Confessions of an Uncle Fan: The Series (episode 25)

EXO, Sulli, Sojin, Hyeri, KARA, Jaekyung, SECRET, Ji Eun, Girls

Last week I wrote about how there wasn't a lot happening in the world of girl groups recently. Well, it seems as if the K-pop gods read the article because they sure gave us plenty to talk about this week. There's a lot of stuff to get to so here we go...

Cool Things of the Week

Sulli + Choiza = Here We Go Again

First Tony An and Hyeri and now Dynamic Duo's Choiza and Sulli� also known as 33 and 19. Before I go on my "holier than thou" diatribe, let me first say that Sulli and Choiza dating is still just a rumor. SM Entertainment has officially denied it and Choiza tried to deflect the issue by talking about some random ex-girlfriend that no one cares about. There was even some journalist who tried to defend the couple but the wonderfully astute and always angry netizens ripped that argument apart which was sweet of them. Basically, circumstantial evidence all points to the conclusion that Choiza and Sulli have more than just a junior-senior relationship. People can talk about how age is just a number but I'm sorry, these huge age differences are really weird. Maybe if he were 60 and she were 46 it would be fine but she's 19. I'm in the same age range as Choiza and the thought of dating a 19 year old girl just creeps me out. Having said that, I'm all about doing your thing so if the rumors are true and they like each other, then good luck to them. Tony An and Hyeri proved that if you just take it all in stride and be more careful, the whole controversy over it will eventually go away.

Soyeon + Oh Jong Hyuk = So Much More Normal

These two can thank Choiza's creepiness for burying this story because any other week, the news of a T-ara member dating anyone for the past three years would have been big. For those who may not know Oh Jong Hyuk, he was a former member of the group Click B which debuted back in the late 90's as a follow up group to Sechskies under DSP Media. He was on the recent season of the show 'Law of the Jungle' following his military service. Considering he and Soyeon are only four years apart, they seem like a boring old, normal couple in comparison.

Busker Busker's Brad Moore talks about Superstar K Issues

In a recent article published on Vice, Busker Busker drummer Brad Moore gave a not-so-flattering portrayal of the 'Superstar K' experience. From encouraged botox treatments, constant dieting, and major editing of performances, there's a lot of negative allegations about the show. It also seems to state that their manager told them that Ulala Session would win the final the night before. The article is careful not say that Moore is directly accusing the show but the allegations are clear. I've heard horror stories of how much it sucks to be on one of these shows (including their American counterparts) and how "staged" everything is but this is the first time I've heard someone say that they were told of the winner ahead of time. If any of this is true (and that's skeptical at best), that would be a serious blow to how fans perceive the show� and with this season being monumentally boring, that would be a disaster.

More Teasers for T-ara and IU

Spent too much time talking about people dating and corrupt TV shows but wanted to share the latest teasers:

Girl Group Variety Show Round-Up

A list of all the girl appearances on variety shows (that I saw) this week.

'Weekly Idol' - 2EYES
'Our Neighborhood Arts & PE' - Jaekyung (see Top 5 Favorite Girl Groupers Right Now)
'Immortal Classics 2' - Lim Jeong Hee, Hong Jin Young
'Happy Yogether' - Hong Jin Young, Solbi
'Infinity Challenge' - BoA
'Star King' - Sojin, Hyeri
'God of Food Road' - Miss Korea winner and the 2 runners-up (it's pretty girls eating which is among my favorite things ever)
'Mamma Mia' - Jaekyung

The Taeyeon Experiment

Each week I will post a picture from Taeyeon's Instagram feed in the hopes that one day she'll post a picture of herself reading this column.

I would take a mustached and bearded Taeyeon any day.

Pic/.Gif/Video of the Week

I haven't been totally keeping up with the show 'Dancing 9' but I did see last week's episode which included a special dance performance with "master" Hyoyeon and two members of EXO (Kai & Lay). The girl can move.

Uncle Fan Mailbag

People were heated on this one. "I Got a Boy" is a good song. The girls jumped out of their comfort zone."
-dashsix

I got torn a new one over my statement that Girls' Generation's "I Got a Boy" was a train wreck. Someone was even thorough enough to quote multiple sources including Billboard on why the song was so great. The thing is, while I can appreciate the originality of the song, I'm just not into it. Maybe I'm too dumb or old to recognize something so ahead of our time as this song. More than anything, SM and GG gets credit for taking a risk.

I talk about them when there's something to talk about. "I'm a faithful reader of your column and FINALLY you give KARA some love. Geez!"

-megaveli

I have nothing against KARA but they've been in Japan promoting for a while now so frankly speaking, there hasn't been a lot to write about. Now that they're back in Korea, I'll be on the look out for the latest and greatest.

:*(. "RG3's year #2 will be like Cam Newton's; growing pains. Long season for your Redskins."

-H8erade

Tell me about dude.. the guy just isn't the same after his knee surgery. He needs to stop pretending he is the RG3 from last year and accept the fact that he needs to learn a new style of play. Sad.

A Few Non-K-pop Related Things

Federal Shutdown

With the U.S. federal government officially shutdown, I thought it might be nice to do a quick civics lesson and review what the heck is going on. Basically, the government has reached the amount it can spend and in order to keep spending until a new budget is passed, Congress needs to pass a continuing resolution. The problem is the Republicans in the House of Representatives will not allow that to happen unless they can also delay the vote on President Obama's huge 'Obamacare' healthcare package and the Democratic controlled Senate won't do that. Quite a pickle. In case that is confusing to anyone, maybe our boy Ferris Bueller can explain what's going on.

'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' Trailer
If this doesn't get your nerd senses on full alert, I don't know what will.

'Once Upon a Time' Was Good (so was S.H.I.E.L.D)
I've talked enough TV for the past 2 weeks but just had to throw that in there. Oh, and the Andy Samberg led 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' was surprisingly good as well.

Top 5 Favorite Girl Groupers Right Now

Taeyeon - Increased Instagram activity� not that I'm stalking or anything.
BoA - Partnered with Leessang's Gil on 'Infinity Challenge's' latest song challenge and the princess of K-pop showed off her sassy side. I like it.
Narae - More SPICA!
IU - The latest round of teaser videos have kind of thrown me off but still waiting for the new album.
Jaekyung - If you watched last Tuesday's 'Our Neighborhood Arts and PE', Jaekyung participated in a table tennis match and while she's quite horrible, she gets so into it and tries really hard. When you combine that with stunning good looks, you get a thumbs up from the Uncle Fan.

Song of the Week

Another of the underrated singers, SECRET's Ji Eun has come out with her latest solo single "Hope and Torture". It's got that mellow R&B vibe with a much more mature, trendy look to the video which is a good thing. Hope the song does well.