Showing posts with label Nam Woohyun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nam Woohyun. Show all posts
Saturday, 7 May 2016
On waiting...
"If 'love' is another way to say 'waiting'...
Then I want to call you 'love' as well."
Fourteen years and counting...
#youknowwhoyouare
Wednesday, 18 November 2015
Infinite Effect: press conference and concert
Yeorobun annyeong haseyo! Oh, and hello Inspirits in particular!
As Indonesian Inspirits are well aware, Infinite had their second solo concert in Jakarta on November 15 2015. The day before that, I was very lucky to win an entry to a private press conference with Infinite, which was held as a joint venture by Mecima Pro and AMI Live, the promotors of Infinite Effect. I got the e-mail just a day before the press conference, and all the winners (about 35 Inspirits) were sworn to secrecy about the venue, so I guess even though the event is over now I still have to keep it a secret...(hint: a hotel somewhere in Central Jakarta.)
Once arrived at the venue, we were stripped off our bags, phones and cameras and so we walked into the press conference carrying nothing. We were also not allowed to ask the boys anything, so we made the most out of cheering for them (we weren't even allowed to scream!) and standing within our booth and holding out our hands to high five with the boys as they came in and walked out of the room.
I was particularly struck by Lee Sungjong, the maknae who first got me into Infinite. As with many Korean namjas, the boys had good facial skin but Jongie's was excellent. It was smooth and shiny like it was made of porcelain, making him look rather unnatural. And when he was asked to describe himself, our maknae said, "Lemon satang!" in reference to a comedy skit on anime channel Tooniverse that he did in 2011 in which he offered a little girl a lemon candy. He has since been known as "the lemon satang boy" by Inspirits worldwide, but nowadays many feel that he's outgrown that persona.
I was also struck by how dorky Kim Myungsoo, the visual member and second maknae, was. When asked by Sharon, a Korean who has lived in Indonesia for 14 years who was serving as co-host and interpreter, to say something to Indonesian Inspirits in attendance, he was silent for a second. Then he said something that sounded like gibberish, which Sharon later understood as his attempt to say, "Cinta kamu!" After that he took another second of silence before he laughed his famous dorky "haha!", which made him look even more adorable.
Now on to the concert!
If you haven't heard already, Infinite's rapper and main dancer Lee 'Hoya' Howon suffered from ligament damage and cartilage inflammation while filming KBS' variety show "Yoo Heeyeol's Sketchbook" last year and to date his legs haven't really healed. There were talks about him taking full rest, meaning he wouldn't be joining the rest of Infinite in Infinite Effect, but Hoya insisted on taking part in the concert. So far, most of the time he sat on a stool and performed his rap and singing bits from there, although when it came to songs that required light dancing he did dance. And that was exactly what he did at the Jakarta leg of Infinite Effect. There were moments where he seemed on be on the verge of tears, as projected on the two screens at either side of the stage, because his leg injury prevented him from dancing iconic moves such as the scorpion dance, which Hoya choreographed for "Before The Dawn."
However, Hoya made up for that by actually speaking VERY GOOD BAHASA INDONESIA! He was the one speaking Bahasa Indonesia the most and with THE CLEAREST PRONUNCIATION, and his memorable Bahasa Indonesia bits included....
"Saya minta maaf karena kaki saya sakit..."
(I apologize for my injured legs)
"Apakah kalian sedang menikmati pertunjukkan?"
(Are you enjoying the show?)
"Lantai satu, scream! Lantai dua, scream!"
(First floor, scream! Second floor, scream!)
"Kalian jaga kesehatan sampai kita bertemu lagi!"
(Please take care of your health until we meet again!)
Unlike the Jakarta leg of One Great Step two years ago during which Infinite spoke Indonesian without any help of an interpreter, this time again Sharon served as an interpreter, since most of the time the boys felt more comfortable speaking Korean. But this didn't mean Hoya was the only one with memorable Indonesian bits. Some memorable bits from the rest of the boys...
Kim Myungsoo: Halo, saya pacar kalian, L! (Hi, I'm your boyfriend, L!) - for those uninitiated, L is Myungsoo's stage name
Kim Sunggyu: "Pulangnya hati-hati ya!" (Have a safe trip home!)
Nam Woohyun: "Kalian jadian sama aku aja!" (slang for "let me be your boyfriend!")
All in all, it was a daebak concert. The fact that it was only two hours and 20 minutes long, much shorter than OGS' three plus hours, was indeed a good thing.
As Indonesian Inspirits are well aware, Infinite had their second solo concert in Jakarta on November 15 2015. The day before that, I was very lucky to win an entry to a private press conference with Infinite, which was held as a joint venture by Mecima Pro and AMI Live, the promotors of Infinite Effect. I got the e-mail just a day before the press conference, and all the winners (about 35 Inspirits) were sworn to secrecy about the venue, so I guess even though the event is over now I still have to keep it a secret...(hint: a hotel somewhere in Central Jakarta.)
Once arrived at the venue, we were stripped off our bags, phones and cameras and so we walked into the press conference carrying nothing. We were also not allowed to ask the boys anything, so we made the most out of cheering for them (we weren't even allowed to scream!) and standing within our booth and holding out our hands to high five with the boys as they came in and walked out of the room.
I was particularly struck by Lee Sungjong, the maknae who first got me into Infinite. As with many Korean namjas, the boys had good facial skin but Jongie's was excellent. It was smooth and shiny like it was made of porcelain, making him look rather unnatural. And when he was asked to describe himself, our maknae said, "Lemon satang!" in reference to a comedy skit on anime channel Tooniverse that he did in 2011 in which he offered a little girl a lemon candy. He has since been known as "the lemon satang boy" by Inspirits worldwide, but nowadays many feel that he's outgrown that persona.
