Perry: Too soon to judge Obama’s handling of Hurricane Irene

posted at 3:30 pm on August 28, 2011 by Tina Korbe
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Maybe it’s because the state of Texas has weathered higher category hurricanes with far less fuss than that with which the East Coast is presently handling Hurricane Irene, but Texas Gov. Rick Perry refuses to allow the abundant meteorological moments of this week overshadow the economy. Political Ticker reports:

    The Texas governor appeared at a county GOP picnic in Des Moines on Saturday. During an exchange with reporters, Perry was asked if the president has been an effective leader during a week that saw two menacing natural disasters: an earthquake and currently the hurricane.

    Though Perry would not cast judgment, he did cast his answer in overtly political terms.

    “He has been an absolute disaster as a president from the standpoint of our economy. That’s what people are really focused on,” Perry said. “Taking a snapshot of whether or not he’s appropriately dealt with the hurricane – I don’t know yet. I’ll tell you when the hurricane’s over.”

Frankly, the news media ought to take a leaf out of Perry’s book and remember the economy even in the midst of a rocky weather week. Irene has already caused significant inconvenience to coasters (as Ed reported this morning, 3 million are without power) and, even more tragically, has resulted in at least one death, but the media devoted so much time to the earthquake and pre-storm prep (probably because most of the media is on the East Coast) that the president essentially received a free pass on the dismal economic news that also emerged this week. Weekly jobless claims rose by 5,000. Home mortgage applications dropped to a new 15-year low. The CBO’s positive predictions of deficit reduction were based on measures that will never take effect.

Of course the media should have devoted a significant amount of attention to the earthquake and to Hurricane Irene. Natural disasters are without question newsworthy — and, if Hurricane Katrina taught us anything, it’s that it would always be better to have too much media coverage on the front end than a need for endless media coverage on the back end. But it did seem eventually to grow a little out of proportion. I’ll be eager to read any Pew-Project-for-Excellence-in-Journalism-type research that breaks down the exact distribution of the news this week.

At one point, I found myself so perplexed by the hype (The Weather Channel, for example, featured a reporter dramatically bemoaning roughly 25 mph winds — a relatively common day in states like Oklahoma and Kansas!) that I began to brainstorm conspiracy theories. Could it be, I wondered, that the media wants to concoct a more extreme disaster the president could then be demonstrated to have capably “solved,” to have adequately addressed? (Political Ticker’s headline for the story above helps this theory along, actually: “Perry not ready to praise Obama’s handling of Hurricane Irene,” the hed writer writes, as though it’s automatic and obvious that his handling of the storm should be praised. But, then, I tend to read too much into things.)

I don’t really think that, of course. I think it’s August and news is slow — and, anyway, as it turns out, Irene did hit North Carolina with 85 mph winds — winds well worthy of a bit of bemoaning. By the time it hit the Northeast, it was just a tropical storm, but still damaging. Still, throughout the week, I found Fox News’ Shepard Smith’s consistent talk-down of both weather-related events refreshing and I find Perry’s comments particularly apt now.

The Texas governor followed up his pseudo-criticism of the president with an important reminder: State-level leaders, even more so than the president or other national bureaucrats, will bear the brunt of responsibility of cleaning up after the storm.

“Those governors of those states along the Eastern Seaboard are the ones that are actually going to be making the decisions that save the lives, that prepare for this hurricane, that do the search and rescue, and then frankly – do the first part of the recovery,” Perry said.

Yep. Sure, federal-level disasters mandate a federal-level response, but, in America, folks pitch in and help their neighbors in an emergency. They don’t just wait for FEMA to inefficiently address their problems or for the president to glibly gloss over policy-created crises to wax eloquent about matters out of his control. Or, at least, in the America of my imagination, they don’t. Wish that were always the reality, as well.

