'Meet Mr Daddy' [Review]

Yesterday, I went to the screening on the heart warming Korean movie 'Meet Mr Daddy' (눈부신 날에), directed by Park KwangSu.

Meet Mr Daddy

The Korean Cultural Centre (KCC) kindly invited the Sejong Institute and K-Pop Academy students. It was a special screening as the director of the movie was also present at the screening and after the movie there was a question and answer session.

Every Thursday, the KCC hold a film night and on the last Thursday of the month there is a special screening in which the director of the movie holds a Q&A  session. However, because of university I haven't been able to attend. Luckily since I have no more lectures, I was free to go this Thursday. Woohoo~! =)

Me with my fellow K-Pop Academy classmates
Source: Korean Film Festival

Cinema halls
Source: Korean Film Festival

The cinema hall was filled with students highly anticipating the movie. As Director Park has won many prizes both in Korean and internatially for his spectacular work, I was sure this movie would be amazing.

And it didn't disappoint. The movie both emotional and funny. There were several moments in the movie where I was trying to hold back tears but towards the end of the movie, I could no longer hold it in and my tears were rolling down like crazy.

After the movie, Park Kwangoo entered the cinema hall and began the Q&A session with the help of his translator. Questions ranged from questions about where he gets inspiration to how censorship in the 1970s affected his work.  He seemed like a laid back guy who answered the questions very honestly and made jokes here and there.

Director Park and his translator during the Q&A session

I was thankful that at the end of the even, we had the chance to get Director Parks autograph and a picture with him. I attempted to tell him in Korean that I enjoyed the movie.

Director Park with the K-Pop Academy students

Director Park & I

Director Park with his banners

Director Parks autograph

I had an amazing time and I'll definitely try coming to the future screenings. I'd recommend you guys to come along if you have the time too.

To get more information about the Korean Film Festival screenings, click here.

Korean Yong Fashion [Fantastic e-Shop]

With Korean entertainment spreading all over the world, it's not just Korean music and dramas that are a hot issue right. Korean fashion gaining a lot of attention, with several people shopping like crazy to find similiar clothes both on and off-line.

Luckily for all the guys out there, Korean Yong Fasion is a great new e-shop which has sleek new styles of clothing that will make them the envy of all of their friends. There aren't many e-shops that are targeted to men and even fewer that help men find clothes that are similar to ones that can be seen in Korean dramas.

So what products caught out eye?

We really like this funky cardigan. With its assymetrical cut, its definitely fashion forward. Styles like this are difficult to find in our area so we like how unique it looks. For $52 (~£27) it's a reasonal price for something of this style and quality.

These earrings automatically caught my eyes. I can imagine Big Bang's TOP wearing these earring. Even though they are typically for men, I would not hesitate to wear these studs myself as they are preety unisex.

Before I even read the name of the cap, I instantly thought of Taeyang. As I've always loved hip hop, I've always though caps can make any guys look super cool even if they aren't a 'hip hop guy'. Haha.

If you like what you have seen so far, then head on over to the Korean Yong Fashion site now and prepare to be wow-ed by their other products by clicking here.

Plus, Sisters With Seoul readers get a 10% discount if you quote 'sisterswseoul'.

K-Pop Academy [Week 5]

First off, I'd like to apologise for not posting this review a little earlier. University has been a bit hectic this week so I'm posting the review a bit late.

Anyway, back to my review of week 5. This week we focus on K-Pop dances and we were lucky to have Danydan and the LoKo team teach us two dance choreographies: 2NE1's Clap Your Hands and Big Bang's Fantastic Baby. Seeing as I love these songs, I was really excited about the class.




Initially the class started with a brief warm up before we were taught the choreography for 2NE1's Clap Your Hands. I must have clapped my hands so hard that they turned red. Haha. But I have so much fun learning it.

Source: KCCUK

Then we were taught Danydan's dance choreography to Big Bang's Fantastic Baby. It was kind of similar to the original choreography except with a few tweeks. When he first performed it, it looks so difficult and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up. However, he taught us the relatively simple bits *phew*. Lol.

