04 April, 2011

The “Misuda Adventure" Part 2

First Part

September of  2006 went by fast. School had started and I quickly realized that school would be quite easy as the program for exchange students really doesn’t aim high (And I’m not talking about UIC, which is a totally different branch) I was eager to do the show and I was slowly finding my place at school, especially by joining a drama club, about which I’ll probably write in other posts. I remember one day, I was in the drama club room and I got a call from one of the show writers. They were getting everything ready for the show and they were trying to add a touch of entertainment, so she asked me if I could sing a song. I told her I’d like to sing “달” (Moon) by 박정현 (Park Jung Hyun or Lena Park). I was nervous and I chose a verse and a chorus to sing. It isn’t an easy song to sing but if I adjust it to my voice, it’s fine. For those who are curious, listen and watch here.

Unfortunately for me, I didn’t get to sing this song. A few days after suggesting this piece, I received another phone call from the writers. They were asking me if I could dance. I said yes, why not. Then they asked me what kind of dance I could do. Since I was thinking about  normal club music I simply said “Eum…Hip hop?!” You have to remember that I was trying to make myself understood with a really limited knowledge of the Korean language. I let it be, without asking too many questions…

D-day arrived. Vivian, Clara and I happily missed a day of school and all went together towards the KBS annex situated on Yeoui-do,  a little island that many Koreans like to call the “Manhattan of Seoul”, since a lot of companies have their offices there and because most of the television stations built their studios there. It is also the island where you can find the national assembly. Of course, it is far from being Manhattan, but I still understand where the comparison come from. My memories are a bit blurry, but I still remember a few anecdotes from the day.

The first step was to get make up and hair done. I must say that I was very excited to get pampered like that. Not every day do you get your make up done by a professional! After, we had to get dressed and this is where the mini-drama started. One of the writers was there and she started talking about my dance. She asked me what I prepared and if I needed pants to dance. I looked at her with big confused eyes. She thought I would do a hip hop choreography but I will still convinced that I would sing! Then she told me “No, you’re going to dance, there are two other girls who will sing. Your song was too slow, too dramatic”. I was very disappointed…I had prepared myself. I really wanted to sing on TV and I felt as if my only chance was fading away. I thought “They could of called me and ask me to change my song to another more up-beat one”, but no. It was too late. In the end I was still lucky to end up with a decent black dress. I was satisfied enough. As for Vivian, it was another story. She usually wore boyish, relaxed clothing so she really wasn’t digging her pure feminine look!

 We immortalized our dissatisfaction (Also notice how white our faces are…the necks are darker!)

Maybe from an outsider’s point of view, all of this seems very superficial, but the truth is, TV is a really superficial business most of the time. We all wanted to project a certain image of ourselves because for some girls and me, we had imagined this situation in our most crazy teenage girl dreams. So no wonder I got disappointed since my expectations were so high.

Still, some great stuff happened on that day. Vivian was very glad to meet a girl called Eva Popiel, an English-Japanese girl who had previously worked on a show called Full House with none other than the rising stars of the time, Super Junior. As Vivian was a fan of the group with the most members in Korea, she was very pleased with her meeting with Eva. As for me, I hadn’t seen the show, but I still took a picture with her.

 Vivian, me, Eva

Each of us was assigned a seat and a number. I was number 3, so I got seated in the front. It was probably to give me space to go out and dance my hip hop (facepalm…) In the end, it was a really good seat for me, but sadly, Vivian got seated in the back.  

 I don’t smile much….nervous?

The shooting started and I don’t really remember what subjects we covered. We talked about food, clubs, Korean guys…I only understood like about 30% of it. I got the chance to talk a few times but to be honest I don’t dare watching the video of this show. It makes me uncomfortable to see myself being so shy. The only time I look comfortable is when I stood up to dance (because I DID dance, but just some improvisation dance) with  천명훈 (Cheon Myung Hoon) a singer from the group NRG. I didn’t know the other guests for our show, but it was to be expected: All the singers I liked were in transition and weren’t recording any albums and many were heading for the army! I was still satisfied with the whole thing, but I told myself that only a few people would watch this show…eum…?

After the shooting, we went drinking together in a bar near the studio and kept contact with the writers and producers. I really wanted to do more. It was back to student life for me!