Why is the media so ignorant about religion?

posted at 2:00 pm on August 28, 2011 by Ed Morrissey
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A few days ago, the New York Times’ Bill Keller proposed asking “tougher questions” of presidential candidates about their faith, causing an uproar in both political and religious circles:

    This year’s Republican primary season offers us an important opportunity to confront our scruples about the privacy of faith in public life — and to get over them. We have an unusually large number of candidates, including putative front-runners, who belong to churches that are mysterious or suspect to many Americans. Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman are Mormons, a faith that many conservative Christians have been taught is a “cult” and that many others think is just weird. (Huntsman says he is not “overly religious.”) Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum are all affiliated with fervid subsets of evangelical Christianity, which has raised concerns about their respect for the separation of church and state, not to mention the separation of fact and fiction. 

“It was like walking into Hell”

“It was like walking into Hell”

posted at 11:25 am on August 29, 2011 by Ed Morrissey
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Greg Hengler captured this emotional moment from the National Geographic special last night that featured George Bush giving his recollection of 9/11 and the days immediately afterward. This clip gives the backstory to Bush’s famous declaration from Ground Zero that the people who destroyed the towers would soon hear from an enraged United States of America. Bush describes the scene as being something from Hell, and that he sensed a “palpable blood lust” to avenge the deaths of thousands of Americans:

I missed the show last night; I was distracted by some unexpected bad news in the family. I have it set to record this evening and will watch it later. If you missed it as well, it airs again tonight on the National Geographic Channel at 9 pm ET and again at midnight. The previews of the one-hour special are very intriguing. Apparently the only voice we will hear, other than from archival video of the events, is Bush’s, as the interviewer’s questions have been removed from the video.

Quotes of the day

posted at 10:41 pm on August 10, 2011 by Allahpundit
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“President Barack Obama is getting hammered on all sides for a stumbling U.S. economy and his uneven response to it, raising pressure on him to take steps to create jobs or risk being ousted in next year’s election…

“He received negative reviews from pundits for a speech on Monday that offered no new policy ideas and failed to cushion a steep sell-off on Wall Street…

“David Yepsen, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University, said a host of problems is playing on Americans’ minds, from weak job growth, and slumping markets to the recent deaths of 30 American troops in Afghanistan, a war that is increasingly unpopular.

“‘There’s that feeling, that things are out of control, that we’re not on top of this anymore,’ Yepson said.”

***

“Gary Pearce, a Democratic strategist in North Carolina, a swing state Mr Obama is likely to struggle to retain in 2012, said: ‘Democrats are worried. He looks weak, he doesn’t say anything that grabs you, and people are looking for some kind of magic.’

“He said some activists were asking ‘do we need someone tougher to fight the tea party?’ ‘You see a yearning for a Bill Clinton-type approach and Hillary would reflect that. Obama is just a different political animal, he is a low-key guy,’ he added.”

***

“All that remains of the great hopes Americans and the world had pinned on Obama, inspired by his stirring campaign speeches about change and renewal, is a battlefield of unsatisfactory and contradictory compromises. Obama, who just turned 50 and was once a symbol of youthful change, suddenly seems old and worn out, as gray as his hair has become…

“The clash with the Tea Party has highlighted Obama’s shortcomings. His opponents have everything he seems to lack. They are loud, confident and uncompromising, sticking to their principles while he repeatedly hesitates and delays. In the US midterm elections, dozens of Tea Party candidates managed to get elected to Congress by capitalizing on the rage of people who Obama had failed to connect with…

“It is now clear that Obama is simply not the man to help conflicting parties out of entrenched positions or give new impetus to an alliance. He instinctively leans toward measured, often delayed reactions, leaving his promises of change to fall by the wayside.”

***

“‘We just wish he’d be more of a fighter,’ said one influential Democrat with a grimace. Another agreed: ‘You can’t blame him for everything. I just wish he would come across more forceful at times, but that is not the dude’s style. Detached hurts you when things are sour. You need some of Clinton’s ‘I feel your pain’ compassion.’…

“Obama’s response on Monday to Friday’s Standard & Poor’s downgrade and to the 22 Navy Seal commandos and 8 other soldiers killed by a Taliban rocket-propelled grenade in Afghanistan was once more too little, too late. It was just like his belated, ineffectual response on the BP oil spill and his reaction to the would-be Christmas Day bomber; it took him three days on vacation in Hawaii to speak about the terrorist incident when the country was scared about national security, and then he spent the next week callously shuttling from the podium to the golf course…

“His withholding and reactive nature has made him seem strangely irrelevant in Washington, trapped by his own temperament. He doesn’t lead, and he doesn’t understand why we don’t feel led.”

