[images] ZEPP Fukuoka overload!

•June 27, 2010 • 2 Comments

And the hits keep on comin’. — ^@@^

(credit: Rain Angel)

[image] Could it be?

•June 27, 2010 • 5 Comments

No information came with this cute photo… but look at how Rain’s hair is combed, that asymmetrical bang that’s been balanced on both sides for as long as we can remember.  Could this possibly be… Runaway character Ji-Woo?  Maybe?  We’re just speculating here, just guessing (and the last time we saw Ji-Woo, he was in smooth as silk Gucci) but we sure do want to know!  — Stephe ^@@^

(blog source: Memo-Rain)

[Cloud USA] Let us all be Happy Together.

•June 27, 2010 • Leave a Comment

[Cloud USA] For those of you who would like to download Rain’s most recent Happy Together television appearance, English-subbed (Season 3, episode 146, along with Lee Hyo-Ri, Lee Joon, and Goo Hara as fellow guests), Pikeyenny is making it available to you on her blog in weekly installments.

» She has recently gifted us all with Part 2, so hightail it on over there, leave her a comment if you do download it, and please, above all else, give full credit to pikeyenny.wordpress.com if you decide to upload the show to another site.  A lot of hard work is going into it on her part, so let’s show her our appreciation.

Pikeyenny, thank you! 🙂

For those of you who would simply like to watch the show, the KBS World hard-subbed episodes are still up.

» Go to our previous post HERE for your Rain/Happy Together fix.

— Stephe @cloudusa.wordpress.com ^@@^
http://www.cloudusa.org

The three faces of J.Tune Camp?

•June 26, 2010 • 3 Comments

[Cloud USA] An English instructor in Seoul and a friend went on an interesting journey to J.Tune’s three listed addresses, with gifts.  Nice locations indeed, truthfully speaking.  The new empire architecture on the last place is stunningly beautiful.  And I’ve always liked red brick.  And chrome and marble.  (Sure says infested dive to us, MBLAQ. *sarcasm*)

» You can see AA-Chan’s blog post and all of the images HERE.

Great pictures, AA-Chan.

— Stephe @cloudusa.wordpress.com ^@@^
http://www.cloudusa.org

(Credit: aa-chan.net)

Rain on KBS World, English-subbed.

•June 26, 2010 • 6 Comments

A while back, we posted an untranslated Y-News clip that chronicled Rain’s MTV Movie Award odyssey from Incheon Airport all the way to his Badass win.  KBS World has now aired a hard-subbed clip with a lot of that same footage, so enjoy this, Clouds.

[*Note: Don’t get lost in the translation…!  When Rain says it felt ridiculous to be one of the five Badass nominees, and that it was something you’d see on a fake news report, what he meant was that it was incredible, something that couldn’t possibly be real but in your imagination.  Which refers, in my mind, to a CF he shot back in Australia a few years ago, where he won a fake award on a fake American show.]

— Stephe ^@@^

(credit: KBS, Cloud Taiwan / courtesy of biblueberry06)

What’s in your wallet?

•June 26, 2010 • 1 Comment

A Lotte Duty Free membership card, where you can swipe Rain’s face?  Well, get to shopping! 😉  — ^@@^

(credit: baidu, RAIN Germany /source blog: myjungjihoon)

[images] More Fukuoka ZEPPing.

•June 26, 2010 • 3 Comments

Can’t get enough of our superhero.  Mazinga Z! ^@@^  (credit as tagged)

RAINY DAY Season 2, episode 21.

•June 26, 2010 • 6 Comments

Asia broadcast 6/26. Continuation from last week.  It looked like Ye-Seul had an easy part, but honestly, it had to have been difficult to lie completely still and NOT peek an eye open to look at that hot man, especially when she felt him nearly sitting on her legs.  In fact, her entire job this week is to ignore Rain. How is that possible?  Seasoned actress or not… ughnnn…!  Torture!  And Rain with that Kim Jong Kook muscle shirt on… woah.  And that sound he always makes when he likes what he sees on screen… aoowwww.  (Okay, at some point I will get professional here.  Or not.)

As always, when Rain’s creative thoughts start clicking, he approaches his hyung (the director) for a consult—the man does know what he wants.  But I tell you, when he started coming on to the guy with his rolling abs, I fell over laughing.  LOL  Ah, Ji-Hoon, ever the jokester.

