagiarism or copyright infringement for their "Hoot" cover.

Related links:
Taiwanese girl group Super 7 accuse SNSD of being plastic
Taiwanese SNSD Wannabes “Super 7” Spark Controversy with Cover Performance at Golden Bell Awards
(Chinese) Taiwanese group Super 7 criticises SNSD as plastic
(Chinese) Super 7 harshly criticises SNSD as artificial beauties
(Chinese) Super 7's 叶瑷菱 supports her new group
(Chinese) Netizens criticises Super 7 as "dancing sluts"
(Chinese) Super 7 disappointed over missed opportunity to star on Korean variety show

Sharon Kwan 关诗敏 "Lonely" - 2NE1 cover

The Youtube video is now private. This post will be reblogged to introduce Sharon Kwan. Come back later!

She's Sharon Kwan 关诗敏, a participant in Taiwanese singing reality/variety show Chinese Million Star 华人星光大道 season 1.

She's so cute! Her popularity in the singing show earned her the title of Goddess of the Otakus from Million Star 星光宅男女神.

I've just discovered her Youtube channel and her covers. I'll be posting K-pop cuts of Sharon in variety shows in due time. Wanna watch them? Stay tuned.

Related links:
Sharon Kwan's Youtube channel
Sharon Kwan's Facebook page
Sharon Kwan's Wikipedia entry (Chinese)

Nothing Last Forever - Girl's Day English cover

"Nothing Last Forever" is the track that propelled Girl's Day to popularity. It showcased each member's singing talents especially Minah's. Don't understand the lyric? Perfect English covers are there to help you!

Check out other English covers of K-pop by visitingashilia4life Youtube channel.

Youtube link: http://youtu.be/sOIF9Dpehfc

Cammi Tse's response to her scandal with Edison Chen on her Sina Weibo

Recently, a scandal of 16 year old model Cammi Tse 謝芷蕙 with Hong Kong actor Edison Chen 陈冠希 surfaced. To know what happened, Feeqsays provided a good coverage as a blogger. Otherwise you can read the coverage by Channel News Asia.

In response to that matter I feel it's necessary to let all of you know her thoughts, hence the translation of Cammi's Sina Weibo updates that follows.

[UPDATE]: The scandal now made it to the the cover story of weekly gossip magazine, Sudden Weekly issue #849. You can read a translated version of the article here. The article stated that Cammi gave her virginity.

Did Cammi gave her virginity? I would rather stay in the dark. Regardless of whether sex was involved in the scandal, damage has already been done.


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Cammi Tse's Sina Weibo translation (in chronological order)


[111101 09:42] ？？不要亂寫好不好！到底什麼事？都不是事實

Translation: ?? Don't simply write can! What happened? It's not the truth

[111101 17:51] 事件曝光後,我真的很害怕.. 事情來得很突然, 現在我還未可以接受這是事實, 我只可以說我是跟他拍過拖, 現在我與陳冠希已分手了, 已沒有其他回應, 謝謝大家的關心

Translation: After the scandal has surfaced, I was so afraid.. it happened to me suddenly, until now I've yet to recover from the shock, what I can say is that I've dated him (referring to Edison Chen), I've now broken up with him, I have nothing more to say on that matter, thanks for everyone's concern

[111103 15:33] 連日來的報導及追訪, 己令我身心疲累,真的已不想多說了 很感謝家人對我的支持. 各界傳媒朋友都辛苦了, 謝謝大家關心

Translation: Those media reports and interviews a few days in a row has made me tired, I fervently refuse to comment further on the matter. I am grateful to my family for their support, I am sorry to trouble all my friends who are working in the media. Thanks for everybody's concern

[111103 18:25] 今天看到了一本雜誌的封面標題令我崩潰了 ............ 我想澄清沒有回應這些事情, 也不是事實!! 請放過我吧! 謝謝!

Translation: The cover of a magazine today has taken a toll on me emotionally...... I wanted to clarify that I did not respond to those matters, and they are not true!! Please leave me alone! Thanks!

--------.

Related links:
Cammi Tse's Sina Weibo: http://www.weibo.com/cammitse
Cammi Tse's Sina blog: http://blog.sina.com.cn/cammitse
Cammi Tse's Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Cammi.Tse318

Girl's Day 걸스데이 Minah's glamour shot

The best shot I can ever find for Bang Minah 방민아 方敏雅 of Girl's Day

Datuk Ambiga live at Asia Law Centre, University of Melbourne

25th October 2011

I was at this public lecture of Datuk Ambiga Sreevanesan at held at Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne. The lecture was attended by 200 strong audience, there was full house at the theatre.

The main topic was on electoral reform, free and fair elections and of course, the household name Bersih 2.0

Sit back and enjoy the talk. I love the hilarious remarks by Datuk Ambiga.

The best from Namewee's hater

Nasi Lemak 2.0 has garnered RM 7 million in the box office with a budget of RM 1 million. Tell me how awesome is that! That was such a big achievement for a non-Malay movie.

Fans gonna love Namewee, haters gonna hate more. Maybe I gonna use another word. One of Wee Meng Chee's anti-fan was on fire and got all his creative juice flowing.

His gift for Namewee was Nasi Lemak 2.0 BASI untuk Namewee!!, which translates as "Stale Coconut Milk Rice for Namewee".

It's not going to change me for being a supporter of Namewee but I must admire his creativity.







Check out the video!



*this video is an unlisted video, only those with the link can view it
Youtube video link

Namewee's fans are standing up for him in this video. At the moment, the video has 1400+ views, 27 likes and 875 dislikes.

He's such a controversial figure. But only if you take your time to listen to him, you'll understand what he's trying to say.