Today’s update is as follows:
1) I was going through Twitter and came across somebody tweeting a link of our AOA profile to a friend of theirs (probably because they’re new to the fandom and wanted to get to know each member’s name), but they also said that the profile was old and that they would send them another link to a new, updated, and more accurate profile. I was, like, WTF MAN I NEED TO GO FIX THIS IMMEDIATELY. I guess my inner competitive side was starting to break the mold, because instantly I felt like SuMandu wasn’t living up to my expectations of being a top-notch provider on all things K-pop. And so, after reading that I opened up our AOA page and got to work right away. Then ta-da! Here we are now with a newly updated AOA profile. I made sure to include juicy trivia facts (because that’s how I like to roll, y’know), added their blood types, and I changed all of their old photos to more recent snaps of them. Here on SuMandu, I like to keep things fresh, ya feel me?
Now, one thing I want to mention about AOA that explains why I like them so much is because they’re not just a group, but a band, too. Like, a legit, straight-up, hands down, full on band. But there’s also more to it. Here’s the scoop:
Originally, it used to be that AOA’s band and idol group had practiced separately from each other. There were two teams, called the White Team and the Black Team, and the White Team would have practices early in the morning and the Black Team would likewise do so in the afternoon. However, now, there are no White and Black Teams, and instead both the band and the idol group have practice simultaneously. In other words, the band practices with their instruments while the idol group has dance practice. The reason why I like this is because it fosters a better, more interactive relationship amongst the members. By keeping the practice within the same time slot, they have more time to practice as both a “band + dance” group. This way of tackling the matter works symbiotically – it benefits both sides of the spectrum. It’s so much more efficient as it if effective. And the fact that the company enables them to work this way is just overall creating a healthier environment for the members to work in together as a functioning unit, not as divided entities.
Anyways…I’m getting off topic. AOA has a lot of jutzpah to their name, and they’re definitely living up to it. As I mentioned in my previous post where I talked about K-pop’s transformation in the past five years and how it’s making a major comeback this year, I touched down on the fact that rookie groups of late are definitely the “in” thing, and AOA is living proof of it. If you guys don’t already know it, I’ve always been more into girl groups when I first fell into the K-pop fandom (After School, 2NE1, Sistar are my absolute all time favorites, even though it was a boy group who got me into K-pop in the first place), but recently I have been falling for boy groups just as much (2PM, U-Kiss, Got7, Infinite). However, AOA is slowly and steadily creeping up onto my bias list and wrecking things up. They have got some seriously nice bodies too. Nice enough to compete with Secret, Sistar, and After School.
So, if you guys want to find out more about this girl group that is more than what they seem, click on over to their profile!
2) As promised, I have two new profiles for you guys. And also as promised, they are Eric Nam’s profile and Akdong Musician’s profile. These profiles were actually quite fun to make! I’ll admit that. Eric Nam in general is such a spunky, funky, cool and fresh dude that his profile is a joy to read. Automatically you’ll start to feel like you’ve been best friends forever. I’m actually very glad that Eric Nam decided to enter this business, because he brings such a refreshing vibe to K-pop that I think he might be one of the very few but important artists who can act as catalysts and slowly push the concept of what K-pop is towards something much more real and substantial. Yet AKMU on the other hand — although there isn’t a lot of information about them that is available yet — is quite the original and bright duo that their profile one-hundred per cent felt like I was sincerely trying to get to know them better on the scale of an endearing fan’s perspective. So if I felt that way, maybe you will too?
OMG yeah and AKMU’s new song “I Love You” is totally giving me the feels, man. Totes. Can someone tell me who that guy (Soohyun’s love interest) in the MV is? BECAUSE HE IS ABSOLUTELY ADORBS.
3) Of course, as I’ve been doing so in the past, I continue to do so now the tradition of making a new profile and simultaneously adding the official accounts paired with the members of said profiles to the Official Celebrity Accounts page. SO CHECK THOSE OUT ALL OF YOU HARDCORE DIE HARD FANS OUT THERE.
3) As you may or may not know (you probably don’t, though), I’m working on an entirely new section of this blog called “The Hallyu Wave”, featuring more personal pieces such as reviews, critiques, showdowns, blah blah blah. Well, I’ve added on another page under “The Hallyu Wave” called “Korean Games“, where we’ll give you the full-on breakdown and 101 on some of the most popular and common Korean hand games, drinking games, and board games (????) alike! So if you want a better break down, just click on the following link, and be prepared for when we start posting more pages!
4) Quickly, I must mention that it has only been about a week or so since I’ve been back, and I’m still making adjustments to this site as a whole. As a part of that, I’ll have to tell you guys now that if you’re looking for some Twitter accounts of duos or solo artists (keep in mind, the profiles of duos and solo artists who have been published before 2013), then you should be able to find them on their individual profiles and not on the Official Celebrity Accounts page…or at least, just for right now. In time, I’ll make the adjustment to have ALL official accounts (including Twitter) listed under our Official Celebrity Accounts page, but for now, things aren’t as organized as I want them to be.
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And that’s, that! I’m going to continue working on the site, since I’m not completely finished with some things here. I’ll post again later! Make sure to check our Twitter, too, if you want to keep more up-to-date. I’m off to work on some new pages under The Hallyu Wave section, and then update our Block B. profile (I’ve got some major trivia facts for you guys…just you wait!)
Toodle-loo fellow Mandu-ers!
– Jomarie
SuMandu, The Kpop Guru 