To be continued…

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04 April, 2011

The “Misuda Adventure" Part 2

First Part

September of  2006 went by fast. School had started and I quickly realized that school would be quite easy as the program for exchange students really doesn’t aim high (And I’m not talking about UIC, which is a totally different branch) I was eager to do the show and I was slowly finding my place at school, especially by joining a drama club, about which I’ll probably write in other posts. I remember one day, I was in the drama club room and I got a call from one of the show writers. They were getting everything ready for the show and they were trying to add a touch of entertainment, so she asked me if I could sing a song. I told her I’d like to sing “달” (Moon) by 박정현 (Park Jung Hyun or Lena Park). I was nervous and I chose a verse and a chorus to sing. It isn’t an easy song to sing but if I adjust it to my voice, it’s fine. For those who are curious, listen and watch here.

Unfortunately for me, I didn’t get to sing this song. A few days after suggesting this piece, I received another phone call from the writers. They were asking me if I could dance. I said yes, why not. Then they asked me what kind of dance I could do. Since I was thinking about  normal club music I simply said “Eum…Hip hop?!” You have to remember that I was trying to make myself understood with a really limited knowledge of the Korean language. I let it be, without asking too many questions…

D-day arrived. Vivian, Clara and I happily missed a day of school and all went together towards the KBS annex situated on Yeoui-do,  a little island that many Koreans like to call the “Manhattan of Seoul”, since a lot of companies have their offices there and because most of the television stations built their studios there. It is also the island where you can find the national assembly. Of course, it is far from being Manhattan, but I still understand where the comparison come from. My memories are a bit blurry, but I still remember a few anecdotes from the day.

The first step was to get make up and hair done. I must say that I was very excited to get pampered like that. Not every day do you get your make up done by a professional! After, we had to get dressed and this is where the mini-drama started. One of the writers was there and she started talking about my dance. She asked me what I prepared and if I needed pants to dance. I looked at her with big confused eyes. She thought I would do a hip hop choreography but I will still convinced that I would sing! Then she told me “No, you’re going to dance, there are two other girls who will sing. Your song was too slow, too dramatic”. I was very disappointed…I had prepared myself. I really wanted to sing on TV and I felt as if my only chance was fading away. I thought “They could of called me and ask me to change my song to another more up-beat one”, but no. It was too late. In the end I was still lucky to end up with a decent black dress. I was satisfied enough. As for Vivian, it was another story. She usually wore boyish, relaxed clothing so she really wasn’t digging her pure feminine look!

 We immortalized our dissatisfaction (Also notice how white our faces are…the necks are darker!)

Maybe from an outsider’s point of view, all of this seems very superficial, but the truth is, TV is a really superficial business most of the time. We all wanted to project a certain image of ourselves because for some girls and me, we had imagined this situation in our most crazy teenage girl dreams. So no wonder I got disappointed since my expectations were so high.

Still, some great stuff happened on that day. Vivian was very glad to meet a girl called Eva Popiel, an English-Japanese girl who had previously worked on a show called Full House with none other than the rising stars of the time, Super Junior. As Vivian was a fan of the group with the most members in Korea, she was very pleased with her meeting with Eva. As for me, I hadn’t seen the show, but I still took a picture with her.

 Vivian, me, Eva

Each of us was assigned a seat and a number. I was number 3, so I got seated in the front. It was probably to give me space to go out and dance my hip hop (facepalm…) In the end, it was a really good seat for me, but sadly, Vivian got seated in the back.  

 I don’t smile much….nervous?

The shooting started and I don’t really remember what subjects we covered. We talked about food, clubs, Korean guys…I only understood like about 30% of it. I got the chance to talk a few times but to be honest I don’t dare watching the video of this show. It makes me uncomfortable to see myself being so shy. The only time I look comfortable is when I stood up to dance (because I DID dance, but just some improvisation dance) with  천명훈 (Cheon Myung Hoon) a singer from the group NRG. I didn’t know the other guests for our show, but it was to be expected: All the singers I liked were in transition and weren’t recording any albums and many were heading for the army! I was still satisfied with the whole thing, but I told myself that only a few people would watch this show…eum…?

After the shooting, we went drinking together in a bar near the studio and kept contact with the writers and producers. I really wanted to do more. It was back to student life for me!

To be continued…

0 comments:

Post a Comment

 

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