Source: KCCUK

Source: KCCUK

After practicing the routine a couple of times, we were split into groups so we could have a dance off. My team was called Team TOP. We tried to improvise with the dance and change a few bits. It was lots of fun watching the other groups dance and in the end Team TOP won. We were given a back of Korean snacks as a reward. Wooho. TOP would be proud. Haha. =P

K-Pop Academy students with Danydan and the LoKo team
Source: KCCUK

A big thank you to Danydan and the LoKo team, especially the KCCUK for organising the event. I had a blast! =D

Just when I though it was time to go home, we were told we had to record a little message for Big Bang which would be sent to them. After 2 hours of dancing, I don't think I'll come out well but I tried to say my message in Korean. I hope they understand.

Before we left, we were told about the East Sea campaign.  It is basically the sea that is located next to Japan, Korea, Russia and China, however it is currently given the name Sea of Japan however people feel that it should be changed to its original name East Sea. To support the campaign and to sign the online petition, please click here.

This Saturday we have been lucky enough to be invited to Ambassador Choo's residence. It's going to be exciting.

K-Pop Academy [Week 5 - Homework]

As this weeks class was based around Korean music and dance, I chose to dance to my top 5 K-Pop dances. There are so many K-Pop dances that I absolutely love so it was pretty tough picking just 5.

I suck at editing videos so sorry if it looks a little strange. Haha.. =B

-Tamanna

K-Pop Academy [Week 4 - Homework]

The focus of this weeks class was the Korean war so as part of out homework I chose to write a letter to the multi-talented Korean star Rain (비). I chose to write to him because he was the first KPop star I saw in London and I can still remember it as if it were yesterday.

I hope he likes it~! =)

This coming Sunday we'll be learning two K-Pop dances: one is Fantastic Baby and the other is still anonymous as of yet. Time to get my dance on. Haha.

-Tamanna

Korean Drama Review: Bad Guy (나쁜 남자)

I can't believe I haven't done a review for one of my FAVOURITE dramas, Bad Guy. I watched this drama nearly 2 years now, when it was out. I was TOTALLY hooked to this drama. Firstly, it has an actor I really like, Kim Nam Gil as the main, which totally caught my attention. From start to finish, this storyline had me on edge, especially as I had to wait a week for new episodes!
Me and my sister (Tamanna) have got this down as a drama to recommend to ALL Kdrama addicts, so if you haven't see this drama yet, you know what to do!!

Majority of the dramas I tend to watch are usually the "same." Rich guy, "poor" girl, fall in love, but they encounter a few problems in the middle, usually the dramas end happily ever after. This drama does consist of a rich guy and "poor" girl, but the way it all pans out is what I LOVED about it. At first I thought it would be a typical drama for me and I'd know how it would end, but I was wrong. The storyline is really interesting! (For those of you who have watched it, let me know what you thought of the storyline!)

Kim Nam Gil / Shim Gun Wook

I love unpredictable storylines, just as much as I love catchy OSTs. And this drama has both! Still today I play the OST and it still makes me teary eyed everytime I hear it. By far one of the BEST drama OSTs yet! (I just had to play some of the songs while writing this review and I was right, I am still in love with basically every song!!)
For me, a good drama is not just the storyline, but the perfect music can either do it justice or the opposite!

You know how much I LOVE this drama, for those of you who still have not watched the drama...You know what to do and let me know what you think and if you are in love with this drama as much as me!

-Reshma

Korean Drama Review: The Moon Embraces The Sun (해를 품은 달)

My first historical drama and I LOVED it! I was recommended to watch this drama by my sister because she really liked it, I wasn't too keen when I found out it was a historical drama at first. Once I got the hang of the story line, I really enjoyed it. Now I've watched the whole drama, I wish it was longer. I think this is the start of Korean historical dramas for me. I'm usually into my romantic, lovey dovey, modern dramas but this was a bit of a change. There is romance in the drama, but the other elements in the drama are very interesting and the storyline is captivating!
The drama started off with younger actors, then after a couple of episodes they had older actors to show...8 years later. At first this was confusing but once I got use to the actors, I totally hooked again!
If you haven't watched the drama, I recommend it! It's really made me want to watch more historical dramas now. If you have any recommendations for me, do leave a comment below and let me know!

-Reshma

K-Pop Academy [Week 4]

Todays lesson was based on the Korean war. We watched the award winning film '17 Into The Fire' (포화속으로). It is pretty popular among K-Pop fans as it stars TOP, the rapper of Big Bang.

Although I've heard a lot of positive reviews about this movie, before today I hadn't actually watched it so I was glad I was finally going to watch it.