I was also struck by how dorky Kim Myungsoo, the visual member and second maknae, was. When asked by Sharon, a Korean who has lived in Indonesia for 14 years who was serving as co-host and interpreter, to say something to Indonesian Inspirits in attendance, he was silent for a second. Then he said something that sounded like gibberish, which Sharon later understood as his attempt to say, "Cinta kamu!" After that he took another second of silence before he laughed his famous dorky "haha!", which made him look even more adorable.
Now on to the concert!
If you haven't heard already, Infinite's rapper and main dancer Lee 'Hoya' Howon suffered from ligament damage and cartilage inflammation while filming KBS' variety show "Yoo Heeyeol's Sketchbook" last year and to date his legs haven't really healed. There were talks about him taking full rest, meaning he wouldn't be joining the rest of Infinite in Infinite Effect, but Hoya insisted on taking part in the concert. So far, most of the time he sat on a stool and performed his rap and singing bits from there, although when it came to songs that required light dancing he did dance. And that was exactly what he did at the Jakarta leg of Infinite Effect. There were moments where he seemed on be on the verge of tears, as projected on the two screens at either side of the stage, because his leg injury prevented him from dancing iconic moves such as the scorpion dance, which Hoya choreographed for "Before The Dawn."
However, Hoya made up for that by actually speaking VERY GOOD BAHASA INDONESIA! He was the one speaking Bahasa Indonesia the most and with THE CLEAREST PRONUNCIATION, and his memorable Bahasa Indonesia bits included....
"Saya minta maaf karena kaki saya sakit..."
(I apologize for my injured legs)
"Apakah kalian sedang menikmati pertunjukkan?"
(Are you enjoying the show?)
"Lantai satu, scream! Lantai dua, scream!"
(First floor, scream! Second floor, scream!)
"Kalian jaga kesehatan sampai kita bertemu lagi!"
(Please take care of your health until we meet again!)
Unlike the Jakarta leg of One Great Step two years ago during which Infinite spoke Indonesian without any help of an interpreter, this time again Sharon served as an interpreter, since most of the time the boys felt more comfortable speaking Korean. But this didn't mean Hoya was the only one with memorable Indonesian bits. Some memorable bits from the rest of the boys...
Kim Myungsoo: Halo, saya pacar kalian, L! (Hi, I'm your boyfriend, L!) - for those uninitiated, L is Myungsoo's stage name
Kim Sunggyu: "Pulangnya hati-hati ya!" (Have a safe trip home!)
Nam Woohyun: "Kalian jadian sama aku aja!" (slang for "let me be your boyfriend!")
All in all, it was a daebak concert. The fact that it was only two hours and 20 minutes long, much shorter than OGS' three plus hours, was indeed a good thing.
Thursday, 18 July 2013
The baby maknae and all those pairings...
This is the video that first got me into Infinite. I fell in love with Lee Sungjong almost right away (despite the fact that he's ten years younger than me and yes, I'm waiting for him to jump out of the closet), but I was reluctant to get to know Infinite. I watched his clips from an array of variety shows such as Sesame Player, and until I felt I was ready to introduce myself to Infinite. I browsed Infinite reviews, stumbled on one about "The Chaser" and the rest is history...
I find it unique that K-pop fans readily accept the PDA's between Sungjong and Infinite second maknae Kim Myungsoo, better known as L. L and Sungjong publicly hug each other from the back, caress each other's hair on stage and fans seem to like that. They nickname the pair "Myungjong" (Korean fans name them "LSung") and create Facebook and Tumblr fanpages for them. I really would like to learn why fans' approval of MyungJong flourishes while it is still hard for South Korea to accept homosexuality. Meanwhile L and SungJong continue with their PDA's, and it turns out that fans now are pairing Kim Sunggyu and Nam Woohyun, also from Infinite, since Sunggyu appeared solo on an episode of Mnet's Jjang where he mentioned Woohyun every five minutes...
Oh, in case you're wondering what song Sungjong is singing in the video, it's a cover of "Adult Ceremony" by Park Jiyoon, which was released in 2000. Funny that such a raunchy song was released when Jiyoon was only 18, and while the whole world might think she was legal already, she wasn't. The legal age in South Korea at the time was 20, and only this year it's been lowered to 19.
I find it unique that K-pop fans readily accept the PDA's between Sungjong and Infinite second maknae Kim Myungsoo, better known as L. L and Sungjong publicly hug each other from the back, caress each other's hair on stage and fans seem to like that. They nickname the pair "Myungjong" (Korean fans name them "LSung") and create Facebook and Tumblr fanpages for them. I really would like to learn why fans' approval of MyungJong flourishes while it is still hard for South Korea to accept homosexuality. Meanwhile L and SungJong continue with their PDA's, and it turns out that fans now are pairing Kim Sunggyu and Nam Woohyun, also from Infinite, since Sunggyu appeared solo on an episode of Mnet's Jjang where he mentioned Woohyun every five minutes...
Oh, in case you're wondering what song Sungjong is singing in the video, it's a cover of "Adult Ceremony" by Park Jiyoon, which was released in 2000. Funny that such a raunchy song was released when Jiyoon was only 18, and while the whole world might think she was legal already, she wasn't. The legal age in South Korea at the time was 20, and only this year it's been lowered to 19.
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