Welcome one and all to the third episode of the indispensable, Confessions of an Uncle Fan. Last week I admitted my addiction to IU's new drama, gave my thumbs up to 15&'s new song, and I embarked on a journey rivaling that of Frodo's trek to Mount Doom by trying to get Taeyeon to acknowledge the Uncle Fan in an Instagram update. We've got more action so let's get right to it.

Cool Things of the Week

Tony An: The Real Uncle Fan
I think everyone's seen the story by now that H.O.T's cradle robber Tony An and Girl's Day member Hyeri, who is sixteen years his junior, are in fact dating. Far be it for me to judge anyone's relationship because when you like someone, age isn't necessarily a factor but even the open minded Uncle Fan thinks that a sixteen year age gap is pretty severe. All I know is, Tony An is the real uncle fan and I'm just a cheap imposter because this guy (who's even older than me by the way) actually acted on his uncle fan feelings and asked out a girl grouper. The other side of that coin is that Hyeri consented to dating him as well so I don't want to make it seem like Tony An is the bad guy here. Honestly, I don't know if I should stand and applaud at this news or recoil in horror.



PSY Releases "Gentleman" and the World Watches
While PSY is about as far away from a girl grouper as one can get, the release of his new song "Gentleman" is a big deal because how it fares in the America will affect all K-pop artists looking to make their way into the U.S. market. The new music video is already killing it on YouTube with already amassing nearly 100 million views and features the uber-sexy Ga In who takes the baton from Hyuna as the video's leading lady. It probably makes sense since the horse dance had been replaced by the "butt dance" which makes you think back to Brown Eyed Girls' "Abracadabra" which was, in my opinion, the hottest K-pop video ever. It's going to be nearly impossible to live up to the ridiculously high expectations set by "Gangnam Style" but if anyone can have fun through all the hype, it's PSY.



T-ara's New sub-unit
After going through a pretty tumultuous patch that resulted in the departure of member Hwayoung, T-ara had been flying under the radar until it was recently announced that members Jiyeon, Eunjung, Hyomin, and Areum (I didn't even know that they had a new member named Areum) would be breaking off from the main pack to form a unit group called T-ara N-4 as in Brand New 4 (why isn't it BN4 then?). Their new single "Countryside Life" (more on that name in a bit) is scheduled to drop on May 1 and T-ara's management Core Contents Media has been pushing the requisite vague promotional images and just yesterday released a teaser video revealing that the genre of the song will be more electronic dance music and not hip hop as previously theorized. I'm sure someone in the blogosphere will do a review of the pop art concept with the Harry Potteresque moving newspaper images and the accordion-fused EDM but let me drop an old school knowledge bomb on why I already like this song: the song borrows its Korean name from the title of the longest running and most iconic television show in Korean history which aired from 1980-2002 on MBC. Not only that, beginning at the :8 second mark, the legendary theme song of the show is sampled as the base of the build-up before the main beat drop. For a guy who loves all things old, this is just too good not to like.



Eugene on Knee Drop Guru
OK, let me be upfront here: as much as I am a fan of Taeyeon, back in the day during the peak of my nerd phase, I was an even bigger fan of Eugene. The former SES member was THE original idol crush for pretty much every guy of my generation and she was a part of that initial idol wave that got me into the world of K-pop. The Kang Ho Dong talk show has been a little lackluster since it's return but I'll definitely be tuning into this episode.

The Taeyeon Experiment

Week 2 of the experiment and while I realize the odds are ever NOT in my favor, who knows, stranger things have happened.

Photo/.Gif/Video of the Week

I was actually surprised that a number of you sent in some great pics (and others that were borderline pornographic) but here's one that caught my eye:



Look at Jiyoung... That's the face of pure joy. Thanks to @jmvlbannag for the assist.

*Send your favorite pics/.gifs/videos to KpopUncleFan@gmail.com or tweet them to @KpopUncleFan

Uncle Fan Mailbag

It was a fairly quiet week for the mailbag but here are two of your comments that I felt deserved a little attention.

That pretty much sums it up. "So basically if Taeng keeps updating her Instagram, she will snatch the first place of this column every week"
-sone_crystal

Nothing's ever set in stone and my opinion on all things changes day by day but unless something happens (like if I were writing this when 'Reply 1997' aired, Eunji would have been in the top spot for months), expect to see a heavy dose of Taeyeon. Sorry, I'm a weak man.

Couldn't disagree with you more. "Why do people keep bringing up Woori? She was very unnoticeable [and] not hot."
-KB13

How do I explain why I think you're completely wrong... Woori is hot by any standard but what makes her one of my favorites is not her looks but her personality. I didn't know who Woori was until I saw her on the 'God of Food Road' show with Hyun Young and Jung Joon Ha and watching her eat was a thing beauty. She ate like a normal person (well, like some people I suppose because the girl packs in the food), not really caring about her image and that was refreshing to watch. Basically she's a pretty girl who doesn't take herself too seriously. What's hotter than that?

Top 5 Current Girl Groupers

Taeyeon - Like Mary Poppins, Taeyeon is "practically perfect in every way".
IU - Never underestimate the power of a good character in an addicting drama.
Baek Ah Yeon/Shin Ji Hoon - The 'K-pop Star' alums teamed up for a rendition of the classic 'Les Miserables' song "I Dreamed a Dream" on a 'K-pop Star' special on Sunday featuring contestants from each season. As a closet 'Les Mis' fan (so embarrassing), I was glued to the screen.
Woori - I never thought that I would have to defend the hotness of a pretty girl who might be able eat more than me. Sad, sad day...
Ga In - Was quickly reminded how hot she was in the "Abracadabra" video.

Song of the Day

The concept of a "sub unit" or a group within a group is genius because you're basically selling the same product but in a different package. One subunit group that I thought worked well was when 2NE1's CL and Minzy teamed up for an EP of their own which included "Please Don't Go".



That's it for now but just chill, til the next episode...