Confessions of an Uncle Fan: The Series (episode 15)

As many of you know, I hate hot weather and it looks like another heat wave is about to grip the entire Northeast corner of the U.S. which means that I shall hibernate in the artificial coolness of my apartment with only pizza and the Internet to keep me company. That also gives me some time to catch up on all the latest K-pop action so let's see what's going on from the wizarding world of girl groups.

Cool Things of the Week

I'm Double Parked
YG announced that 2NE1 members Dara and Bom would be the focus of a new online show called 'Double Park TV' and I have to say, I'm honestly looking forward to this show. As much as I complain about YG and the often unnecessarily cryptic way they do business, they also happen to give more access to what goes on inside their building than any other company through shows like this and the former '2NE1TV'. I can't wait to see what's going on behind the scenes and maybe we'll catch a glimpse of some cool stuff.

More T-ara Turnover

Is there another group with as many issues as T-ara? The latest news is that member Ahreum is leaving the group to pursue a solo career and some random rumors about spirit possession (seriously, you can't make this stuff up) being the reason she's leaving. Whatever the reason is, I say good for her because staying in that group was not going to do her any favors and leaving was probably for the best. T-ara basically is now going to have to reset and start over, which may not be a bad thing.

Sunny + Instagram = All Kinds of Cuteness

Fans of K-pop know that Girls' Generation member Sunny is well known for her expressions of cuteness. Well, thanks to some great readers of the column, I recently learned that I can now follow that cuteness on Instagram. Follow her @svnnynight.

Speaking of Instagram...

A reader suggested that we do a review of all the Instagram accounts of our favorite girl groupers. I've included the ones that I know of but I'm sure there are many I'm missing so fill us all in!

• 2NE1 CL - chaelin_cl
• Ailee - aileeonline
• BoA - boakwon
• Chaeyeon - chaeyeon_lee
• f(x) Amber - ajol_llama
• G.NA - babyyykinz
• GG Hyoyeon - watasiwahyo
• GG Sunny - svnnynight
• GG Taeyeon - taeyeon_ss
• GG Yuri - yulyulk
• Kahi - imisskahi
• Kara Jiyoung - kkangjji_
• miss A Fei - ff0427
• miss A Jia - mjbaby0203
• miss A Min - therealminnn
• Son Dam Bi - sondb
• Wonder Girls Lim - wg_lim

Girl Group Round-up

A list of all the girl group appearances on variety shows (that I saw) this week.

• 'Beatles Code 2' - Hyoyeon, Hello Venus Nara and Yooyoung, GLAM Jiyeon and Zini (see Top 5 Current Girl Groupers)
• 'Immortal Classics 2' - SISTAR
• 'Star King' - Jewelry, Girl's Day, Ivy
• '1000 Song Challenge' - 2EYES, Baek Ah Yeon, Hong Jin Young
• 'God of Food Road' - Dal Shabet (see Top 5 Current Girl Groupers)
• 'Yoo Hee Yeol's Sketchbook' - Crayon Pop (see Uncle Fan Mailbag)

The Taeyeon Experiment

Each week I will post a picture from Taeyeon's Instagram account in the hopes that one day she'll post a picture of herself reading this column.

Until someone comes out with a program to turn Instagram videos into gifs, you'll just have to deal with pics. This is pretty self-explanatory actually; it's Taeyeon, Hyoyeon, and YoonA brushing their teeth... and I'm completely fascinated by it. Maybe it's Hyoyeon's expression.

Pic/.Gif/Video of the Week

Remember how we talked about how bad Jessica and Tiffany's first pitches were? Well, here's the polar opposite, Korean rhythmic gymnast Shin Soo Ji. Even the announcers couldn't hide their delight. #ineedtostopdrooling

Uncle Fan Mailbag

Wow. People love Crayon Pop. "Finally some love [for] our Crayon Pop!!!"

-Erisadesu

That was just one of many, and I mean many, comments from readers declaring their love of Crayon Pop. I had no clue these girls were this popular and then I saw this past week's 'Yoo Hee Yeol's Sketchbook' and the crowd was going crazy. Get... set... ready... GO!

Check out the fanboy chants:

It's next on my list. "You never mentioned A Pink's comeback (sad face)."

- kkangjji

Even the Uncle Fan has a limited amount of time I can devote to girl groups so you're right, I totally missed their new song BUT, it's already downloaded on the iPhone so I just need to check it out. I'm on it!!

Thank you estherahn and soshibias1250901 for the head's up on the Instagram accounts!

A Few Non-Kpop Related Things

1. Hugh Jackman has been in Korea recently to promote his new movie 'The Wolverine' where he met up with fellow Aussie Jessica Gomes who also happened to be in Seoul. The pair will appear on an upcoming episode of 'Star King' so look out for that and Jessica Gomes appeared on last week's 'SNL Korea'. Did you know that Hugh Jackman is a Seoul Goodwill Ambassador? 



2. Speaking of horrible first pitches, did you see Carly Rae Jepsen's? #yikes
   
3. Dreamworks is making a 'How to Train Your Dragon 2' to be released next year. I'm not a huge animated film guy, but Hiccup and Toothless are awesome!
   

Top 5 Current Girl Groupers

1. Taeyeon - Who uploads pictures of themselves brushing their teeth? 
2. UEE - 'Barefoot Friends' is in the middle of a diving competition and one thing you'll see with UEE is that she cries whenever her teammates do well because of an overwhelming feeling of pride/happiness/achievment. It's nice to see someone with that kind of emotional loyalty.
3. GLAM - Members Zini and Jiyeon were contestants for a mini-dance battle on the show 'Beatles Code 2' and these girls threw down. Very cool.
4. Subin - I like girls who can eat and this girl can eat... in a good way.
5. Suzy - Even the preview of her appearance next week on 'Running Man' got me excited. #powerofsuzy

Song of the Week

There really are so many new songs out but I had to go with Ailee's new single "U&I". Singing what she does best; big power vocals and this time with a brass section to back her up. Love it.

I'm going to leave you with one of my favorite chroniclers of all things summer, Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes. I do miss summer vacation.