#Korea 2011 December

[leopauldelr]

The beginner's guide to the Pretty Series

With the recent announcement of the new Pretty Series installment titled Himitsu no AiPri, it's about time the Pretty Series returned after over a year since the Waccha PriMagi! series finale. In celebration of the newest installment, let's take a quick history lesson about the Pretty series.

The Pretty Rhythm Saga (2010-2014) - The Pretty Series saga began on July 15, 2010 with the arcade game titled Pretty Rhythm Mini Skirt. Made by Takara Tomy and developer SynSophia, this arcade game pits players in the role of Prism Stars, performing Prism Jumps, and collecting Prism Stones.

While the one that started it all made a slow start, the folks from Takara Tomy wanted to do more with the Pretty Rhythm saga, and with that, a TV anime titled Pretty Rhythm Aurora Dream was made. Aired in TV Tokyo on April 9, 2011, for 51 episodes, this anime is the fruit of Japan-Korea collaboration thanks to Japan's Tatsunoko Production and South Korea's Dong Woo Animation. The TV anime is all about Aira, Rizumu, and Mion in their quest to take on the prestigious Prism Queen Cup.

As Aira Harune's journey to become Prism Queen is completed, Mia Ageha takes the baton as the star of the next Pretty Rhythm story; Dear My Future. Aired in TV Tokyo on April 7, 2012, for 51 episodes, Dear My Future centers on the rivalry between Prizmmy☆ and the K-Pop group PURETTY. Believe it or not, there are real-life versions of the groups as seen in the anime. There's even a live-action segment featuring Prizmmy☆ as well.

As Mia Ageha's road to Grateful Symphonia is well and truly over, Naru Ayase steps to the spotlight in the third and final chapter of the Pretty Rhythm saga, titled Rainbow Live. Aired in TV Tokyo on April 6, 2013, it features an original storyline unlike the previous two. It's about Naru, An, and Ito, who are working together at the Prism Stone Shop while trying to take good care of a mysterious girl named Rinne.

Although the Pretty Rhythm saga ended, the story continues with the KING OF PRISM spinoff films featuring male characters from the Pretty Rhythm saga. They even got a 2019 anime show as well showcasing the rise of the boys who would be Septentrion.

The PriPara saga (2014-2018, 2021~) After the end of the Pretty Rhythm saga,  the folks of Takara Tomy prepped up what it seems to be the second generation of the Pretty series. It's called PriPara and it aired on TV Tokyo in the Summer of 2014 and lasted for three seasons, four if you count Idol Time PriPara of course. This anime series centers on the life and times of Laala Manaka, a little girl who wants to be the best PriPara idol. Together with Mirei Minami and Sophy Hojo, they became SoLaMi Smile and they fought their way against the best idol teams of PriPara, especially Dressing Pafe consisting of Dorothy, Reona, and Sion, Tricolore, and Gaarmageddon, among many others. PriPara is a huge win for the people behind it and such success prompted the show to spawn four movies and outrageous merchandising rights.

In the spring of 2017, the next chapter of PriPara begins with three new main characters penning the final pages of this saga. Titled Idol Time PriPara, it's all about Yui Yumekawa, whose fateful encounter with Laala Manaka changed everything following an accident. With Nino Nijiiro and Michiru Kouda joining alongside, the MY☆DREAM trio made the best closure to this saga.

Although the PriPara TV series is finished, the story continues with Idol Land PriPara. First announced in December 2020, it was originally slated to be released in the spring of 2021 until it became subject to long gestation and delayed launch dates. It was released on August 17, 2023. It is the second official PriPara app game after the defunct PriPuz puzzle app game. This app game also features an original anime series set moments after the events of Idol Time PriPara. It introduces new characters such as Amari Katasumi, Mario, and Pololo, among others.

The Kiratto PriChan years (2018-2021) - Aired in TV Tokyo since April 2018 for three seasons, Kiratto PriChan is set in a world where fame comes from social media just like in the real world. It's about a group of girls who called themselves the Miracle☆Kiratts who are striving to become the best PriChan idols above the rest. For three seasons, we watched Miracle Kiratts taking on big challenges such as heated competition with rival teams such as Meltic StAr and Ring Marry, the jewel idol competition, saving the world, the road to the Queens Grand Prix, and saving the world...again, while they do what they do best; showcasing the world that they're the best PriChan sensations ever known.

