Lookie, y’all! The R2B: Return to Base poster that has been on display for the past three weeks at our AMC Colonial 18 in Atlanta/Lawrenceville! The AMC general manager was very kind in packaging it up for Cloud USA and emailing us when it was ready for pick-up, and we thank him from the bottom of our hearts.
(Fresh from the display case/light box outside of the AMC theater.)
This thing is HUGE-normous, as you can see. I am 5′ 8″ tall; the poster goes from my lower lip all the way to below my knees. I can’t wait to hold it up to Terri with her short self—she’s going to flippin’ disappear. LOL!
This is definitely going to be a fixture at Cloudbursts and Rain get-togethers in the ATL from this day forward.
And just so you know, JiHoon dear, when we see you, you willbe autographing this puppy. Right on? Right on. 😀 ^@@^
Rain for Lotte Duty Free at Soekamo-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta. (Image credit: ipenky @Lockerz / tip: CloudUnite)
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Rain about town: With KCM for Speeding Instinct, and with his fellow soldiers for the Korean Forces Network at the KDDC Marathon event today. (Images courtesy of wantan0625 @Twitter)
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Apparently, this photo was out in the field during training sometime back when JiHoon was a Private First Class. And, according to this Army music video released back in January with Park HyoShin (song, “Overcoming Myself”), Rain might very well have been doing something like this… ^@@^ (Image courtesy of areurain @via.me / video courtesy of scaly83 @YT)
“Gangnam Style”: What It Is And Why America Was Bound To Fall In Love With It
[EXCERPT]
South Korean rapper of the moment PSY says he never imagined that “Gangnam Style” would be viewed more than 150 million times on YouTube. The video’s viral success was an even bigger surprise to the Korean music industry, whose chief export had been (until a minute ago) young, eager, camera-ready pop groups perfected by years’ of media training, gunning for crossover fame overseas in the United States. Compared to those svelte 20-somethings, Psy—age 34 and of average size—considered himself to be an industry misfit. To further prove his point, he’d learned to dance to “Single Ladies” for live shows.
It’s fitting, then, that when Schoolboy Records manager Scooter Braunannounced that Psy would join Justin Bieber and Carly Rae Jepsen on his roster, he made one particular goal known: Psy will be “the first Korean artist to break a big record in the United States.”
To US ears, “Gangnam Style” may sound like an LMFAO collaboration beamed from overseas. To first-time viewers of his music video, as Britney Spears and Ellen DeGeneres can now attest, PSY’s Running Man-meets-rodeo king choreography looks easier to nail than it actually is. As immediate and infectious as “Gangnam Style” may be, thousands of YouTube users have attempted to dissect nearly all aspects of the sudden hit and its accompanying, ridiculously viral music video: its rhythm, its apparent symbolism, if not its actual lyrics. (Despite its title being clearly displayed, English-language listeners — Usher included — apparently heard it as “Open Condom Style.”) But to PSY, “Gangnam Style” is simply a way of life, at least in Korea. Named after one of Seoul’s most affluent districts, this song off his sixth (!) album is about a couple “acting noble at daytime and going crazy at nighttime,” as the rapper told Ryan Seacrest.
PSY’s crossover success reminds of all the Korean artists that have previously set their sights for US fame — and also the US artists who then looked to the K-pop industry for inspiration. Let’s talk about them.
Number of times Rain topped TIME’s 100 poll: 3
In 2006, JYP Entertainment’s first crossover hopeful Rain performed two sold-out concerts at Madison Square Garden and one in Las Vegas — the sort of events that surely cemented his #1 spot in TIME‘s annual reader poll of most influential people, before he’d top it again in 2007 and 2011. The incredibly eager support from his fans (nicknamed his “Clouds”) once even helped Rain edge out Stephen Colbert for the poll’s #2 spot in 2008, a score that Colbert tried to settle via dance-off. Rain’s one failure: not recording an English-language album before he began his compulsory military service, as required of all Korean males.