I’ve always thought that the sequences in the Love Song MV where Rain’s character is wandering through the house, recalling where Ye-Seul’s character had been (though she wasn’t there anymore), were the most wonderful parts of the thing.  Two people walking through the same space, just not at the same time.  And the use of that bright glare in places throughout may or may not have been on purpose, but seeing as its common use in cinematography means a flashback, fantasy scene, or lack of warmth, I was impressed.

Have fun, Clouds!  — Stephe ^@@^

(courtesy of ratoka @YT)

도망자 (Do-mang-ja) Check.

•June 26, 2010 • 3 Comments

While shooting drama Runaway, Rain with actor and human cultural asset Song Yong-Tae, who is cast as a monk in the drama. — ^@@^

(source blog: Rain Europe)


Contemplating his audience…

•June 26, 2010 • 1 Comment

… at ZEPP Tokyo.  (or is this Fukuoka?) And he looks pleased.   ^@@^

World Cup Updates: Day 15, Friday.

•June 26, 2010 • 1 Comment

REALITYFIFA World Cup 2010

Portugal 0 — Brazil 0

Ivory Coast 3 — North Korea 0

Spain 2 — Chile 1

Switzerland 0 — Honduras 0

Well, that’s it for all groups, A through H, for Qualifying Round 1—time for Stage 2!  The US, South Korea, and Japan are among the 16 teams that have made it through.  It’s going to be a good fight with Argentina, Brazil, England, and powerhouse Germany in the mix.  Wow.  (I wish our US team had some kind of cool name.  South Korea has the Tae-Guk Warriors/Red Devils.  Japan has the Blue Samurai.  Team Mexico has a big game cat.  New Zealand has the All Blacks.  And we have the MNT… Men’s National Team.  “Go, All The Reds! Go, Blues!  Go—MNT?”  Kind of awkward, yeah.)

Today (Saturday) Team USA and Team S. Korea are both on the pitch against Ghana and Uruguay, respectively.  And that is NOT good, because looking at the play brackets, if they both win, they will be playing each other on July 2nd and the loser of that match will be eliminated.  Oh, how can this occur?  Terri, start crying now.  We are verklempt!

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FANTASY:  MTV World Cup of Rock 2010

In Progress #2:  S. Korea (RAIN) 91% versus S. Africa (Dave Matthews) 9%

In Progress #1:  S. Korea (RAIN) 87% versus England (Coldplay) 13%

So far, so good.  We are happy campers.  You can check all of the other countries and their artists and ongoing match-ups HERE, in the MTV Newsroom Blog’s World Cup of Rock coverage.

— Stephe ^@@^

[images] Rain at ZEPP Fukuoka.

•June 26, 2010 • 5 Comments

Our superhero, all a’Bling. ^@@^  (credit: goo/RainLove&Peace)

Rain to be featured in Graffiti K-POP (K-Pop グラフィティ) Volume 1.

•June 25, 2010 • 2 Comments

[Cloud USA] Rain, along with several other KPop artists, will be on the cover of the very first issue of the new K-Pop グラフィティ (Graffiti K-Pop) Magazine, to be released in Japan by Inforesuto for July 2010.

An inside spread on Rain will also showcase his eight-year career and his recent activities.

The order page for this July issue of Graffiti K-POP at HMV Online is HERE, and the page translates easily from Japanese through Google Translate.

Congrats on what should be another fine write-up, Rain. 🙂

— Stephe @cloudusa.wordpress.com
http://www.cloudusa.org
9:38 pm EST

Always you.

•June 25, 2010 • 2 Comments

Vietnamese Clouds love Rain.  Here is proof. 🙂  — ^@@^

(courtesy of rainvietnam625)

[fan cam] It’s hot in there!

•June 25, 2010 • 5 Comments

Good gravy, Rain!  Talk about getting the proper attention from your dancers.  Is that song appropriate or what? I need some water. 😉  — Stephe ^@@^

“You,” ZEPP Tokyo.  (credit: letsgohome @ DC / courtesy of ratoka)

SuJu, 2AM, & 2PM channeled Rain on a Special Stage.

•June 25, 2010 • 2 Comments

Yes, this Music Bank Special Stage was special indeed, and we enjoyed it.  Eunhyuk and Shindong (Super Junior), JoKwon (2AM), and Chansung and Nichkhun-nie (2PM)… thanks for the fun, guys. 😉  — Stephe ^@@^

Allkpop 6/25/2010 — This particular special stage for KBS Music Bank’s mid-year special has got to be a fangirl’s dream-come-true. The entire stage is full of chocolate abs as Super Junior, 2AM, and 2PM got together to parody Rain’s Love Song….