PriMagi (2021-2022) - Waccha PriMagi! is the fourth installment of the Pretty Series that revolves around the lives of Primagistas striving to become the best of the best. The show is about Matsuri Hibino, a middle-schooler who dreams of being the best just like her idol, the legendary Jennifer Sumire Sol.

AiPri - After over a year of void, the Pretty Series has returned with the newest installment coming to TV Tokyo this April 2024. Titled Himitsu no AiPri, the new series stars Minori Fujidera as Himari Aozora and Sae Hiratsuka as Mitsuki Hoshikawa. For the first time in Pretty Series, the animation sequences were provided by OLM, the studio behind the Pokemon and Yo-Kai Watch anime series, while South Korea's Dongwoo A&E returned to cooperate for it.

Welcome back, Pretty Series! The world can't wait for the franchise's comeback show this April.

[soshiharin]

jang siwoo – dad

born: 12 january 1956

status: college maths professor

phone contact: dad/harin

the way this man spoils her… she’s a daddy’s girl for sure. he had always been more understanding about harin’s dreams between him and his wife, but would gently coax her to do what eunkyung wanted

when harin told her parents about being casted for sm, he was hesitant but could see how excited she was, so he spoke with eunkyung about it to change her mind. siwoo always encouraged harin to follow her dreams and would rent out musicals from their local blockbuster for them to watch together

she stayed in close contact with her dad when she was a trainee and they would call every week and just give updates on life. he was the first person she told when she was added to girls’ generation and she sent him their debut album. he’s always supported her and would brag about her to his students

their relationship is very sweet and she’s really just his baby girl

son eunkyung – mom

born: 25 july 1961

status: emergency room doctor

phone contact: mum/harin

she was kind of hard on harin. their relationship was sweeter when she was younger, but by the time she was nine, their relationship had begun to sour. eunkyung was very against harin having a career in the arts and tried to steer her to becoming a doctor. when harin told her she wanted to be an idol, they fought about it for a week before coming to an agreement

harin’s relationship with her mom didn’t improve for a while. they rarely spoke on the phone and would only hear how the other was doing through hajooon and siwoo. harin visited her family for the first time on mother’s day in 2011 and it ended in an arguments between the mother and daughter, and they didn’t speak to each other for two years after

they started mending their relationship in late 2014 when eunkyung sent harin a message to encourage her through the hate she was receiving for her relationship with jungshin. they slowly began to talk to each other again and saw each other for the first time at hajoon’s university graduation. they ended up getting a drink together and just talking about everything and mended their relationship

their relationship nowadays is very sweet and is the relationship harin wished they always had

harrison blake hajoon jang – brother

born: 7 december 1992

status: restaurant owner

phone contact: jang hajoon/harin noona

this is her baby, she basically raised him. no, but seriously. hajoon is her baby brother and she takes such good care of him. when they were younger, they were so so so close and harin was constantly taking care of him. as they grew older, hajoon became protective of harin but she told him to stop bcs… he’s a baby in her eyes

he was super sad when she left to go to korea to be a trainee but he understood that she was living out her dream so he tried to be happy for her. whenever harin would call her dad, hajoon would also talk to her for a while before they hung up. harin was the first person hajoon told about wanting to be a chef and own a restaurant, and she supported him every step of the way. she supported him whenever he was struggling in culinary school, she helped him buy the building for his restaurant, and she is an investor in the restaurant

they still have a close relationship and talk often

jang poppins – dog

born: august 2018

breed: cavalier king charles spaniel

harin found poppins when she was driving home one day and saw him on the road. he was a little puppy and looked very small and injured. harin took him to a vet check him out and make sure he was healthy, and ended up having to leave him overnight

when she returned the next day, the vet said he had improved a lot. harin ended up adopting him two days later. when she first got poppins, he would always stick to her side at all times. he was very nervous around strangers and would growl at them a lot (he still does tbh)

after five months, poppins got more comfortable and felt safer, so he began to act like a normal puppy and now, in present time, they’re absolute besties!