They’re both in two of the hottest K-Pop boy bands, and they can make any girl melt with their half moon eye smiles, but that’s not why MBLAQ’s Lee Joon and 2PM’s Junho are facing off in this week’s K-Pop Battle.
Not only do Lee Joon and Junho both have close connections to Rain, they are the two idol stars who are most often compared to the singer and actor.
We don’t want to take away from what Lee Joon and Junho have accomplished in their respective groups and on their own, but the Rain comparisons are what helped put these two in the spotlight way before they made their debuts.
So this week, we’re out to settle, once and for all: Who is the real Rain 2.0?
Lee Joon
Lee Joon may be driving the girls wild on stage with his shirt lifts as one-fifth of idol group MBLAQ and cracking us up on variety shows with his “bumbling idiot” character, but he entered the spotlight as an actor in the Hollywood film Ninja Assassin.
He garnered attention early on in his career for playing the younger version of Rain’s kickass character in the film. As a rookie actor, Lee Joon certainly had big shoes to fill, but Rain sure seemed to be impressed.
“Despite it being his first time acting, I think he did a great job,” said Rain of Lee Joon in an interview. “As an actor, his facial expressions when he acts are really good. I didn’t think he’d be that good. Because he was a child actor, I thought he’d be okay, but he did so well.”
Kicking ass one moment then wooing a girl in the rain the next moment? No wonder Rain was proud.
Junho
Before Junho made his debut with 2PM, he was known among the trainees as Rain’s look-a-like.
When we first caught a glimpse of Junho on the old school audition program Superstar Survival, we were shocked by the close resemblance. From the singing and dancing to Rain’s signature half moon eye smile, Junho, in his pre-debut days, could have easily passed for Rain’s younger brother.
They even talk alike.
See what we mean below.
Rain is excited. Junho is excited. And thanks to the YouTuber who put the above clip together, we’re excited.
Now, are you excited for this week’s K-Pop Battle? Hurry on over to the K-Pop section and vote!
{*Edited to Add 9/14: Wow. Turns out you’ve stolen from Juiceehott, Kongsao, and Soorain too, eh? My-my, you do get around. ROFLOL! ^@@^}
{*Edited to Add: LOL! Changing “your” video’s tint to blue after you’ve been outed on the Internet doesn’t hide anything or change the fact that you didn’t put the video together. LMAO! ^@@^}
That’s right, everybody. Someone knowingly and willingly hijacked a Cloud USA video, removed the beginning and ending tags from it, and re-uploaded it with different music, as if our YouTube moderator JJ’s time-consuming work was all theirs.
Here’s a tip, dear. If you’re going to steal other people’s stuff, at least take things that aren’t so obvious. JJ’s unique style is well known across the Rainiverse; anyone can easily spot one her videos from a mile away, and it took me all of one second. Nothing else looks like a JJ vid. Better yet, STOP stealing. I don’t think Rain’s motto mentioned anything about disrespecting your fellow Rain fans.
R2B: Return to Base has been showing in North America since August 24, with more dates to come around the world. It has premiered in Vietnam and Thailand; now China, Singapore, and Malaysia are set for October. It opened in Korea back on the 15th. According to AMC, the movie is here in Atlanta through Thursday the 13th. History has been made—be a part of it!
As of this moment, 5823 yellow ribbons for Rain have been added to Twitter and Facebook icons everywhere. Our favorite corporal deserves every ribbon in the Brigade, so thanks for supporting him during his military service, and for letting him know you’ll be waiting when he gets home, fans! » For a brief read about the meaning of the Yellow Ribbon, go to our previous post HERE.
For information on where to send handwritten cards and letters to Rain, please see our previous post HERE (military). For cards, letters, and gifts, do see our post HERE (office admin).
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Me /(Na) 나”, Track 4 on Rain’s debut album n001 (2002). And here is the “Na” music video, the very one that the now defunct AZN Channel on satellite happened to televise that fateful day seven years ago, after an episode of historical K-Drama King Dae JoYoung. I didn’t have the Internet yet, I’d never heard of Rain, never seen Rain, didn’t know there was such a person as Rain. This music video literally changed my life in three and a half minutes. The rest is history.