» You can see the post and screen caps on the allkpop site HERE.

(courtesy of ratoka @YT)

What are the top 10 nonstop hits of Rain’s career?

•June 25, 2010 • Leave a Comment

Well, according to » the Monkey3 Music Site, Rain’s top 10 hits down through the years have been:

1. It’s Raining
2. Ways to avoid the sun
3. Instead of Saying Goodbye
4. Love Song
5. Rainism
6. Bad Guy
7. Familiar Face
8. I Do
9. I’m Coming
10. Hip Song

Word on the street is Monkey3 also has free streaming and downloading of these fantastic songs. Nice.  — Stephe ^@@^

He’s done it “his way”: On the ZEPP Tokyo big screen.

•June 25, 2010 • 1 Comment

Awwww… !  Grab a hanky!  — ^@@^

Fan cam, the ZEPP Tokyo JumboTron.  (credit: letsgohome @DC / courtesy of ratoka @YT)

[fan cam] “So let’s have a talk.”

•June 25, 2010 • Leave a Comment

Enjoy this cute clip of Rain speaking to the audience on the first night at ZEPP Tokyo.  Ah. 🙂  — Stephe ^@@^

(Credit: onlybibi @raincloudHK .  Please DO NOT re-upload this video to any other YouTube channel.  Thanks!)

brief translation by rain bird @rain-eu.

(A male interpreter was interpreting Rain’s words for Japanese audience)

RAIN:

I can speak Japanese very well, but I’ll first try to do Korean in order to convey a deep meaning to my words.  (audience laughed)  What’s wrong?

Can you understand what I’m saying?

Thank you for coming to my Zepp Tour, and I’m so glad many of you came to my new concert.  I think we are like family, but I feel I’ve hardly had a conversation with you, as if a husband didn’t talk to his wife.

So let’s have a talk.

Does it [do] your heart good to understand what I’m saying?

MTV USA says: Happy Birthday, Rain.

•June 25, 2010 • 6 Comments

MTV Newsroom Blog 6/25/2010 (10 am EST) —

Happy Birthday, Rain!

There will probably be an awful lot of celebrating in South Korea today. Not only did their national soccer team qualify for the next round of the 2010 FIFA World Cup (they’ll take on Uruguay this Saturday, June 26), but today is also the birthday of one of their most incredible international exports. Rain, the multi-talented singer, model, actor and business mogul from Seoul, turns 28 years old today.

Born Jung Ji-Hoon, Rain began his career as a back-up dancer who eventually worked his way into the spotlight with his debut album Bad Guy in 2002. Around the same time, he scored an acting job on the popular television drama “Sang Doo! Let’s Go to School.” More albums followed (six in Korean, one in Japanese), but it was his acting work that helped him make the transition into international stardom.

In 2008, he appeared as a villain in the summer blockbuster “Speed Racer,” and by 2009 he scored big with a starring role in the international martial arts hit “Ninja Assassin.” Rain has also been quite a friend to MTV. Not only did his work in “Ninja Assassin” earn him the prize for Biggest Badass Star at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards, but he was also a key player in the MTV EXIT campaign, which worked towards ending human trafficking in Asia.

Rain is currently enjoying his latest international hit “Hip Song,” which is from his just-released new album Back to the Basic. (He is also leading his team to victories in the MTV World Cup of Rock!) But his signature voice and incredible talent as a dancer has best been on display in the video for “How to Avoid the Sun.”

— by Kyle Anderson

» You can see Kyle Anderson’s actual post on the MTV Newsroom Blog HERE.

» Our previous post, How Old is Jung Ji-Hoon? is HERE.

Mr. Anderson, you have no idea how big of a grin you have put on my face today.  Thank you so much for recognizing a most amazing man and human being.

— Stephe ^@@^ 4:00 pm EST

World Cup Updates: Day 14: Thursday.

•June 25, 2010 • 1 Comment

REALITYFIFA World Cup 2010

Japan 3 — Denmark 1

Netherlands 2 — Cameroon 1

Slovakia 3 — Italy 2

New Zealand 0 — Paraguay 0

On the Asian front: Congrats to Japan on their win!  (Though, from what we’ve heard, your countrymen were so fixed on Rain being there ZEPPing, little attention was paid to your match. Ouch.)  Today (Friday) North Korea plays against the Ivory Coast… and then it will be on to the second round for all qualifying teams.  Time to move up!