[shenrickyz]

﹙ 𖤐 ﹚. . . a quick soloist deep dive !

ONCE UPON A TIME, there was a star, and though the star couldn't grant wishes, the star brought euphoria to all who took a glance its way. a swarm of astral deities debated on what to do with said star, what kind of star serves no purpose besides entertainment? what use is there to make people happy? advancing across the milky way and barrages of nebulous asteroids in the hopes of finding a place among the celestial rings, the star came to be known as the astral nova . . .

i'll be right your side tonight 💫 ! ─── ASTRANOVA ( 아스트라노바 ) is a south korean-american singer, songwriter, and producer under EUNOIA CO. with a stellar stage name quite literally just meaning " star ", he aims to wield the novas in his palms as he spreads irresistible elation through catchy, occasionally amusing, and sometimes melancholic music which has captured the hearts of many since his debut in january of 2021. having simply started as a former trainee who then became a silent producer for his labelmates, the transition to.. well— artist, was pretty " unconventional " in his own words.

ASTRANOVA made his formal debut on january 10 2021 with the mini album ‘NOT MY MEMORY’ which was headlined by the single ‘AMNESIA’, a song meant for an entirely other group, but eventually given to him after his original demo of the song went viral. he wasn't a new face, not exactly anyway, he was actually a face people had been begging to hear from for years. of course, before he became ‘ASTRANOVA’, he was just EZRA KWON, a tall, loud mouthed, hilarious sm entertainment trainee who seemed to have a good future ahead of him. before his abrupt departure from the company, he was suspected to have stolen a spot in NCT DREAM, but then he just suddenly disappeared from the company and went silent for five years. where did this sudden 2021 debut come from? and what's with the new name?

so let's talk about it then, the guy is quite literally a star after all. though having a sister formerly apart of a famous group and once being in the lineup for one, it seems it was never all that easy for him. hopefully after this, he becomes just a little bit more understanding to those full of confusion.

﹙ 21:29 ﹚. . . the basics !

﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ BIRTH NAME . . . astro ezra kwon ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ KOREAN NAME . . . kwon eunwoo / 권은우 ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ PREFERRED NAME . . . astro / 아스트로

﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ NICKNAMES . . . ez, rozi, asty, eunie, nunu, wee woo ❪ his family , his close friends ❫. tokki, white rabbit, snow bunny ❪ his close friends , his fans ❫. gentle giant, a tall softie, astro long legs, reaching for the stars, cell tower, tall woo ❪ his family , his friends , his fans ❫. little hye, baby lux, moon sibling ❪ his fans & his sisters' fans ❫. #1 amnesiac ❪ his fans ❫. star-boy, little star, astral angel, lumi, baby nova ❪ his fans ❫. 7/11 addict, keeping convenience stores open, slushies forever, twix crazy ❪ his close friends , specifically dakota & kihyun , his fans ❫.

﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ BIRTH DATE . . . december 20 2000 ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ ZODIAC SIGN . . . sagittarius ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ CHINESE ZODIAC SIGN . . . dragon

﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ BIRTHPLACE . . . juneau, alaska, united states ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ HOMETOWN . . . juneau, alaska, united states ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ RESIDENCES . . . juneau, alaska, united states ❪ 2000 — 2011 , 2016 — 2018 ❫. seoul, south korea ❪ 2011 — 2016 , 2018 — present ❫.

﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ NATIONALITY . . . american ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ ETHNICITY . . . korean

﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ SPOKEN LANGUAGES . . . english ❪ 100% , standard english ❫. korean ❪ 100% , gyeonggi dialect ❫. spanish ❪ 100% , castillan spanish ❫. cantonese ❪ 70% , hong kong dialect ❫. tagalog ❪ 45% , unspecified dialect ❫.

﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ GENDER IDENTITY . . . demiboy ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ PRONOUNS . . . he / they ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ SEXUALITY . . . gay

﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ HEIGHT . . . 188 cm ❪ 6'2" ❫. ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ WEIGHT . . . undisclosed ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ BLOOD TYPE . . . b

﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ NATURAL EYE COLOR . . . dark brown ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ NATURAL HAIR COLOR . . . black ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ CURRENT HAIR COLOR . . . blonde

﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ BODY MODIFICATIONS . . . 2 piercings ❪ left ear ❫. 4 piercings ❪ right ear ❫. 4 tattoos.

﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ FACE CLAIM . . . choi soobin / txt ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ SPEAKING CLAIM . . . choi soobin / txt ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ VOCAL CLAIM . . . lee jinki / shinee ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ DANCE CLAIM . . . kim jongin / exo ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ RAP CLAIM . . . kim jongin / exo

﹙ 21:29 ﹚. . . the career !

﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ STAGE NAME . . . astranova / 아스트라노바 ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ EXPLANATION . . . he picked it himself, it's derived from the title of the first ever song he wrote and produced which was 'the astral nova', a song that was more of a personal dump of his issues as a moody sixteen year old than an actual collection of lyrics, fit with music. of course, the song has never been released, but the name stuck with him (the song also sort of made him appreciate his first name more).

﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ REPRESENTATIVE EMOJIS . . . 🐰 / 💫 ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ EXPLANATION . . . the bunny is pretty self explanatory, literally everyone thinks he looks like a bunny when he eats. the star is also pretty fitting because his name, stage name, and literally everything about him is stars. this man has an obsession, really.

﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ FANDOM NAME . . . estrella ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ EXPLANATION . . . again, star obsession. estrella is the spanish word for star, the fandom name still would've been related to galaxies or stars anyway, so he didn't pay it much mind. ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ FANDOM COLORS . . . ocean blue ❪ #4f42b5 ❫. periwinkle ❪ #ccccff ❫.

﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ AGENCIES . . . sm entertainment ❪ 2012 — 2016 ❫. eunoia co ❪ 2018 — present ❫. ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ OCCUPATION . . . singer, songwriter, dancer, producer. ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ TRAINING PERIOD . . . 9 years 4 months. ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ DEBUT DATE . . . january 10, 2021. ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ DEBUT AGE . . . 17 ❪ producer ❫ 20 ❪ singing ❫ ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ YEARS ACTIVE . . . 2015 — present

﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ SOCIAL MEDIA . . . ─ instagram ⨟  @ astroproxy ❪ 2409 posts , 2.3m followers , 22 following ❫. @ newstar ❪ 1099 posts , 5.5m followers , 0 following ❫. ─ twitter ⨟  @ astrodotcom ❪ 347 tweets , 991k followers , 27 following ❫. ─ youtube ⨟  @ astranova ❪ 6210 videos , 7.7m subscribers , 2 subscribed to ❫.

﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ KNOWN FOR . . . hating when he's compared to his sister. having an inactive twitter page. keeping his local convenience stores in business. his underrated singing voice. deeming himself "not romantic" yet literally having a discography full of love songs. sleeping.. all the time. his overwhelming little caesars addiction. freaking out his team with literally everything he does. crying when he got the opportunity to sing an ost for a kdrama. technically being an original nct dream member. lightly shading sm with big smiles on his face. just falling off the face of the earth for five years until he randomly debuted. his sheer "platonic soulmatism" with kihyun of neverland. having so many friends in the industry despite his introversion. being cool with everyone. his impeccable comedic timing. being the mastermind behind a lot of his labelmates' music. his former history at sm. being the younger brother of nebula's luxury neriah. being a human air conditioner. ❛ well i'm from alaska not the arctic you fuck ❜. his complicated memory. getting a social media ban every other week for swearing at his team. turning his team into celebrities of their own. his silent chaotic energy. saying he would never adopt any pets but then getting twin cats. ❛ okay but they're my babies so ❜.

﹙ 21:29 ﹚. . . the personal !

﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ MBTI TYPE . . . istj-a / defender

﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ STRENGTHS . . . supportive, reliable, observant, enthusiastic, hardworking. ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ WEAKNESSES . . . overly humble, too sensitive, repressing feelings, too altruistic, struggles to stand up for himself.

﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ PHOBIAS . . . atychiphobia, fear of failure. aquaphobia, fear of deep open water. ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ STRUGGLES . . . standing up for himself, being too nice, talking about his feelings, taking proper breaks.

﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ FAMILY . . . father, paternal grandparents, older sister, godmother, and a plethora of aunts. ﹙ 𖤐 ﹚ FAMILY DESCRIPTION . . . compared to how most people may envision it, astro's family is much more different. his family consists of many members, his father, his older sister, his paternal grandparents, his godmother, and his many aunts. his father was a man who struggled throughout life, raised in a foreign country and having had his first child at seventeen, then went on ten years living in a cramped apartment with his parents, his young daughter, and his partner. it got especially bad when astro's mother passed away, he sunk into his depression and then that turned into substances. when it all got bad, his parents (astro's grandparents) stepped in, anaiah (his older sister) was also a comforting figure in the early days after mom's death. his godmother, who is his father's childhood friend, was also there to be a person of solace whilst dad was ignoring everyone's existence and work was taking time away from everyone else. as for his aunts, they aren't actually aunts on the related side, his aunts consist of his older sisters group members, who, funnily enough, all treat him as their own.

where do i begin with this story? the beginning of the story almost seems like the middle, but i guess a good tale is one those would love. the story of ASTRANOVA technically begins in 2015, when he coined the name which he would eventually become known for, yet the story also begins in 2011 when he joined his first company, or in 2007 when his sister debuted and became extremely well known, at this point, we could start at any point, but let's just start from the semi beginning.

in 2007, his older sister anaiah made her debut as the maknae, center, and main vocalist of girl group nebula. better known by her stage name ‘luxury neriah’, she was a power tool in the industry. though private, somewhat irate, and still secretly coping terribly with the death of her mother, she charmed the hearts of south korea up until the groups disbandment in 2019. he hung around in the background and watched everything, just silently there in a tiny seoul apartment as his sister experienced the ‘idol life’, something so intriguing to him that he wasn't sure he'd be able to do it as flawless as she did. she was the figure who inspired him to do it all, watching her be an idol made him think he could make it, and the constant encouragement gave him the hope he so desperately needed.

after a grueling six years, six years in which these events transpired in his life: he joined sm, he became apart of sm rookies, grew a sizable predebut fanbase, was on the korean mickey mouse club, got put into nct dream, got pulled out of nct dream, and left sm because his father got into a car accident and he couldn't stand not being at home with him. he then found his first calling, producing. through journeys with his barely hanging on laptop and free soundcloud beats, ASTRO coined his name ASTRANOVA as a cute little pseudonym that he conjured up in the first song he ever created when he was fifteen. seemed producing worked, as after scouting from several companies (who only wanted him for the connection he had to his sister), he took up an opportunity with eunoia co because they were actually giving him something he wanted.. not idoling.

it's cliché yes, but ASTRO had given up on the idea of being an idol, he instead devoted his time to university work and producing for his labelmates. he made his production debut on the track ‘LOVE BOMB’ which was given to his labelmates AVIIX. over the course of two and a half more years, he would go on to participate in creating hits like: ‘PANTOMIME’, ‘THIS TIME’, ‘LOVE IN SPACE’, ‘THE RAINY NIGHT’, ‘FLICKER’, and, of course, ‘AMNESIA’. there are definitely more songs but his catalog extends a long while, we'd be here forever seriously. he was making sure to keep himself busy even without the idol life on his back.

‘AMNESIA’ started it all. it was in mid–2020 when he wrote it for NEVERLAND on a whim, but the song was a mixed bag for management, who couldn't decide if the song fit the groups concept, they kept it on the back burner for a while. then, someone released the demo without the company knowing, and.. it went viral. it was only ASTRO's second time doing the demo for a song he created, yet it seemed that so many wanted more. considering the idol dream had been long gone for a few years, he found it funny how people wanted for him to debut, but at the same time, it also boosted his ego in just the slightest.

the company gave him an ultimatum, he could simply remain a producer, or, he could use the chance he'd been given and finally make his idol dreams possible whilst remaining with just less creative power than before. considering the song was created by him, he could just release it himself. so he decided to take his chances, after sort of disappearing for five years and even getting a new stage name which was cool as shit (his own words), ASTRANOVA debuted on january 10, 2021, and a true star he is indeed.

there are definitely issues that need to be worked through, but with a team full of ‘just the sweetest assholes’ (- ASTRO 2022), broken promises healed, friendships rekindled, and many many songs saved in his files, it seems that he's always two steps ahead. the story doesn't have a surefire happy ending, but he's determined to get there, don't give him a challenge, he'll crush it.