(Video courtesy of nickgirl85 @YT)
Rain is Eternal. Where clouds stay gathered, rain will always come. It is inevitable.
R2B Return to Base account: A Tale of the Three Ajummas (September 6, 2012)
Like Rain, R2B: Return to Base brings people together who would usually never meet or speak with each other.
I’ve been to see Rain’s Korean summer blockbuster, R2B: Return to Base, five times now here in Atlanta. Yes, five. So far.
The first time was just to get it out of my system. We have anticipated this film since early fall of 2010, when he was filming KBS TV drama The Fugitive: Plan B with the Media asking, Will Rain put on that Red Scarf? Will Rain star in a new Red Muffler remake? (It’s been nearly two years to the day that those rumors started.) We’ve waited since the announcement came from CJ E&M that yes, he would. And since early 2011, when he began R2B filming and behind the scene glimpses came filtering out. Summer 2011, when R2B filming wrapped. October 11, 2011, when Rain walked into army boot camp, snagged for two years by the R.O.K. military. After a full two years of waiting for R2B to finally drop in Korea, and then having it not only come to the U.S. a mere week after that but to the ATLANTA METROPOLITAN AREA with ENGLISH SUBTITLES, it was either be there on opening day or bust.
It really didn’t matter where I had to go. It could have been hours away at the other end of Georgia, or across the border into another state. Terri and I drove to NYC last fall for SM Town at Madison Square Garden. You think we’re not going to drive to RAIN?
The second viewing was for my review of the film (which I’m in the process of writing now, please stay tuned). The third and fourth times were to gauge audience reactions (also a part of my review) and for fun. The fifth time (and any hereafter, R2B is in the third week of its limited release here) was totally for my personal enjoyment (again, fun). Rain being larger than life in his latest project, on a movie screen that I can drive to, is an amazing occurrence that I never thought would ever happen. His talent shines like new money in this movie, as do his cast mates’, and R2B itself is a romp of doggone good entertainment. You laugh, you cry, and you laugh again. Heheh.
You know, it would have probably helped English-speaking moviegoers to know that R2B was Korean WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES. Fail. 😦
When I arrived at the AMC Colonial 18 in Lawrenceville last week on September 6 for what I thought was the final showing of R2B, I certainly didn’t expect anyone else to be there. It was a weekday, early evening, barely past rush-hour traffic, and most people (who weren’t still stuck on the roads or on the job) would be at home feeding their kids and trying to unwind from another hard work day. But as I walked into the theater, I heard loud talking. Loud talking, in Korean. I froze at the stairs when I saw the two ajummas (아줌마) sitting in the middle of the theater in the semi-darkness. They quieted, and stared back. I stared at them. They stared at me, probably thinking I had wandered in the wrong door. After all, I’m a large Black woman and R2B is straight-up Korean, kind of a strange combination when you think about it. I stared at them. They stared at me. I stared at them. They stared at me. Finally, I snapped out of it, went up the stairs past them, and found a seat where I had a great panorama of the screen.
While waiting for the movie to start, I got comfy-cozy, had some snacks, and listened to the ajummas talk. Loudly. 🙂 Only a few words that drifted up to me made sense, seeing as I’m a mere grammar student at this point. “괜찮아” (gwaenchanh-a, it’s okay)… “네맞아요” (nemaj-ayo, yeah that’s right)… “우리차” (uli-cha, our car)…” 저쪽 이상” (jeojjog isang, over there, over yonder)… I thought I caught a couple of 비s up in the mix too, but they were talking so fast…
R2B started and I was a happy camper, even more so because I realized that, with the ajummas being loud, I could catch some their reactions. They were quiet when Rain came on screen for the first time, but chuckled and laughed at his antics and those of his cast mates’ throughout the film. They guffawed at the whole glider scene, chattered excitedly over aerial combat, cracked up at his reaction when he finally got a date, and seemed properly somber during the suspenseful parts. They got really quiet when I laughed at Rain with the Korean cartoon tears on his face (I think an American finding that funny probably freaked them out).