This movie is based on a true sotry of how a group of student soldiers with very little or no experience of fighting are made to protect a school during the Korean war. The captin of these soldier is Oh JangBeom (played by TOP) as he has experience of being in combat but he stuggles to gain respect from his fellow soldiers.

Usually I am not keen on war movie as I'm a bit of a whimp when it comes to blood and gore but was absored in the movie: squeling at the gorey scenes but on the verge of tears at times. This movie evokes all kinds of emotion. There are even a few comical moments in the movie.

I'd definitely recommend this movie to you guys. Once I'd finished watching the movie I was searching for more movies based on the Korean War. I'll definitely be researching more about it. ^^

-Tamanna

K-Pop Academy [Week 3]

I've been so busy with university that I haven't done a review of my third week at the K-Pop Academy. Sorry guys.

 

 
So last week was based on Korean food and as I absolutely love Korean food I was really excited to see what we'd be making. We were told prior to the lesson that it would not be held in the Korean Culture Centre but at Dongsan, a Korean restaurant that I'd visited a couple of months ago.

The Korean Culture had put in a lot of effort transforming the restaurant to a K-Pop Academy Masterchef room which was really impressive.

When I first sat down I didn't realise that the class was dividing into groups depending on what table you were sat at. I was in Team Big Bang. =B Woohoo. *Fantastic Baby* We had to cook well to make Big Band proud. Haha. =)

On our tables there was a mini gas cooker and two plates of ingredients as well as a recipe for ddeokbokki (떡뽁이). I was happy to see we were making ddeokbokki as it is one of my favourite Korean dishes. I've attempted to make it a couple times at home so I was hoping it wouldn't be a problem.

Gas cookee, recipe for ddeokbokki and Big Bang watching over us.. =P

Ingredients for ddeokbokki

Ingredients for kimbap

We were given a  brief lecture about Korean food and the mixtures of flavours in Korean food that makes it so mouthwatching but at the same time being very nutritous.

 

Then we were introduced to Kie-Jo Sarsfiel, a Korean chef who teaches people and even has her own blog who gives tips on how to cook Korean food. She gave us a demonstration on how to make kimbap. I've never attempted to make kimbap so it was interesting watching someone make it for the first time. I didn't know that it was so simple to make so I'll definitely try making it at home.

Ms Sarsfiel making kimbap

 The next dish she made was ddeokbokki. While she was making it she was interacting with the class and making jokes which made it more engaging.

Our cooking skills were then put to the test when we were told we had 40 minutes within out groups to make both kimbap and ddeokbokki and Ms Sarsfiel would pick the winner. We split the tasks up in our groups so I helped make the ddeokbokki. At the end of the 40 minutes, I was pretty impressed with the final outcome.

Team Big Bang's dish

 Ms Sarsfiel went around each table and tasted the food before she reached a verit that Team B2ST won. Congrats Team B2ST. =D

After the winner was announced, it was time to eat. We were given seafood Korean pancake (해물파전), Korean meat (갈비) and a selection of kimchi and beansprout. Thank you Korean Cultural Centre UK and DongSan.

Korean seafood pancake

Kimchi, beansprouts and more

Our table filled with deliciour food

The food was scrumptious. As Koreans would say '잘 먹었습니다' (I ate well). I'll be getting my cooking apron on and trying to make Korean food~.. Haha..

-Tamanna

K-Pop Academy [Week 3 - Homework]

This weeks homework was centred around Korean food. Yum~.. =)

I chose to describe a dream meal I would make for a KPop star. As usual, I picked 2PM's Junsu. Mmm, maybe one day I can serve it to him. Haha.

-Tamanna

K-Pop Academy [Week 2 - Homework]

This week we had a range of choices for our assignment from an interview about Hangul with family or friends to creating a jazzy Hangul chart and more.

I chose to create a list of 10 words that are often said by Korean stars. Since my ultimate bias is 2pm's Kim Junsu, I based it around words he commonly uses.

What do you think? ^^

-Tamanna

K-Pop Academy [Week 2]

Today was the second day of the K-Pop Academy and the focus of todays class was Hangul (한글), the Korean writing system. Although I am able to read Hangul, I was keen to find out more about the Korean writing system and the history behind it.

Hangul written in Korean

I actually rushed to class thinking I'd be late but when I arrived at the Korean Cultural Centre I realised it was only 1:15 not 2:15. -______- Typical of me to do something like that eh. So I killed some time doing some Korean homework in the library while I waited.

When it was almost 2pm, I went back upstairs and saw other students waiting so I chatted to them before the lesson started.

