Sounds to us like JiHoon has things firmly in hand when it comes to his aspirations for the future and his tentative time line in which to do them. But then, he’s always been that way—never wishy-washy or waffling back and forth when it came to what he wanted to do, whether he made such things completely public or not. He’s a Man on a mission… and he has been for a long time. And so this is the perfect spot to share what I wrote about him, about my own son, and about other people who are like them, last year right around this time on Page 1 of our Mama Clouds section:
I have come to realize that:
Behind every cloud, there’s a silver lining.
Behind every mother, there’s a child with limitless potential, untapped.
It’s when the unquenchable love of something turns on a light behind that child’s eyes, or when untold tragedy starts a fire underneath him or her, that we see their potential unleashed. It is amazing what a human being on a mission can do. —^@@^ 1/21/10
And so, as we have done for the past ten years… let’s sit back, watch JiHoon continue to blaze his path across the world, and support him with a resounding cheer. He’s in a league all by himself. He will finish what he has started—mark my words.
— Stephe @cloudusa.wordpress.com ^@@^
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YonHap News/Nate News 2/12/2011 — [English translation by rain bird @rain-eu.]
Rain’ll struggle for success as an Asian actor in U.S. market after leaving the army. (In an interview after the 62nd Sapporo Snow&K-Pop Festival.)
After the 62nd Sapporo Snow & K-Pop Festival last 11th, Rain said in an interview with Yon Hahp News, “I feel that such a staged performance today is dear to me, and it is a lot of fun.”
Rain who was centered out of punishment through rock scissors paper between his dancers and him, downed his beer at dinner and said, ” I feel like a burden has been lifted from my shoulders now that I’ve greeted the New Year.”
Ten years after his debut, now here he is in his 30s in Korean age.
— Q &A with Rain–
Q : Last year you were a victim of various rumors.
Rain : All people have their own crucible without favoritism for any one. Only people who are determined to go through this can be happy. I can overcome that because my dreams for my future are great.
Q : It’s been 10 years since you debuted in 2002. What kinds of special challenges have you been doing?
Rain : All my work was an out-and-out challenge. The proportion of success to failure in my life is 70 to 30 so far. My first dream was to win first prize at a music chart show. I feel that I’ve luckily turned up trumps as I think about the past. I won the grand slam at [an] MTV TV awards ceremony, I was named one of the 100 Most Influential People by Time magazine, I won a MTV Movie Award for ‘Ninja Assassin’, and Berlin International Film Festival gave [the] movie ‘I’m a Cyborg, but that’s OK’ starring me an award.
I poured myself into the work without sleep during my 20s, but I want to give myself in my 30s a little more time after leaving the army.
Q : Recently, ‘Park Jin Young’s JYP Entertainment has become a major share in your agent J.Tune Entertainment, which makes you be like forming a partnership with JYP (Park Jin Young) again. How has that happened?
Rain : Both JYP and me stood our words that we would do something together someday to provide a strong synergy effect after pursuing our individual dreams. JYP recognizes me as his partner even though I’m his disciple, that’s why I look up to him. I can’t recognize MBLAQ produced by me as my partner. In that respect I should still learn a lot from JYP.
Q : Sometime this fall, you have to enter the military.
Rain : Until I enter the military, I want to study. I’ve begun studying English and Chinese again and will learn how to play the guitar. Of course, it’s too bad, because there’ll be a vacuum even though I’ve come to have a chance to bloom since I pushed into [the] U.S. market for the first time in 2006. I’ve had 2 movie roles offered to me recently, but I must regretfully refuse their offers.
Q : Do you have any plans after leaving the army?
Rain : I’ll struggle for success as an Korean-Asian actor in U.S. market after leaving the army. I want to stake my all on the work, staying there. I heard that Asian-American group ‘Far East Movement’s music recently hit number one on the Billboard charts, but Asian singers’ chances of success is slim in the USA. As long as major Hollywood studios and distributions back me up in my work as an actor, then it’s going to be worth [the challenge].
Q : Idol groups are currently having their share of fame in the music scene. What do you think of it?
Rain : Perhaps I was also one of idols ten years ago. Haha.. [You’re being very modest, JiHoon. 🙂 ^@@^] I expect to see the continued emergence of some rising Korean stars who sing and dance much better than I do in the years ahead, but the public tends to lose interest in everything easily and look for something new. I like this passage, “In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.” I want to speak as follows. If they only recall the past, they can just enjoy themselves, but if they have a goal to work in the music world for all of their life, they need to always try new things.
Q : I think you feel really great about that there is a boom for Asian K-Pop because you are a leader in overseas expansion.
Rain : I think it has been stabilizing since the bubble in the Korean Wave burst. They can compete with each other to become the best singers in Asia, which is great. They should better themselves by understanding and organizing the flow of the Asian pop music scene.
Q : I hear that you’ve decided to appear in a movie whose working title: Red Muffler.
Rain : It’s a fictional film about [the actual Korean War], I play a fighter pilot in the movie. I’m learning how to steer fighter planes. The movie will start filming in late February.
Q : Try to visualize [yourself] as a middle aged Rain.
Rain : I wish to dance in a tuxedo on the air, enjoying an active life into old age. [The Asian Frank Sinatra, huh? Okay! That will work for me! And as I recall, Mr. Choi of Rain’s management here in the U.S. was quoted as saying Sinatra was a perfect role model in terms of career for Rain, didn’t he? Ha. 🙂 —Stephe ^@@^]
Cloud USA 