All too soon, the movie was over and singer Heo Gyu was crooning the ending theme “Closer To the Sun.”
I looked down below me. I didn’t see anyone. The ajummas had been so quiet the last half-hour, I assumed they had snuck out close to the end, so I checked my phone, grabbed my tote and stood up to leave. Turns out they were just really short women, because that was when they popped up out of their seats, turned around, and stared up at me.
I stared at them. They stared at me. I stared at them. They stared at me. It was like déjà vu, man, and it was starting to get weird, so I tried the first thing that came to me. I waved. And they waved back.
That was my cue to not leave the way I’d come in, but to cross the theater and leave with them.
Their first question was, “You like Korean film?” Me: “Oh, yes, for a long time.” Ajumma #1 was digging frantically in her purse, I wasn’t sure why. Ajumma #2: “This film has famous singer, you know?” Ajumma #1: “Yeah, famous singer from Korea. L-l-l-ain.” Ajumma #2: “Bi. You know Bi?” Me (Ajumma #3) (with a chuckle): “Ooooh, yes. I know Rain, all right.” Hahaha! Hilarious, right? Picture me so tickled, I was grinning like this at that question:
They were all too happy to prime me on Rain as we strolled out into the carpeted corridor. “This is his film, yeah.” “He’s in the Army now, yeah. In the Army.” They seemed quite proud of him. “He’s a good singer. Really good.” “Oh, so handsome! Real cute, yeah.” “Actor, he does everything.” “He’s the best dancer. The best. Real sexy. Like this here…”
That’s when Ajumma #1 (who also could have been a Halmeoni)(할머니) proceeded to bust a moveright there in the AMC that looked something like minute marker: 0:37:
Ajumma #2 cracked up at her. I just lost it when she tried to do an abbreviated “Hip Song” grind. 😀 Talk about awesomeness.
They were very surprised when I told them I’d been a Rain fan for nigh on seven years and considered him a real talent.
After we hit the Ladies Room, we talked about the new CJ Entertainment film coming to the AMC in September, Masquerade (starring Lee ByungHun), and how I became interested in Asian culture as a child, how my Air Force vet father adored Seoul when he served there and sent us home everything from clothing to furniture to dolls in hanbok, and how much both ladies had enjoyed R2B.
Out in the parking lot, as we separated to go to our cars, Ajumma #1 finally found what she’d been searching for in her purse and gave it to me—a pack of Orion Gosomi premium biscuits. “For you. They’re really good.” Talk about making my heart happy! I love how eager the Koreans I’ve met have been to share of themselves, their culture, and simply help me out, even if they could barely speak English. That’s what life’s all about, folks. (She was right. Those crackers were delicious.)
Like Rain, R2B: Return to Base brings people together who would usually never meet or speak with each other.
This has been a tale of three ajummas and one Korean film. And how, when anyone steps outside of the norm with a smile and a wave, they can help make the world better.
Rain About Town: R2B Mini Cooper! Haha. (Source credit: the official R2B movie Facebook)
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Baby Boy’s got some “business going on in the back” there… Even as a soldier, he’s going to make sure he has cool hair, yo. We noticed it a while back, did you? Maybe one day, he’ll let us see it in its full glory. *fingers crossed* (Rain WCC Navy Band Concert Jeju captures courtesy of pollyanna)
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JiWoo in the dark… JiWoo in the light… JiWoo on the run… JiWoo as your .gif. (Images courtesy of pollyanna)
Okay, okay. I know the world has gone crazy over PSY’s Gangnam Style and that there have been more articles about that one song and its success lately than there have been Beliebers tweeting about Justin. So, right about now, you’re wondering why in the world I might want to write another article of my own on the same subject?
Well, because for all that has been said about PSY and his scrumptilicious song, there are still a few things that haven’t been said. Like what, you ask? Like the fact that although people all over the world have been philosophizing over and dissecting that song ad nauseam, they have been forgetting the most important point: PSY himself.
