Today I got the textbook for the Korean course that I’m taking this fall. The book is called Korean 1 (한국어 1) and is written by the Language Education Institute, Seoul National University.

The course I’m taking is an evening course with lessons once a week. It’s in a different city, which is a bit inconvenient and it’s going to be a bit expensive with the train tickets, but it’s no big deal. I’m looking forward to learning in a class where you get to practice speaking in a way that’s not possible in self-studies.

In the course information the textbook for the course was listed, along with the name of a book shop that sells that book. The price of 405 SEK for the book (including a 30% discount for taking this course) and domestic shipping didn’t sound too much… until I saw what the book costs in Korea. I got it for about 200 SEK including express shipping from Korea. I’m all for supporting the local economy, but I’m against paying twice the price .

I’ve finally started chewing away at the pile of Asian movies that I have, so I thought I’d post some short thoughts about some of the movies that I’ve watched.

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Skyline is the big finale of the musical Midnight Sun.

Tae-yeon ~ Skyline Live@Midnight Sun Musical 20100605

31MB 4:50 H.264/AVC 480×272 PSP Ready

(download | thm | preview)

I hope you’ve enjoyed Tae-yeon’s performance .

You can download the whole show here.

Here’s another one of YUI’s songs performed in Korean by Tae-yeon of SNSD in the musical version of Midnight Sun.

Tae-yeon ~ Good-bye days Live@Midnight Sun Musical 20100605

25MB 3:54 H.264/AVC 480×272 PSP Ready

(download | thm | preview)

This time it’s without the guitar. The Korean version sounds really nice.

You can download the whole show here.

In this video Tae-yeon (of SNSD) performs YUI’s song It’s Happy Line as a part of the Korean musical Midnight Sun.

Tae-yeon ~ It’s happy line Live@Midnight Sun Musical 20100605

23MB 3:33 H.264/AVC 480×272 PSP Ready

(download | thm | preview)

No, she’s not actually playing the guitar here. Not unless she found some kind of magic chord that sounds like a whole bunch of different chords . Her vocals are great though.

You can download the whole show here.

I know some of you guys have been waiting for Tae-yeon’s musical performance in Midnight Sun.

Tae-yeon ~ Midnight Sun Musical 20100605

406MB 1:14:55 H.264/AVC 480×272 PSP Ready

(torrent | status | preview)

Mediafire mirror (split into 5 parts, use 7-zip to recombine):
(part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

Credit: source vid. cozy@jpopsuki

This torrent has the entire musical in PSP-friendly video. I think it’s the biggest file I’ve posted to date. The video is in Korean and does not have subtitles.

For those who don’t know, Midnight Sun (태양의 노래) is a Korean musical version of the Japanese movie (which is based on a book as I understand it) with the same name (Midnight Sun/太陽の歌).

Tae-yeon from Girl’s Generation plays the part of Kaoru […] there’s more! »

100 days with Mr. Arrogant (Naesarang ssagaji) is a Korean romantic comedy that I’d been meaning to watch for a long time, but I didn’t get around to it until last week. I know Kim Jae-won from the drama series Romance, but it was the first time I saw Ha Ji-won.

Ha Ji-won plays Kang Ha-yeong, a high-school senior who runs into Kim Jae-won’s character Lee Hyeong-jun when she, after having been dumped by her boyfriend, kicks a beer can down the street and causes a minor traffic accident where Hyeong-jun slightly damages his luxurious car. Since she doensn’t have any money he demands her to be his slave for 100 days to work off the debt.

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As you already know, Tae-yeon from SNSD stars as Kaoru in the Korean musical version of Midnight Sun. Some audio and video has started to show up on YouTube and in the clip below you can hear (no video) Tae-yeon sing a Korean version of Good-bye days.

YouTube Link

She sings very well and the Korean version is nice. But I had expected them to have original music in the musical, not just Korean versions of YUI’s songs

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Ever since I started watching Korean movies, I’ve wanted to taste Soju. It looks like it could be pretty disgusting, but I want to try it anyway.

The problem has been that soju isn’t available in Sweden. You can get it at Korean restaurants (which aren’t aplenty), but it isn’t available at bars or “Systembolaget” (the Swedish Alcohol Retailing Monopoly, the one and only liquor store chain in Sweden). You can’t even special order it unless you find an importer yourself that can supply Systembolaget with the items you want.

A while ago I, more or less by chance, found an importer that carries soju and today I got the two bottles of Jinro Chamiseul soju that I had ordered (as depicted)!

I haven’t tasted it yet, but soon…

edit: now I’ve tasted it

As I mentioned briefly before, Tae-yeon of Girls’ Generation has been cast to play Kaoru Amane in the musical version of Taiyou no uta (Midnight Sun). A role previously played by YUI in the movie version and Erika Sawajiri in the drama version. Taeyangeui norae is the Korean title, which I believe is a literal translation of the Japanese title (song of the sun).

According to Daily K-Pop News Tae-yeon has been practising playing the guitar a lot for this role. It’d be so cool to see her play and sing as Kaoru. She has a lot to live up to though, after YUI’s performance as Kaoru.

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