Tom Friedman fantasizes: What if Boehner joined forces with Obama and totally dismissed the tea party?

posted at 10:06 pm on August 10, 2011 by Allahpundit
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As bad as that sounds, you need to know that this column was written as a faux AP news article to appreciate its true horror. So desperate is the left’s intelligentsia to see Obama fulfill his promise as redeemer of liberal dreams that they’ve given up analysis and taken to fanfic instead.

This guy may very well have action figures of Obama and Boehner stashed away in his home.

    Washington (AP) — It was a news conference the likes of which the White House had never seen. President Obama stood in the East Room, flanked by the House speaker, John Boehner; the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell; the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid; and the House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi. The president asked Mr. Boehner to speak first:

    “My fellow Americans,” the Ohio Republican began. “We have just concluded a meeting with the president, prompted by this moment of extraordinary economic peril. Our party, as you know, is convinced that the main reason for our economic decline is that we have too much debt, that government has grown too big and that taxes and regulations are choking our dynamism. But I have to acknowledge that, over the years, our party has contributed to this debt burden and government spending binge. We are not innocent, and, therefore, we owe the country a strategy for governing and for fixing a problem that we helped to create — instead of just blocking the president. The G.O.P. is better than that and has more to offer the nation. Therefore, we have informed the president that our legislators are ready to reopen negotiations immediately on a ‘Grand Bargain’ to address all these debt issues once and for all and that everything will be on the table from our side — including tax reform that closes loopholes and eliminates wasteful subsidies, and, if need be, tax increases. To those who voted for us, rest assured that we will bring our conservative values to these negotiations and an emphasis on markets and meritocracies, but also a spirit of compromise and a recognition that both sides will have to bend if we are going to get the kind of comprehensive budget agreement the country needs. To my Tea Party colleagues, I say: thank you. Your passion helped spur the nation to action, but the country cannot be governed, and our future secured, by bowing solely to the passions of any single group — liberal or conservative. I know that the Tea Party activists are true patriots and they will work with us as well. President Obama: Let’s fix the country together and then compete in 2012 over who can best manage a growing pie rather than a shrinking one.”

And so it came to be that John Boehner became a centrist Democrat and repudiated the core constituency that made him Speaker. After that comes a “warm embrace” between Obama and Boehner and a Grand Bargain very much along the lines of Tom Friedman’s (and Obama’s) own policy preferences before the column ends: “At that point, all five leaders shook hands and retreated into the Oval Office. It was exactly 9:29 a.m. One minute later, the New York Stock Exchange opened. The Dow was up 1,223 points at the open — an all-time record.” Apart from a few days in late 2008, when the Dow was insanely volatile due to the financial crisis and TARP, the biggest gain it’s ever made was 499 points. Such is the awesomeness of the Friedman platform that, if only congressional leaders would endorse it, we’d shatter the all-time one-day record on Wall Street in a burst of green, pro-ChiCom, “effective government” exuberance. They pay Friedman hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to write this stuff.

I almost feel guilty making you read it. Here, here’s a video of the greatest hitter of all time taking batting practice to try to redeem this post.

Video: When open-carry is your only option

posted at 11:25 am on August 10, 2011 by Ed Morrissey
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Reason TV takes a close look at the issue of handgun rights and carry permits in California, one of the few “may-issue” states left in the nation. County sheriffs may issue or deny permits at their discretion, and as the video states, they don’t usually approve applications from most law-abiding citizens. That forces people like Sam Wolanyk to carry unloaded weapons openly, which has the state legislature in a lather — and people debating the nature of the Constitutional right to keep and bear arms, or in this case, bare arms

As most Hot Air readers know, I have a carry permit in Minnesota, although even some people in this state don’t realize that the permit doesn’t restrict me to concealed carry. I can open-carry if I like.  Normally, I don’t like, although I support those who do.  To me, open carry is unnecessarily provocative, plus it marks me as a primary target if, God forbid, I end up in a dangerous situation where it becomes an issue.  Police officers carry openly because it’s part of their job, and if carry permit training teaches anything valuable (it teaches many valuable lessons, of course), it’s that a carry permit is not a Junior G-Man badge.  I have it for my own personal safety, for specific as well as general reasons.