Which brings us to my first point: Who the hell is PSY? And why does he matter? Well, he is a South Korean rapper and he matters a lot. To me, he does anyway. What matters even more is his recent success in the U.S.A. and what it says about my peeps here at home, which is that there may be some hope for them on the international music consumption front after all. I know that may sound a little harsh and judgmental, but from where I’m sitting, as the co-founder of Cloud USA and the Chief Editor of hellokpop.com, it’s not judgmental at all. It’s realistic.
Apparently, most people in the West, particularly in the U.S.A., live in an odd isolationistic bubble—a bubble where popular entertainment and culture from other countries simply does not exist. For that reason, until the Gangnam Style music video hit PSY’s YouTube Channel and American celebrities started talking about it all over the Internet, many people where I live had never even heard of PSY. Friends, all I can say is if you didn’t know who PSY was before Gangnam Style became a worldwide hit, then you really need to get out more.
We live in a global society, and we live in that global society whether you like it or not. We are connected to other countries in more ways that the average American citizen would care to admit. When the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008 hit, it resulted in the total collapse (and bailout) of large financial institutions and downturns in stock markets across the entire world. It was a global financial crisis, not a local one. When OPEC raises crude oil prices, our gas prices in Atlanta, Georgia are affected. Via social media like Twitter and Facebook and using services like Skype, we can talk to neighbors and friends not just down the street, but also in Asia and Europe at a moment’s notice.
Yet, even in this advanced day and age, the entertainment industry is still using mainly local marketing methods to peddle its wares and consumers are still in the mode of consuming only what feels safe and familiar to them. I have my reasons as to why that is still happening—much of it having to do with territorialism, the intrinsic nature of capitalism and marketing and corporate greed, but I don’t want to wander away from the main point of my article. So, I’ll just leave it at that for now.
My point is that while most of the rest of the world’s music consumers have spent years not knowing who PSY was, South Korean music fans knew very well who he was. Well, of course they would, you might say. They would know him because he is from their own country. While that may be true, how do you explain the fact that if you ask any music fan in South Korea who Rihanna or Justin Bieber or Usher or Katy Perry is, most of them are at least going to know who those artists are—even if they may not be familiar with all of their music?
The problem is you can’t. Frankly, neither can I, because personally, I just don’t get it. I am a person who loves the world-at-large so much that, even though I am a proud American, I have still spent much of my adult life learning other languages and studying other cultures. My parents raised me that way and I have raised my children to be of the same mind. So, my boys frequently listen to music from around the globe on their own, without my coaxing.
The problem is not all Americans are like me and my family. And you know what? That’s really sad. Why? Because to me, really living means escaping the artificial boundaries set by prejudice and ignorance and stepping out and exploring a world that is larger than myself and my own country. The idea that only music, art, and or culture from my own country is worth listening to, looking at, or appreciating is as ludicrous to me as is the idea that people of a different race, religion or national origin are somehow inferior to me. It’s just plain stupid.
Which brings me to my next point. Will PSY’s success in the U.S.A. last? My answer is: that depends. If PSY is willing to continue his career as “court jester,” then he will likely do very well here in The States. Why? Because people of other countries who are funny aren’t threatening. If he ever tries to step out of that mold, though, all bets are off.
Which brings me to my final point. What made Gangnam Style so popular? The main reason that people here in The States like Gangnam Style has very little to do with the symbolism or social commentary. No matter how you slice and dice it, the main reason people are loving the song so much is because PSY is really funny in the song and the song itself is just plain fun.
It is fun for me, a K-Pop lover, who has been a PSY fan for years. It’s fun for my son’s girlfriend’s teenage brother who, for some reason last week, couldn’t stop himself from watching the video over and over and over again and driving his family crazy. It’s even fun for PSY himself, who is enjoying one hell of a run here in the United States with this thing.
