Welcome

A little over a year ago, I wrote an intellectually stimulating and thought provoking article (I'm being sarcastic because I've noticed some of the readers can't tell) called Confessions of an Uncle Fan. In it, I described my fascination with K-pop girl groups and how I'm inching closer and closer into the dreaded age range of an uncle fan. But in the year since I wrote that article, I've done some soul searching and realized that while I might be getting a little older, I'm still young enough to be considered a regular fan and honestly, those guys who are truly "uncle fan's" creep me out and I'm not in that territory yet.

Having said that, I wanted to start a regular column here on allkpop that would basically be a forum for my take on the latest and greatest involving K-pop girl groups (or any K-pop female artist in general). It's not so much for breaking news but more of a place where I give my two cents about what's hot, viral, or worthy of added attention. I know most of you are probably much bigger fans than I am so from time to time I'll be asking for your help and remember, I'm just a guy who used to be a hardcore K-pop geek but am now just trying to figure out which girl belongs to which group.

Cool Stuff of the Week

Taeyeon + Instagram = Happy Me
I guess everyone knows by now that Girls' Generation member Taeyeon recently joined Instagram. Hallelujah! Now I get to view randomly taken photos from my favoritest GG member all from the comfort of my phone! From my understanding, she's the first of the nine to be on the popular photo sharing app but here's hoping the rest follow suit soon so we can all see totally vague pictures that we'll still drool over.



will.i.am and 2NE1 News
Did you know that 2NE1 and Teddy are a part of an online video series with will.i.am for Intel called "Take the World On"? The series follows will.i.am's trips around the world and one of the destinations happens to be Seoul, Korea. The video discusses his relationship with 2NE1 but also goes into the pulse and feel of modern Korea and discusses Seoul's rise to prominence and that of K-pop as well. For those who don't know, will.i.am has a business relationship with Intel serving as their Director of Creative Innovation. The man's got many hats and tech futurist is one of them. Check it out here.



Anna Kendrick as the Newest Member of f(x)
Maybe the coolest collaboration of East meets West that I've seen recently is this Funnyordie video featuring actress Anna Kendrick and the ladies of f(x). This thing is all over the social interweb but the basic premise is that Anna Kendrick's agent decides that for the 'Pitch Perfect' star's career to really take off, she needs to grow her fan base in Asia. What better way to do that then by having her join K-pop's representatives at music/tech festival SXSW; f(x). What follows is the story of overcoming obstacles, redemption, and Victoria's strange obsession with the whole cup thing from 'Pitch Perfect'. This video worked not only because of the totally believable acting by Anna Kendrick (do you think she could introduce me to Ashley Greene?) but also the surprisingly good performance by Amber who was kind of the nemesis-turned-friend role. I was pleasantly surprised and hopefully more of this crossover stuff starts happening.



Dating Scandals Galore
One thing you'll learn about me is that even though I pretend to be a manly man, I love me some juicy gossip and there's plenty of that going on right now in the world of K-pop. SHINee's Onew possibly dating After School's Jung Ah (what is with that stupid looking electronic cigarette thing?), B2ST's Junhyung (why do they spell their name like that? Someone explain please) breaking up with KARA's Hara, and now it's been confirmed that actress Han Hye Jin is indeed dating soccer player Ki Song Yong (that girl just got done with a nine year relationship and she's right back in the game; good for her). I can't wait for the next one!

Pic/Gif/Video of the Week

Image from s-pacecadet.tumblr.com

Two things I want to say about this picture:

I like Bora but what's up with that hat? I'm fairly certain she doesn't know what exactly a "dumbass" is.
Do you think Hyorin will have bangs for the rest of time?

*Side note: The Internet is a big place so I need your eyes! Send me your favorite pictures, gifs, or videos to KpopUncleFan@gmail.com or tweet them to @KpopUncleFan
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My Current Top 5 Girl Groupers

Taeyeon - She is my favorite GG member and now that she's on Instagram, things just got real.
Eunji - 'Reply 1997' STILL has a hold on me.
BoA - I like her so much better this year on K-pop Star 2 than last year. Maybe it's the weird ear art thing she's doing but whatever it is, she's back in the top 5 which I'm sure she's totally honored by (again, this is sarcasm).
Fei - I just started watching the cooking show she's on and the fact she actually knows how to properly grip a knife made me fall in love just a little bit.
Lee Hi - Love her new album. The sound is old school with a modern touch and it's very different from the other music coming out of YG right now. Teddy, Tablo and the other producers should be proud.

Song of the Week

I just mentioned Lee Hi's new album being my favorite in a long time so I'll leave you with the best song off the whole thing, "One-sided Love".



That's it for this week, see ya next time!