Independence Day

Sobbing into my cornflakes. It's over.
There will be dozens of articles, but for now...

Contract dispute between SM Entertainment and JYJ finally ends

The contract dispute between SM Entertainment and JYJ (Kim Jaejoong, Park Yoochun, Kim Junsu) has finally ended after 3 years and 4 months.

According to several reports on November 28th, SM Entertainment and JYJ have resolved the contract dispute, with both sides deciding to end the files for injunction that were filed on July 31st, 2009.

In addition, both sides withdrew all related litigation, signing a contract that they will not embark in mutual matters again.

A representative from SM Entertainment said through a press release on the 28th, "The three no longer wanted to be part of TVXQ as there is no reason to be under the management of SM Entertainment. And so, it was decided to end the case and negotiation today with the agreement that there will be no mutual connections."

"In order to prevent any further discomfort and unnecessary issues for the current TVXQ members, U-Know Yunho and Max Changmin, who have continued to proceed with their activities, the judge decided that it was best to end this trial."

C-JeS representative Baek Changju said, "Three years ago when the court accepted our injunction, we thought that this was a fight we had already won. The legal situation isn't what interfered with JYJ's activities, but this was more of a David vs. Goliath situation. We don't see it as a big change in their activities. JYJ is going to continue with their future plans and activities as planned."

"With this final court verdict, we hope that the restriction that was involved in this case will improve. We want to send our sincere thanks to fans who have been continuously giving their support without any changes."

JYJ first made their entrance into the music industry as part of the 5-member group TVXQ, until the trio filed an injunction at the Seoul Central District Court against SM Entertainment on July 31st, 2009, disputing their contract with the agency. Since September 2010, they formed the group JYJ under C-JeS and have been relatively active in the music industry, going on world tours, and achieving high success in the acting scene since then.

Source: Koreaboo

Still waiting for official confirmations and statements all around. Jaejoong is buried in Jackal promotions. Yoochun is filming his drama. Junsu is flying to Germany for his concert. We'll see who brings it up first.

I'm reeling. It's so huge and I'm so flipping happy about it.
Now for the test. Which station will step up to the plate and broadcast them. KBS has made promises multiple times and chickened out. Come on KBS! Give them a chance! Or SBS! Get Jaejoong on Running Man. Epic lulz would be had!

Totally overwhelmed. I can hardly believe it.

A series of wins...

Same ol' same.
Working on a painting of a hen for my mom's kitchen and building a K-pop website for the giggles. For now, more distractions of the positive kind. Video fun, too!

Politics are so frustrating, but at least there can be relief this time around. Obama won. Thank Odin! Romney inspired enough fear in me to vote Barack instead of my true choices... Jill Stein or Gary Johnson. As a Californian, I should vote my conscience. The Democratic party is a guarantee. But still, Mittens scared the hell out of me. Hopefully, Obama will be encouraged to take more risks in his last term and push for what he really wants. And Congress... well, that's a clustercuss. Meh.

Ronaldo botched a free kick earlier in the Borussia game. In the dying minutes, Real was down 2-1. Crispy let Mesut take a kick and he saved the day with this pretty little curl.

I shrieked and jumped for joy. DAT LEFT FOOT! M1Ö ♥ 

My favorite person singer in the world was awarded with something that neither he or any of his fans thought was possible. The popularity award is a guarantee, because it's a public vote and he's won it three years in a row. But this... this was an incredible surprise and honor...

Best Actor for his role as Death in Elisabeth. Wow. A former boyband idol winning Best Actor. Definitely a first. And he rarely gets emotional in public unless he's singing, but there's no way he'd hold it in for this. Yeesh. You can hear the girls sobbing in the audience in fancams. Lol. I sobbed, too, I admit it. Dude has been been shat on and betrayed by his own industry for the last three years. That after more than 9 years of dedicated hard work under a slave-like contract. Musicals were something he tried on a whim to challenge himself. Three musicals later... this happens. ALL THE FEELS!

Speaking of slave-like contracts. Within the same week of Junsu's win, the KFTC came out with new standards for entertainers. Companies have to make financial records available, pay artists within 45 days, provide records online, and can't whore out their idols to shows without paying them... to name a few. Pretty basic stuff, but a huge step forward and success for JYJ



This is validation that the sacrifice of their careers was not in vain. They made the corruption public knowledge, stood up for what was right, persevered despite being blacklisted by the industry, and three years later, the gears of change are in motion. And Junsu won Best Actor.......... definitely still flipping out about that.
I still wonder if the pink hair was a dare--having played Death. Lulz.

It's raining. ^^
We didn't have the heat on for the first few days of freezing nights. Had to jog around the house for warmth. XD
A bit toastier now.

Mmmm. Toast sounds good.
I'm tempted to post about Hiddles soon. *snort* We'll see.

Ze

In search of Zen...

ひさしぶりですね。
I'd like to say I've improved. The truth is I just don't know. After a month I was feeling more settled and went out to buy frames for artwork. A store I've been to dozens of times. Picking out frames for my own work. No social obligation or challenge. Positive and empowered.
I started having a panic attack not long after walking in. That damned white-knuckle careen into an abyss. I've barely been out of the house since. I'm a coward.

While the anxiety monster keeps me in its grips I'm occupying myself with various distractions. Late nights traipsing through Netflix instant-watch. The 'new' Sherlock season for one. Re-watching the entirety of Star Trek: DS9 for another. Splitting my attention to the 2x5" scrap printmaking paper leftovers with some cathartic Zentangle-ing. See above... and below.

My dad remodeled my room... years ago. Had to box up a ton of my books at the time to put into storage. Eventually, said boxes ended up in the depths of our garage with the rest of the stored things. My mom valiantly dug out my treasured novel-hoard while looking for her own stuff--my Tolkien collection included. WOOO! Made it through The Hobbit and am just diving into Fellowship. Wildly excited about the first movie. The new trailer is beautiful and fun. Some fans are peeved with the humor. I'm not. I hope for the level of silliness present in the book. Balin looks beyond fabulous.

An interesting thing has occured in Kpop over the last few months. I keep up with new pop videos coming out of Korea on a daily basis, so I saw Gangnam Style when it had less than a thousand views. I've always liked PSY and thought it was brilliant and hilarious and an expertly handled commentary on Seoul society, but never imagined it would reach beyond international Kpop fans and their immediate friends... like every other video we see. And then it exploded in unimaginable ways. Right now it has over 270 million views, got a Guinness Record for the most liked video in Youtube's history, and PSY has been touring the media circuit here in the US. The dude was on SNL. Insane. It likely won't amount to much more than a crazy flash in the pan, but it really doesn't matter. What most Kpop fans love is that the Korean music industry has been trying to 'break into' the American industry for a long time, investing a lot of time and a whole lot of money, unsuccessfully... and PSY, with minimal effort, and no intention of doing so, became a worldwide viral sensation. Glorious.

The only thing keeping me from a truly vampiric schedule is rising early for soccer games. The football season is under way, which is great fun. I mostly keep up with La Liga and Bundesliga. I never miss matches with Real Madrid and the German National Team for my favorite footballer. That brilliant German bug-eyed freak with a magical vortex of a left foot, Mesut Özil. I never tire of watching him. He moves like a freaking gazelle. Real Madrid has been kind of a mess thus far, but Germany is doing alright. Frankly, Mesut could play like crap every match (though he never does) and I'd still watch him. It's the Beautiful Game at any rate... it calms me and I can certainly use some calming these days.

More tangles next time, perhaps?
'Til then.