All I can say is I hope PSY’s run lasts a long, long time—and not for any other reason that simply because he deserves the attention. For many people in the know, PSY is a smart and talented musician whose music deserves to be heard and appreciated not just by people in South Korea and Asia, but also by people everywhere.
There are a lot of other artists across the world who are similarly deserving. Like Rain, for example—and BoA and The Wonder Girls and 2NE1 and Se7en—some of the other Asian artistes whom have been working so hard to break into the U.S. without much success to date. So, my hope is that with the success of Gangnam Style, perhaps some of the people who liked that song will be more receptive in the future to other Asian artistes.
Oh well. A girl can dream can’t she? :-}
Just for fun, here’s MY favorite video of Gangnam Style. It’s PSY performing the song at his Summer Stand Concert in August 2012, in Seoul, Korea. What a crowd!
Rain on Consolatory Train from an audio standpoint is always fun, because the fact that you can only hear it and not see it adds a whole other dynamic to the experience.
But do you know what’s really COOL about this gem of a recording? Well, I’ll tell you. Because this is on the radio (a Friends FM 96.7 broadcast of an earlier Consolatory Train performance), at the end after “It’s Raining” you can hear something we usually never do—a commercial spot by Rain and KCM for their military radio show 질주본능(jil-ju-bonneung), Speeding Instinct. Ah. Nice! 🙂
(FYI: 위문열차 (wimun-yeolcha) = Entertaining Train, Consolatory Train. 국방 (gugbang) FM = Defense FM, military radio, the way the DJs refer to Friends FM on air most of the time. Next time you listen to the show, see if you can hear Rain or KCM say that…)
As we understand it, fans outside of Korea and Japan will also be able to pre-order this DVD package. Efforts are underway at this time to provide a proper website for us to do so. Please be patient and wait for further details from the Powers That Be. Thanks!
It’s time for the next installment of Rain and KCM’s need for speed! Please enjoy it. When an English translation becomes available, I’ll add it to this post. Thanks.
(Source credit: 96.7 Friends FM / DEMA / courtesy of ratoka @YT)
120909 Friends FM 비 KCM의 질주본능 The Desire To Speed_Rain & KCM DJ.
[Rain] : It can be an instinctive reaction – if it’s noon on the weekend you tune in to The Desire To Speed. Please have a good time again today by staying tuned to The Desire To Speed!
[Rain] : Personally, I like pop group ‘Asoto Union’. (after their song)
[KCM] : Me too.
[Rain] : Are you able to guess who they are? (laughs)
[KCM] : Of course, I am. (laughs)
[KCM] : Listener ‘#8908’, “I’ll tune in to The Desire To Speed!”
[Rain] : New soldiers have recently been transferred to the Defense Media Agency. A PR soldier named Gyun Woo has a knack of impersonating other singers. He’s so good at doing imitations. Others can’t hold a candle to him.
[Rain] : Listener ‘The Scent of Chrysanthemum’, “I’ve colored my hair by using coffee, but consequently, my hair has been seriously damaged.”
You’d rather apply the dye on your hair, instead of coffee.
[Rain] : We’ve missed you so much. Let us start the day healthily and energetically!
[KMC] : Listener ‘Kang Choon Ho’, “I’m a soldier serving in Daegwallyeong. Many soldiers are waiting in line for the phone even though they are about to receive guerrilla training. They are anxious about their family’s safety due to the typhoon damage, and they’ve been volunteering at the damaged site caused by the typhoon.”
[Rain] : We’ve already received guerrilla training. I hope ‘Kang Choon Ho’ will do his best to fulfill his military duty until his discharge.
[Rain] : Listener ‘Roger That’, “I almost got into a car accident today, and the driver swore at me harshly. I’m still trembling!”
It’s all water under the bridge.
[KMC] : Listener ‘#7870’, “How nice to hear you two’s voices again.”
[Rain] : Listener ‘Large’, “It’s so good to hear both of your voices again.”
[KMC] : Listener ‘Lee Dae Woo’, “As the autumn draws near, we have cooler mornings and evenings now.”