First we told to find out names on a huge board full of name tags that were written in Korean. Luckily, I know Hangul so it wasn't too difficult. It was nice to see everyones names written in Korean. My name look pretty long right? Normally Korean names, both first name and surname, are only 3 syllables whereas my name is 6 syllables long.

My name in Korean

Korean alphabet chart

We proceeded to the lecture room where we watched a brief video about Hangeul and how it was invented. It was fascinating how the King Sejong, the fourth king during the Joseon dynasty, went out of his way to create a new writing system to make it easier for all Korean citizens to read. The video also illustrated that Korean is based on the anatomy of the mouth or tongue when producing a particular sound.  For example, when you say 'ㄱ' which produced a 'g' sounds, your tongue is on the roof of your mouth and the shape of the letter reflects this.

During our break we filled in a brief sheet about what we learnt from the video.

After the break we were given a lecture about Hangul byDr. Jaehoon Yeon, a lecturer at SOAS University. He told us about the various theories that were hypthesised about the creation the the Korean language. In addiction to this, he told us the difference in North and South Korea which was insightful. Overall, it was areally interesting and I felt like I have taken a lot from the lecture. Thank you Dr Yeon.

Oh yeh, I'm was elected as the class representative. Thanks guys~.. =D

After class I was as hungry as a horse, a couple of classmates & I went to Seoul Bakery again for some delicious Korean food. I think we'll just make it a regular thing as we went there last week straight after class. =) Lol.

Next week we have a Korean cooking class. Nom nom, can't wait. I'll keep you posted on the horrible mess I'll make.. Haha.. ^^

-Tamanna

Big Bang - Alive [Review]

With Big Bang making a comeback after so long, this album was much anticipated. Was it worth the hype or was it a major dissapointment?

The first song on the album was the introduction song called 'Alive'.

Usually I don't really pay attention to intro songs but this was alright. I actually liked hearing Taeyang rapping. This he should rap more often~.

Big Bang - Blue

Blue is just an amazing song. I think I've wrote in an earlier post about how much I adore this song, but I'll say it again, I love it. It reminds me of their past songs like 'Lies' and 'Haru Haru' and I was glad it wasn't a crazy head bobbing disco song. As much as I love their dance songs, it's always nice to head a song with such well-thought out lyrics. The video complements the song perfectly.

Big Bang - 사랑먼지 (Love Dust)

To be honest, when I first heard this song I wasn't really sure about what to make of it. The first verse sounds really good and then suddenly the beat changes during the chorus which I found a little strange at first. But after playing it several times, I've grown to like it a lot.

Big Bang - Bad Boy

This is by far my favourite song on the album. I love the old school vibe it has. I find myself imitating the dance in the video all the time. Each members talent really shines in this song and I can't get enough of the video. I've played it about 100 times since it's been release. Good job YG~!

Big Bang - 재미없어 (Ain't No Fun)

                                       

I'm really feeling this song. The beat drew me in instantly and I love the way Seungri mumbles at the start. That's probably a strange thing to like but I think it goes so well with the song.

Big Bang - Fantastic Baby

                                   

This song sounds like a random mix of everything which would make it a great party song. My favourite part of this song is TOP's rap and the 'boomshakalaka' part. Lol~

Big Bang -날개(Wings) Daesung solo

                                         

When I first heard that Daesung was doing another solo, I thought it might be a bit like the solo 'Baby Don't Cry' he did for his previous album so I was kind of surprised when I played this song to hear it had a bit of a pop-rock feel. At first, I was a little disappointed but after I read the lyrics to the song and played it again I realised that it's pretty addictive. Now that I know it had such an uplifting meaning, I'll be playing it on those days where I feel down.


All in all, I love this album and it definitely lived up to the hype. Personally, I prefer this album a bit more to their last album Tonight. All the songs have a different feel to them and G Dragon once again displays his amazing composing ability. Now I'm excited to see them perform all these songs~!

You can purchase this inccredible album on:

iTunes
YesAsia
Melon
And other sites listed on the YG website.

Decoding Korean [길막] #13

The slang word we'll be teaching you today is:

길막

Pronounced: Gil-Mak

길막 is a colloquial term which means 'traffic jam'. It is an abbreviation of 길을 막히다 where 길 means 'road' or 'path' and 막히다 means 'to be blocked'.

Try using this phrase the next time you're stuck in traffic. =P