I’d take an even dimmer view of open carry of unloaded weapons — an unloaded gun provides all the provocation with none of the immediate defense capacity — but in this case, it’s instructive.  The state of California wants to ban a practice that presents no immediate threat, conducted by law-abiding citizens with no record, that has produced no shooting incidents.  Anti-gun advocates would rather waste time on this than, say, solving the massive budgetary and debt problems the state faces, as well as solving the problem by allowing law-abiding citizens to get concealed-carry permits with a “must-issue” law.

This reaches the point of absurdity near the end of the video, when the author of a bill to ban open carry of unloaded weapons,Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, tells Reason TV that the purpose of the 2nd Amendment is to protect property — which doesn’t include the person himself.  That’s actually backwards, even under existing lethal-force-in-self-defense laws.  People are not permitted to use lethal force to protect property in California, or Minnesota either, with or without carry permits.  (Neither can the police, by the way.)  They can only use lethal force of any kind when faced with an immediate threat in which a reasonable person fears for their own life or of “great bodily harm,” which roughly means losing a limb or an eye, not just getting beaten up.  All the carry permit allows is the ability to have the lethal force at hand if that situation arises; it doesn’t exempt the permit holder from laws defining lethal force in self-defense.  In most cases, and certainly in Minnesota, those laws require a victim to retreat first if possible rather than using the lethal force, sometimes even in their own homes.

It seems that Portantino doesn’t even understand current law in his own state.  Why should Californians trust him to amend it in ways that reduce their ability to defend themselves?

Addendum (previously published but still applicable): My late friend Joel Rosenberg literally wrote the book on carry licensing in Minnesota, The Carry Book: Minnesota Edition.  Unfortunately Joel passed away before he could complete an edition that looked at the issue nationally, but even if you’re not in Minnesota, there is a ton of good advice for those who want to pursue carry licenses and handle firearms.  My particular favorite chapter of the book is titled, “Cowardice 201: A PhD Seminar in Advanced Staying Out of Trouble,” in which Joel reveals that the true secret of karate is to run faster than everyone else.  Self-defense starts with keeping out of situations where you will likely find yourself threatened.  Joel’s book is a sobering read, literally and figuratively

[News] G-Dragon gets paid more than composer Jo Yeong Soo for copyright of his songs

On the July 13 episode of MBC’s Goldfish- Radio Star, B2ST’s Jun Hyung was revealed to be the highest-income member of his group. When asked about the pay he gets for composing a song, Jun Hyung said, “It’s more than enough.”

But it turns out that Big Bang’s G-Dragon gets paid more than Jun Hyung.

In April, Big Bang’s youngest member Seungri mentioned that his group’s lasting life on TV is due to its high income. He said, “I strongly believe that it’s more stable for a group to live a long life on TV if it gets extra income other than simply giving performances on the stage. G-Dragon gets paid for copyright of songs he has composed, T.O.P does movies or drama series, and Taeyang releases his solo album and does concerts. I also wanted to have a fixed income other than Big Bang to keep my career stable, so I’m managing ‘Seungri Academy’ for would-be singers.”

Seungri’s saying made viewers curious of how much it would cost for G-Dragon to compose a song. Soon enough, Seungri revealed G-Dragon’s income in a specific number.

On May 12, Seungri said on M. net’s Beatles Code, “G-Dragon gets paid the highest in the field of composing songs. He even gets paid more than composer Jo Yeong Soo. There are about 120 songs listed in G-Dragon’s name. He has written songs for Big Bang, as well as his own solo album, Taeyang, 2NE1 and Uhm Jung Hwa.”