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FANTASY:  MTV World Cup of Rock 2010

In Progress #2:  S. Korea (RAIN) 90% versus S. Africa (Dave Matthews) 10%

In Progress #1:  S. Korea (RAIN) 85% versus England (Coldplay) 15%

You can check all of the other countries and their artists and ongoing match-ups HERE, in the MTV Newsroom Blog’s World Cup of Rock coverage.

— Stephe ^@@^

Cloudy Day: Fan art, inspired by Rain.

•June 25, 2010 • 2 Comments

Our new CLOUDY DAY: Fan Art page is a work-in-progress, and we hope it continues to grow! ^@@^

"Blue-eyed Seoul" by member Katie (Notts, U.K)

The Ultimate Generational Trio: Happy Birthday, Rain.

•June 25, 2010 • 7 Comments

Thinking back on our favorite Rain performances of the past twelve months, one in particular stands out quite strongly—his “11 Days” live stage during the Legend of Rainism Tour.  Not only was it creative in and of itself, but it reminded us that 1) great minds do indeed think alike and 2) Rain is one smart cookie.  Like we said before.

In honor of his birthday, we give you what we fondly refer to as the Ultimate Generational Trio: Rain’s “11 Days”, Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” short film, and Fred Astaire in the popular 1953 movie The Band Wagon.  Three mega-icons, one great idea, down through history.  Club/bar scene, hot chicks, dress jackets, and fedoras.  We can only imagine what would have come out of these three men in one room together, talking for a while.

We also realize that Rain lost a precious idol on this day, one year ago.  RIP, Michael.

Enjoy this, Clouds.

— Stephe ^@@^ and Terri :-}

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Rain, 2008 Legend of Rainism Tour. (courtesy of miyuki6to5)

MJ, 1987 Smooth Criminal.  (courtesy of MJacksonHD)

Fred Astaire, 1953 The Band Wagon.  (courtesy of SophyaAgain)

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[images] And they were off to Fukuoka.

•June 24, 2010 • 1 Comment

Bye bye, Tokyo.  It was a blast. 🙂  — ^@@^

(source blog: Rain Official @ameba.jp)

[images] Surf’s up!

•June 24, 2010 • 1 Comment

(source blog: Memo Rain) ^@@^

[fan cam] “Now that we’ve found love…

•June 24, 2010 • 1 Comment

…what are we gonna do with it?”  Jamming with Heavy D.  OMG, is that BbaekGa up there with Rain?  From ZEPP Tokyo, Clouds.  What fun!  — Stephe ^@@^

(credit: DC / courtesy of ratoka @rainHK)

[edited post] Fans sing for Rain.

•June 24, 2010 • 5 Comments

[*ETA 6/25: It came to our attention that super fan club Benamoo wasn’t putting out this album as reported, so we went looking around for answers. At present, our original source is still indicating Benamoo, but other sources are simply stating “Rain fans.” What “Rain fans,” where?  If not Benamoo, can someone be more specific?  This is someone’s album, for pete’s sake!  In the meantime, seeing as our online translators aren’t specifying the fans either, we have have edited this post.  Thank you.  ^@@^]

Sports Hankook has reported in their pages that Rain fans will release a music album entitled “Raintree” to celebrate his birthday.  The album will consist of five songs written and composed by fans.  The album will be available for listening online on the 25th, and then go on sale offline on the 28th.  The CD itself will be sent to Rain while he is in Japan on his Loves ZEPP Tour.

Members wrote both the words and the music for the songs, and gathered pictures from Rain’s close friend BbaekGa for the album’s cover design.

The Tree That Gives Its Heart and Tell Me Love are two of the album’s five songs.  Proceeds from sales will be donated to the poor.

(Thanks to rain bird and Rain Europe for this information.)

Thumb’s up for giving Rain such love, and for again following his lead and helping those less fortunate. — Stephe ^@@^

[images] More fresh ZEPP Tokyo.

•June 24, 2010 • 2 Comments

(source blog: Memo Rain)

(images provided by J.Tune/Rise)

World Cup Updates: Day 13, Wednesday.