[Rain] : Listener ‘Poomi’, “Our largest appetites occur in autumn.”
[KMC] : Listener ‘Only Yiljin’, “Working every weekend, I couldn’t listen to the radio. But I’ll tune to it today.”
[Rain] : Listener ‘Only One’, “Last week, ‘Jung Joon Yil’ told us to do something different instead of listening to the radio on the weekend.” (laughs)
That’s out of question. He can’t have it so. (laughs)
…in the official Cloud Community Fan Site sidebar? {*Edited to Add: Er, that’ s the long orange thing down the left side of the home page, by the way. Side. Bar. ^@@^}
Here’s a tip from Cuckoo, on the Cloud English Talk Board today…
Hello All,
Not sure if you [are aware of] the link in the front page of Cloud-Rain (the link below the RAIN official Homepage). The quotation book is posted there. The book was actually prepared by a group of World Clouds few years ago. They worked on this project for over 2 years. Rain actually has an actual hardcopy on hand. Now, the softcopy version is posted by Rainy Entertainment on this fans community website. All fans might access the link without login.
Please check it out! The book [does quote] all Rain’s words…this is a good chance to know more about him.
Regards,
Cuckoo
This Rain life/quotations diary contains several different languages, of which English is one. So what are you waiting for? Go CLICK the widget and read Rain in his own words, and enjoy. It is quite awesome!
(*NOTE: Clouds worked on this for a long time, put their blood, sweat, and tears into it for Rain, so please don’t abuse their work. I’m sure you know what I mean. Thanks.)
Sweet Mother Mary! Can any of you imagine singing in front of these three? Talk about nerve-wracking. Our hats are off to all of these brave contestants! 🙂
120907 KFN TV 국방뉴스 Rain @ Be the Star audition. (Source credit: Korean Forces Network TV Military News / courtesy of ratoka @YT)
120907-비 rain KFN 국방홍보원,Be The Star 최종예선 개최_레인메이커. (Source credit: Korean Forces Network TV Military News / courtesy of onlyone0625 @YT)
* NEWLY ADDED: As some of you are aware, RAINY Entertainment has begun providing a monthly schedule for Rain’s military activities so that Clouds know, for the most part, what’s what.
Here on Cloud USA, Rain’s monthly schedule from RAINY Entertainment, in English, will be posted right where it belongs—on our Rain On The Horizon page. Which brings us to the next bit of news…
* REFRESHED: Our Rain On The Horizon page, which is now TWO PAGES instead of one. Terri has separated it, to make the information more manageable for her and easier to read for you all. So, for the current month, please consult our Rain On The Horizon (He’s Coming) page, and for previous months, consult our Rain On The Horizon History page, which at the present time goes back some two and a half years, to Cloud USA’s inception.
Both of these pages are proof positive that our man never, ever, sits down.
Well! Looks like Captain “TaeHoon” wasn’t the only character gypped out of a kissing scene. Why, rookie “SeokHyun”, you sly dog! What were you doing, trying to teach Sarge “MinHo” a lesson, I’ll bet. Search and rescue, anyone? LOL! So hilarious. LOL! 😀 (Undisclosed images credit: R2B: Return to Base on Facebook)
Revisiting 2003: Making the “Escaping The Sun” music video with Rain. Minute marker 1:40… OMG! Listen to that! ♥ And later on, oh noes… an injury! When Rain goes all out, he goes ALL OUT. ^@@^Rain bi Cut the video digest⑧：日本語字幕 (Courtesy of pipipipipanda miyabi @YT)
Webus, a wireless Internet service brand whose fleet of buses provide WiFi to its passengers and mobile advertising for the company’s many clients, » is in the middle of a s-w-e-e-t Rain campaign for Celestial Movies, sponsor of the RAIN The Best Show 2011 National (Korea) Tour broadcast coming up across Asia this month. Honestly, if I saw this image pass me by, I’d be running like hell to try to catch that bus. ^@@^
Phone aps for all their members, so they can win Rain prizes (like coffee mugs, etc.) and watch bits and pieces of RAIN The Best Show in Korea on their phones, before seeing a whole concert stop on their TVs on September 23. Nice going, Webus! (image credit: Webus Hong Kong on Facebook)
This month’s themes are: A Love To Kill, Consolatory Train, The Last of the Best, and R2B: Return to Base. Please enjoy. 🙂
(1400 x 800. Cloud USA. Displays best “centered” rather than stretched or fitted, but still looks great any way you want it. See smaller sizes in the Gallery below.)