Source Daum

Translated by Hanna

[News] Emcee Eunjung cries when T-ara gets first place

On the 14th T-ara placed first place on M. net’s M Count Down with its song “Roly Poly.”

T-ara’s Eunjung was emcee of the day and said, “I had to announce first place because I was emcee that day. I couldn’t help but break in tears when I announced the name of my group, T-ara, the top ranking. We’ll definitely work harder to live up to this prize.”

Boram said, “I couldn’t believe that we got first place. I’m so happy.”

Qri added, “I really wanted to be on first place with “Roly Poly,” and I’m so excited that it really came true.”

The song “Roly Poly” is about just what it sounds like. It’s about bouncing back up when things are difficult, never giving up.

T-ara has successfully closed its first show case in Japan and is to release first single on September 5.

Source Nate by Hanna@Korea.com

[News] Boyfriend making viewer forget the heat, with their smile

National Pet-dol','National Boyfriend-dol' as nickname for Boyfriend who make Noonas heart go thump thump.

On KBS2 'Music Bank' today episode Boyfriend perform with remix version of their first mini-album tittle track 'Boyfriend'.

Today, Boyfriend showed unique and youthful choreography and the cute eye-smile. Fans shouting with chic stage presence. Especially when Boyfriend own heat energy of the fans it was a drug that hard to forget.

Boyfriend's debut song 'Boyfriend' is the work of Brave Brother and Urban R&B works as sophisticated rhythms.

Credits,
Source : Yahoo! Korea News
Translations : young___a♥ @ B-NATION!

[Photos] Super Junior is now practicing for 5JIB!

SM's performance director Jae Won posted another photos of Super Junior teasing ELF as reply to SM's choreographer Gregory Hwang.. This time he uploaded a mysterious photo of 10 guys practicing with their casual clothes in a practice room.

In these photos we can only take a glimpse from their lower half body.

Can you recognize who is who?




Source: @Famous_Jae twitter
Written by: ShayneKay @ DKPOPNEWS.NET

[Info] Recent Drama featuring Yoochun from the Popular Korean Group JYJ airing in Japan!

100% Korean entertainment programs [Mnet], August’s main event is “Miss Ripley”!

Broadcast will start Saturday 13th of August 20:45~22:00

(Official Homepage) http://www.mnetjapan.com/drama/0763/

Park Yoochun, Lee Da Hae, and more talents forming a splendid cast.

Lee Da Hae who erases her pure image and challenges (herself by taking) such a wicked role. One of the men who Miri (Lee Da Hae) deceives is JYJ’s Yoochun, who is appearing in this drama as his second act after [Sangkyunkwan Scandal ☆].

Miri who is abandoned by her mother as a child and ending up as an orphan, in order to pay her foster family’s debt and return to Korea, starts working in a pleasure house in Fukuoka region of Japan. Miri who returned to Korea in order to escape from the underworld she was living in meets Yuhyun (Yutaka) in a situation that almost cannot be called a coincidence.

Lee Da Hae acts the role of Miri who carries the burden of a past full of misfortune and pain, hides the truth about her past job and tries to deceive two men to get what she wants. How will it end, what is the truth, what is true love?

Will start on Saturday 13th of August!

Initial broadcast:

Episode 1 Saturday 13/8 at 20:45~22:00.

Episode 2 Sunday 14/8 at 20:45~22:00.

Repeat broadcast:

Episode 1 Monday 15/8 at 10:30～11:45

Episode 2 Tuesday 16/8 at 10:30～11:45

First 2 episodes will broadcast consecutively on Saturday 20/8 10:30～11:45、11:45～12:00

(Parts not related to Yoochun, about the storyline omitted)

Source: http://www.atpress.ne.jp/view/21542

Translation credit: As0or83 of JYJ3

[News/Photos] Meet After School Boys!

Earlier today pictures revealing members of the upcoming group After School Boys were uploaded to online communities. These pictures gained a lot of interest from netizens since there is only a small amount of information available about the group.

In the pictures we can see five boys in Pledis’ practice room posing cutely with their manager/trainer. Pledis has stated they are thinking of debuting with a “5-6 Member Group” and then the After School Boys will follow After School’s ‘Admission/Graduation’ system and ‘enroll’ more members.