[fatehbaz]

If you wanted to know more about the saga of protests and resistance against Canada’s open-pit copper mining in Panama:

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Screenshot and headline from: “Canadian firm blames Panama for closure of copper mine.” AP News. 16 December 2022.

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Headline from: “Panama: Canadian mining company First Quantum denied to expand copper exploitation area for alleged failure with environmental commitments.” Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. 26 January 2023.

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Headline from: Valentine Hilaire. “Panama won’t allow Canada’s First Quantum to expand its copper mine operations.” Reuters. 26 January 2023.

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Headline by: The Associated Press. “Panama reaches 20-year deal with Canadian copper mine.” As republished at ABC News. 8 March 2023.

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An excerpt and explanation:

In Panama, a dispute has emerged of a type that is common to countries in Central and South America: a huge transnational company has invested in the country’s resource wealth, resulting in a conflict over suitable payments to the government that draws in officials from the company’s nation of origin in defence of corporate profits. In this case, the company in question is First Quantum Minerals, a mining giant with lucrative investments across the Global South -- and the country of origin is Canada.

This summer [2022], Panamanians rose up in nationwide protests against the neoliberal status quo imposed on the country by the government of Laurentino Cortizo.  Beginning on July 1, these protests brought together diverse groups including teachers, students, trade unionists, farmers, and Indigenous organizations [...]. The causes of the summer 2022 protests go back decades and help illustrate the dynamics of the current conflict between First Quantum (and their backers in Ottawa) and the Panamanian state.

Throughout the 1990s, Canada aggressively pushed for states in Central and South America to adopt neoliberal reforms that would permit more foreign investment and fewer regulations for transnational companies. [...]

Several protest movements emerged in Panama in the 2010s in opposition to the effects of free market reforms generally and the predominance of Canadian mining specifically.  At the heart of these resistance movements is the Canadian-owned Cobre Panamá mine, which is the largest foreign investment in the country [...].

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Cobre Panamá was owned by the Toronto-headquartered Inmet Mining until 2013, at which point it was acquired by Vancouver-based First Quantum. In 2011, the Martinelli government attempted to limit the Indigenous Ngäbe-Buglé nation’s rights to autonomy and self-government in order to grant mining companies access to minerals on their land. Meanwhile, Martinelli repealed a law that prevented foreign governments from investing in the mining sector -- a gift to Canada’s Inmet Mining, which at the time was seeking financing from the sovereign wealth funds of Singapore and South Korea.

These moves sparked protests that continued into 2012. Martinelli responded to demands for the annulment of mining and hydroelectric concessions on Indigenous territory with violence by dispatching riot police. The police killed one protestor, injured thirty-two, and detained forty.  The protestors did not budge; instead, they blocked the entrances to Cobre Panamá and another mine owned by the Canada’s Petaquilla Minerals.  Eventually Martinelli relented and vowed not to approve mining projects on or near Ngäbe-Buglé lands.’

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During the 2011-2012 conflict, nobody in the Canadian government issued a single statement on the matter.  When protestors took to the streets again in 2022, Ottawa released a statement that totally omitted the reasons behind the uprising.

Following the economic shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cortizo government declared that Panama’s recovery would rely on incentivizing foreign investment in the mining sector. Social movements have by and large rejected this new arrangement due to the history of corrupt collaboration between state officials and foreign companies and the weakness of environmental protections.