(700 x 700. Courtesy of Rainstorm.)
(1024 x 768. Courtesy of Annrainable.)
(1024 x 769. Courtesy of Rain[eare]. A larger size is in the Gallery below.)
In an odd coincidence, the Korean air saga R2B: Return to Base, doubtlessly inspired by Top Gun, is being released just a week after the apparent suicide of that film’s director, Tony Scott. Here we have Jung Tae-hun (Korean pop megastar Rain, aka Jung Ji-hoon), in the Tom Cruise reckless-hotshot role, an achingly young fighter pilot who is kicked off an elite show team for his daredevil antics and demoted to a fighter wing. His brash ways raise the hackles of his fellow pilots, who include the far more straitlaced squad leaders Cheol-hui (Yu Jun-sang) and Park Dae-seo (Kim Sung-soo), a widowed single father. Also in their midst are two women, Yu-jin (Lee Ha-na), who harbors a secret crush on Dae-seo, and Se-yeong (Shin Se-kyung), the wing’s talented top maintenance technician, whose faulty hearing is the only thing which keeps her out of the air.
Ever in the doghouse, impulsive Tae-hun has a full plate, as he must win the annual Air Force flying competition (to rejoin the show team) as well as the heart of Se-yeong, who has a true love-hate relationship with this upstart. Additionally, those villainous North Koreans are ever afoot, staging a bloody coup which threatens their neighbors in the south, providing one more do-or-die mission for our young hero.
Under Kim Dong-won’s ebullient direction, Return to Base, for all its genre derivativeness and predictability, is pretty swell entertainment. Kim’s canny delineation of character and alertness to the comradely humor of so many of his situations make this a far more convincing (and far less camp) flight movie than Top Gun. The gruff macho and bluster inherent in Korean men, illustrated by these actors, seems far more organic here than the cock-o’-the-walk strutting of those male ingénues in the Scott film. And there’s none of the weirdly unsettling homoeroticism of glistening, muscled bodies posing in the locker room in barely-there towels, which made Top Gun often so risible. The embattled characters here are not cartoons and you come to genuinely care about them, which gives appreciable depth to all the action pyrotechnics, which are quite spectacular in their myriad, breathlessly shot and edited live action and CGI.
Rain is a deeply ingratiating presence, unafraid to play the fool, with an amusing panoply of funny faces and goofball shtick. Shin is fetchingly feisty and shares a juicy, combative chemistry with him. The other actors fill out their roles nicely, all of them possessing that inordinate handsomeness which has been such an asset and source of appeal of the Korean soap operas which have quite swept the world with their popularity.
Behind every Cloud is a silver lining. His name is RAIN.
Cloud USA (EST. January 21, 2010) is a promotional/fan site where all English-speaking Rain Clouds of every age and ethnicity around the globe can share in their love of JI-HOON JUNG, the talented Korean artist known the world over as RAIN [비] (Bi). We want to provide a comprehensive introduction of Rain to those who may not know much about him, as well as help increase his presence in North America.
We also would like to further the popularity of Korean art and culture in the United States.
ENGLISH SPEAKERS FROM ALL COUNTRIES ARE WELCOME HERE. We hope you will visit and participate often!
Cloud USA
c/o Terri Robinson & Stephe Thornton
P.O. Box 1506
Mableton, GA 30126
EMAIL:cloudusa [at] gmail [dot] com
No copyright infringement intended; all videos (embedded or linked; there are NO uploads) and images remain the property of RAIN and their respective owners and are used for promotional purposes of Rain only.
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