The already known members of the group Jonghyun who previously rapped for U-ie’s solo song “SokSokSok” and Dongho who was feaured in After School’s Music Video for “Play Ur Love” can be seen along with three fresh new faces.

The Group is Set To Debut at the end of the year

Source: Elite Rebels

Edited blurb: ASD

[News] Girls' Generation Release First Japanese Album in South Korea

Girls’ Generation’s self-titled first Japanese album was recently launched in South Korea. On July 13th, various music sites like Bugs and MelOn participated in the releasing of songs from the album, leading to increasing interest from fans in the country.

The album was initially introduced in Japan on June 1st. Not long after, the girls earned the title of having the bestselling album for an international artist in the first week of its release. They also charted first in Oricon’s Weekly chart and subsequently second in Oricon’s Monthly chart for June. Their explosive popularity was further highlighted when their album was recognized as "Double Platinum" by the Recording Industry Association of Japan, also known as RIAJ, after the album sold more than 500,000 copies.

The first Japanese album consists of twelve different tracks, including the Japanese versions of hit singles “Gee”, “Run Devil Run” and “Hoot”, as well as popular tracks like “MR. TAXI” and “THE GREAT ESCAPE”. Girls’ Generation will also finally embark on a domestic tour this year in South Korea on July 23rd and 24th at the Seoul Olympic Stadium.

Source: Newsen
Written by: shizzles9@soshified.com

[AUDIO] Yesung and Jang Hye Jin's " I AM Behind You" released!

Yesung and Jang Hye Jin's "I Am Behind You" [Cooperation 1] has been released on various music sites.

Hear the song from here..
Please support them by purchasing the song from these sites...

MELON . DOSIRAK . MNET . NAVER . SORIBADA . BUGS .

Such a mellow song...



Rec from MNET and Uploaded by ShayneKay @ DKPOPNEWS.NET

[Video] Brave Brothers "Break Up" MV unleashed!

Brave Brothers' Break Up MV has been released! The song is a collaboration from ElectorBoyz and BEAST Lee Kikwang...

The rhythm from these boys perfectly fits with each others voices, and fans hearing the song are satisfied.



Source: bravefamily

[Video] GP Basic's Jelly Pop MV released!

GP Basic releases the official MV for their song "Jelly Pop" This is a catchy song and very upbeat!
Watch the MV below:



Source: Oumae25

[Video] Kim Hyung Jun releases MV for Japanese single "Long Night"

Kim Hyung Jun started promoting in Japan, and is scheduled to release his 1st Japanese single "Long Night" on July 27.

Ahead of that, Hyung Jun gave early treat for his Japanese fans for releasing the MV earlier.


Check it below:




Source: honeybummie87

[INFO] T-ara Japanese Magazines PACKED Schedule

2011/06/28 - "Woman's Weekly magazine"
2011/07/08 - "Rolling Stone"
2011/07/12- 「女性自身」掲載 (I'm not sure)
2011/07/13- "TV Guide", "TV Guide Weekly", "Woman's Weekly magazine"
2011/07/14 - "K-POPgirls
2011/07/20 - "Music UP's" , "Cool Love Asian Magazine", "TV pia
2011/07/24- "SKY" Monthly
2011/07/25- "KNTV Guide"
2011/07/27- "Asian Place"
2011/07/29 - "KOOL", 'Mac People'
2011/07/30 - "EUR"
2011/08/01 "Rob Berry"
2011/08/16 - "KEJ KEJ NEWS" Monthly
2011/08/18 - "K - PRESS"
2011/08/26 "Definitive! Korean Hallyu with TV Guide, October Drama"

Credit : http://www.t-ara-official.com + candy_floss@diadem

Other info:
Eunjung and Soyeon are MCing on M!Countdown this week and T-ara has the Traffic/Campaign Song on Inkigayo tomorrow's episode (13th).

