Soojin

Hmm... it is quite disappointing that they're under-appreciated, but on the bright side, of the numerous boy groups that debuted in 2010, ZE:A is one of the few still active in the kpop music scene and regularly appearing on major tv shows. They're not a popular group but their fanclub membership has been steadily growing and they have 3 (possibly even 4) publicly recognized famous members, which is 3 more than just about every other boy group (excluding the really top names like SJ). I always smile to myself when some other kpop fans call ZE:A a nugu group because their own favs are most likely nugus as well, despite what the spin doctors try to say. The fact is that other than the really top groups like SNSD etc, the general public (beyond the world of fangirls/fanboys) in Korea don't really bother that much about idol groups. They're more interested in actors and variety stars.

You know you've made it to the big time when outlets like akp start translating random tweets you make when they previously ignored just about everything. Geesh. Anyway, ZE:A's entertainment weekly guerilla date: I have not watched it yet but I heard it was pretty funny. Edit: Music Core 130810 Hyungsik's MC Cut:

I really enjoyed today's performance. Music Core's camera man is usually better that Music Bank's but today's work was particularly good, lots of nice close-ups and cool effects/angles. Thanks MBC, knew I could count on you.

Yes, really looking forward to Heirs. Sometimes I think Kim Eun Sook may have had Hyungsik in mind when she wrote that character. The part about his character being the son of a car company CEO (if the rumor is true) seems just too coincidental. lol Anyway, I hope the drama does well. He gave up a role in Master's Sun (the one that L now plays) for this comeback so I hope everything works out. Hmm... melon. I dunno, I always have mixed feelings about melon because streaming plays such a significant part in the rankings. It's very difficult to compete with groups from bigger companies and groups with hardcore fanbases that make multiple IDs to stream. So I guess 25 is a decent ranking. I found this on twitter, credit to ì°¡ @jw_zeafan: Poster and album:

Hyungsik's surprise appearance on Knee Drop Guru (Jang Hyuk episode, 130808) Some highlights I caught: -Hyungsik mentioned that much to his surprise, he's received a lot of encouragement from guys after Real Men started airing. Some guys he walked passed were sitting around drinking beer when they saw him and gave him a big "thumbs up". -Other things he noticed since he became more popular: he started appearing in the news and SNS messages very often. Even selcas that he tweeted would appear in news articles. Information about his drama casting (referring to "Heirs" I guess), also appeared on the main page of news websites (eg. naver etc). -His impression of Jang Hyuk is that he's a very manly guy. When asked by Hodong whether Jang Hyuk gives off the vibe of being a brainy guy, Hyungsik said it was the first time he'd heard anyone mention this. (LOL) -When asked whether Jang Hyuk gave him a lot of advice, Hyungsik said that because of the tone of Jang Hyuk's voice, it sounds a lot like someone chanting Buddhist prayers. -Before joining Real Men, Hyungsik had no idea that Jang Hyuk is married and has a kid. -When asked whether Jang Hyuk taught him anything about women, Hyungsik said that thanks to Jang Hyuk he now knows what the Kinsey Reports are. Jang Hyuk even told him what pages he should be reading. -It's not in this clip but right before Hyungsik came out, Jang Hyuk was asked by Hodong whether he was jealous that Hyungsik was becoming this popular. Jang Hyuk said that because it's Hyungsik and Hyungsik is really very kind, he's not jealous at all.

Hmm... seems that a few fans were annoyed with Star Empire because in the intro video for the Music Bank comeback stage, they used the names/logos of ZE:A fansites (eg. Runners High, classik etc) without first asking them. lol Anyway Star Empire has since issued an apology on Daum Cafe. No big deal really but it's a little odd.

ZE:A's first comeback stage is on Music Bank today (9th Aug KST), they prerecorded it this morning. Tomorrow's Music Core comeback was prerecorded last week. Inkigayo comeback this Sunday they'll be recording live. Soribada promotional pictures More pics here: http://blog.soribada.com/80195753650 Naver promotional pictures More pics here: http://music.naver.com/promotion/specialContent.nhn?articleId=4129

The live stream got cut off halfway during the fan meeting. :( Yeah, this time round the title track is definitely better than previous ones. Styling wise, it's an improvement too. Edit: The fan meeting ended with a very nice performance of "Someday". An underrated group, really. I hope this mini-album charts well on the music shows so that they'll finally get some recognition.

ë°”ëžŒì˜ ìœ ë ¹ (Ghost of Wind) Step by Step U're My Sweety I would also have loved to have heard "Crazy" in full. A snippet was played as the staff were arranging the stage and it sounded great. The MV is nice, surprisingly many shots of Kevin in it, which is good. There was a problem with Siwan's mic during one of the songs. Based on the comments in the chat stream, some Korean fans were unhappy with the journalists because only a handful of questions were asked during the press Q&A, which ended a bit too quickly. Overall, I think the showcase was okay, ZE:A themselves did well but Star Empire's organization should have been better. Basic things like ensuring that there are enough mics to go around during the press Q&A (the 9 of them had to share 2) they overlooked.

This airs tonight at 11.20pm KST. I'll post the video link once it has been uploaded to youtube. Edit: I'm watching the showcase now, they've sung 3 songs, Ghost of the Wind, Step by Step and You're My Sweetie. Kwanghee was the MC. Hmm... there were some minor hiccups... They're going to hold a press conference photo-time now I think.

@sergel @Anh Yeah, the one at http://empirechildren.net is the largest one. There's also https://www.facebook.com/empirechildren9 . Not as many subscribers but they are more up-to-date. Also some frequently updated international fan twitters: https://twitter.com/zeavenue https://twitter.com/forzea2jun It seems the SNS sites are the ones most frequently updated. I can read some Korean so I search Naver or Korean twitters for news too. P.S. I really love She's Gone as well. She's Gone, Fiancee, Daily Daily, All Day Long and Beautiful Lady are my favorite songs. ^^

I forgot to mention. Tomorrow (8th Aug), ZE:A will be having their comeback showcase and fan meeting at Club Ellui in Seoul. It will be broadcasted live at www.ustream.tv/channel/geniemusic The schedule is below, all times are Korea Standard Time: 2:00 PM KST ~ PRESS INTERVIEW 5:30 PM KST ~ Backstage LIVE 6:00 PM KST ~ Showcase & Fan meeting LIVE

Hi, I'm new to Onehallyu. Park Hyungsik fan.^^ I think Hyungsik's popularity will help them to a certain extent. Because he's so hot now, ZE:A's getting on more shows that they previously didn't have access to like Immortal Songs 2. Also, this Sat in Korea, ZE:A will be on KBS Entertainment Weekly's guerilla date segment. They filmed it last week at Eulwangri Beach. But in the end, whether or not they can take #1 on any of the music shows will depend on the full song/MV. ZE:A5 hit a high of #3 on Music Bank (largely due to airplay of their MV) in April but this time round there are several bigger groups making their comebacks in August so it will be very difficult. Anyway, here's a tvN segment that aired yesterday. On 2nd Aug, tvN followed Hyungsik around for a day. At 09:42, you can watch ZE:A sing part of their new song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APVQAmVzutQ