•June 24, 2010 • Leave a Comment

[*ETA 6/24: It appeared that, with the scores to Rain’s first MTV Cup match static for so long, that match was final.  But wow, wonder of wonders, the score moved again—today.  Both that first match and the second one are apparently still in progress. *shaking my head* Okay.  Whatever. ^@@^]

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REALITYFIFA World Cup 2010

USA 1 — Algeria 0

England 1— Slovenia 0

Germany 1 — Ghana 0

Australia 2 — Serbia 0

My word!  Was Team USA’s match an on-the-end-of-your-seat-er, or what?  Wow.  And let us all rejoice—this victory and South Korea’s tie yesterday means that Team USA and the Tae-Guk Warriors are both going to the next round of play.  Well, glory halleluia! *jumping up and down*

On the Asian front, Japan is on the pitch today (Thursday) against Denmark.

°

FANTASY:  MTV World Cup of Rock 2010

In Progress #2:  S. Korea (RAIN) 91% versus S. Africa (Dave Matthews) 9%

In Progress #1:  S. Korea (RAIN) 86% versus England (Coldplay) 14%

*NOTE: There are 86 comments on that first match… and only 21 comments on the match in progress.  I’m hoping that number will rise in the near future…?  Or are people having problems logging in to MTV in order to comment, as I was?

I know that many of us have concerns about the way the World Cup of Rock is being conducted, but I have to say that we are all doing Rain proud, Clouds.  Regardless of the struggle. 🙂

» The World Cup of Rock on the MTV Newsroom Blog is HERE.

— Stephe ^@@^

You gotta be yourself.

•June 24, 2010 • 4 Comments

That is exactly what Rain has done, from the moment he stepped into our lives.  (The translation of “Props In My Life” is HERE, on our Lyrics page #4.)  A really sweet video, by lany in Brazil.  I thank her for sharing it with all of us.  — Stephe ^@@^

Just listen to that voice.  (credit and edit: lany68)

Support Rain by helping our Sisters tweet-trend!

•June 24, 2010 • 4 Comments

From Jax @sixtofive1982:

‘HappyBirthdayRain’ Twitter Trend

We will be trending HappyBirthdayRain on June 24th for 2 hours at these times:

  • 8pm EST
  • 7pm Central
  • 5pm PST

(Trending in Korea will be on June 25th @ 9am KST)

** please note: we will not be using the # hashtag this time so that we can avoid the spam issue.

You can of course keep trending as long as you’d like, but the main time frame we will be trending are the times listed above. PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!

Rain’s date of birth is the 25th, as you know.  This will be quite a nice shout-out to him tomorrow, Clouds both in the US and overseas all trending together at the same time.  At the above trending hours here, it will be the morning of the 25th over there.  See how that works?

Those of you who have already sent birthday cards and/or silver lining letters to our Ji-Hoon… good job!  He’ll be ZEPPing at the Fukuoka Hall (and has to travel way down to the south end of Japan for that), but that hardly matters.  He needs to feel our goodwill, and we truly believe, sensitive man that he is, he’ll be able to do just that.

— Stephe ^@@^

One day, he’ll be in our magazines too.

•June 24, 2010 • 2 Comments

We just have to be patient, support him, and create a demand for Rain at our media outlets.  They only print and play and report on things that the masses clamor for.

It’s only a matter of time.  — Stephe ^@@^

(PIA magazine images: rain-cloud)

[Cloud USA site news] Our 2000th comment has been made!

•June 23, 2010 • 11 Comments

How exciting!  I couldn’t wait to get into our Cloud USA admin to see who had done the deed.  Imagine my surprise when I saw that it was—

Oh.  Me.  *sheesh*

No problem.  My and Terri’s comments don’t count in this game, so #2001 would do just fine.  Imagine my utter surprise when I saw that it was—

Oh.  Me, again.  *drats!*

Comment #2002 was not me, thank the heavens.  And that number works perfectly because our Ji-hoon debuted as 비 in the year 2002, remember?  And so, without further ado… congratulations to member STARRAIN for making our 2002nd WebBlog comment!  It happened under our “My word! Rain & Henney? Can this be true?” post, and she said: “I would rather see Rain and Dennis Oh! So what if Dennis can’t speak Korean… ”

Enjoy these spectacular prizes, Star: Your very own personalized can of Starrain Cola (drink up!) and this Rain photo shoot for O HUI skincare.  The video is rather hot in an understated sort of way, so your cola should come in quite handy.

And… a big thumb’s up to commenters gerlie0064, riverwood, Laura, Daphne, and BOOM, for coming really close to that 2002 mark.

— Stephe ^@@^

Rain and O HUI for Men.  Mighty cute.  (credit and edit: rainieyang09)

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