- T-ara's official Japanese merchandise shop opened up: http://www.t-ara-shop.com/

- T-ara are filming more for their iRiver, Shin Ramen (Japanese) and Heva Clonia this month. They also have a new CF deal with JDX which is a prestigious golf-wear brand but won't begin shooting for it until the end of July.

***
Source: T-amo / T-ara Official/ JDX

Just reading these magazine schedules of the girls is tiring TT

[News] Kim Jaejoong talking about JYJ’s new Korean album

Regarding their new Korean album, Kim Jaejoong says that they’re “still in the midst of preparing”.

However, he doesn’t give a definite answer for the album, “If there are good songs, we want to release the album soon, but I’m not sure if the release date is going to be within this year. We’re working on it at times.

” Moreover, he also says that they still haven’t had any plan of participating in “Protecting the Boss” OST yet.

Source: @kaojj64126
Translation: linhkawaii @ ONETVXQ.com
Shared By: JYJ3

[News] Jaejoong Falls Deep Into Directing; On Hyunjoong and Future Directing

JYJ’s Kim Jaejoong who has recently finished the world tour of two months has fallen deeply into the attractiveness of directing.

Kim Jaejoong relayed his thoughts at having finished the JYJ World Tour. About the past two months, Kim Jaejoong expressed in one sentence: “It was fun.”

Kim Jaejoong expressed his pride, saying: “After finishing (the world Tour) I was so thankful to the family of the company and the members and the staff and proud (of them). The songs that went on the concert were also mostly self-composed songs. As for the Asia Tour I had even taken charge of directing. Such a tour concert went even to the USA. Even though there were difficulties and troubles I felt that it was amazing and I was proud that such a large tour was accomplished without anyone’s help but with one’s own strength only.”

Through this World Tour Kim Jaejoong also debuted as a director. When asked which he prefers between acting and directing, he laughed, saying “When I am performing, it feels better to be directing.” Kim Jaejoong revealed: “The director (of Protect the Boss) is so amazing that I am learning the qualities of a director even in the drama. It seems that he takes himself to filing after he finishes all of his considerations. Even so, drama is drama and performing is performing and so I think each as its own appeal.”

Kim Jaejoong picked Bangkok, Thailand where he performed past April as the country that stayed the most in his mind among the JYJ World Tour Concert locations. Kim Jaejoong explained “I think it is that Bangkok is the place of the first concert after I took charge of directing. The responses of the fans were also positive and so I was extremely thankful.”

Director Kim Jaejoong also has desires/hopes to direct concerts and performances of other singers. Kim Jaejoong laughed it off, saying: “I do have interest in directing the concerts of idol groups similar to us. There was a time in which Kim Hyunjoong – he and I are of very close friendship – and I talked lightly in a private setting about releasing an album together and doing activities together. But Kim Hyunjoong also has a lot of desires/hopes on his own music and so I feel that he will say that he will direct it himself.”

He also recalled that he found the directing of Sohn Yeonjae’s rhythmic gymnastics gala show to be very pleasant. Kim Jaejoong said: “Miss Sohn Yeonjae was able to express even better what I intended to porrtay through directing.” Continuing, he expressed his pride, saying: “I think directing is a field that is more interesting and attractive the more you do it, truly. Of course I am at the level in which I am learning but I feel that my perspective upon the entirety of the performance is becoming larger. During JYJ concert rehearsals, I feel that I am standing on the stage not merely as a singer but that I, who is doing the stage directing behind the sight of the audience, am also becoming a part of our team, and that has been a source of pride.”

At the same time, Artist Kim Jaejoong did not give a definite answer as to a Korean-language album, saying that it is “currently being prepared” but also “I have doubts as to whether it will be possible to release it within this year even though I desire to immediately release songs when good songs come out. I am preparing it from time to time.” Further, as to whether he plans to participate in the OST of Protect the Boss he said that there are none “yet.” Kim Jaejoong left a pregnant but exponentially-increasing anticipation for the fans by saying: “There are no self-composed songs that I made for drama purposes and so it is difficult to participate right away. However if there is a suggestion (for me to participate) I will accept. If it is for the good of the drama.”

Source: Newsen

Translation Credit: JYJ3