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For example, in April 2022 the Panama Worth More Without Mining Movement -- which arose in opposition to the Canadian-owned Cobre Panamá mine -- released a report that found over 200 “serious” breaches of environmental commitments by the project managers, including the breaking of reforestation promises, “the felling of 876 hectares… in an area of high biodiversity and international importance,” and “the discharge of waste from the tailings tank into natural bodies of water without official endorsement.”

Following the summer 2022 protests, the Cortizo government announced plans to reform the mining sector by instituting greater regulations on foreign companies. In the meantime, the Panamanian state and First Quantum were in the process of negotiating a renewed contract. Jason Simpson, CEO of Canada’s Orla Mining (which is hoping to begin extraction at its Cerro Quema gold project), said, “The biggest story in Panama is Cobre Panamá, so as the government works through their renewed contract law for First Quantum’s asset there, that’ll take priority… We’ll be patient for that to be resolved and then we hope to get working on construction in Panama.”

The negotiations for the renewal of the Cobre Panamá contract began in September 2021. The two parties agreed that First Quantum would provide Panama with between 12 and 16 percent of its gross profit, a new rate that would replace the previous two percent revenue royalty. [...]

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Much like Ottawa jumped to the defence of Centerra Gold following Kyrgyzstan’s nationalization of the Kumtor gold mine last year, the Trudeau government has taken a keen interest in Cobre Panamá and, according to the unnamed Reuters source, is actively backing the mining company’s position. Given Canada’s long history of support for neoliberal reforms and transnational investment in Central and South America, Ottawa’s support for First Quantum in these negotiations should come as no surprise.

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Headline and text by: Owen Schalk. “Ottawa backs Canadian mining giant in dispute with Panama.” Canadian Dimension. 26 December 2022. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph contractions added by me.]

[the-monkey-ruler]

Dota 2 (2013)

Date: July 9, 2013 Platform: Mac / PC / Linux Developer: Valve Corporation Publisher: Valve Corporation / Nexon Corporation / Perfect World Entertainment Genre: MOBA Theme: Fantasy Franchises: Dota Also known as: Defense of the Ancients 2 Type: Crossover

Summary:

Dota 2 is a free-to-play high fantasy action real-time strategy game developed and released digitally by Valve for the PC, Mac and Linux on July 9, 2013.

Built on the studio's Source engine, Dota 2 is the official sequel to Defense of the Ancients, a series of custom scenarios for the 2002 game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos that originally popularized the "Multiplayer Online Battle Arena" sub-genre. Development of the game is led by the original mod's final lead designer, IceFrog.

Similar to the original mod, the main gameplay pits two five-player teams (the Radiant and the Dire) against each-other as they work to escort their three endless waves of AI-controlled monsters (or "creeps") to the fortified enemy base in order to destroy the enemy "Ancient". Each player controls an individual Hero character and, throughout the match, earn experience (to level up their stats and abilities) and gold (for purchasing items and equipment) by eliminating enemies.

Rather than using a weekly free-to-play character rotation system (similar to other MOBA games at the time, namely League of Legends), the game makes all characters playable from the start and features cosmetic microtransactions (such as alternate appearances for each Hero's armor and weapons, alternate announcers, and custom UI enhancements) using the Steam Inventory and Steam Market systems.

The game received numerous updates since its original release, adding new Heroes, game modes (including support for custom modes), and features while revising certain gameplay mechanics. New features include better support for both new players (with integrated community-made guide support, coaching, and improved training modes) and competitive players (with improved replay and spectator support), as well as VR headset support (for spectating and viewing cosmetics). It also received a reworked client update in June 2015 (named "Dota 2 Reborn" for a short time), porting the game to Valve's Source 2 engine (the first game released with it), and received a complete map revamp on April 2023.

Dota 2 originally received an invite-only beta in November 2011, during Gamescom 2011. It was formally launched July 9, 2013, but access was gated via a queue system until December 16, 2013. It was also distributed as a standalone game in some regions, with Perfect World publishing the game in China, and Nexon publishing the game in both Japan and South Korea. The game also received spin-offs, including the 2018 digital card game Artifact, the 2020 "auto-battler" game Dota Underlords, and the 2021 animated series Dota: Dragon's Blood.

Source: https://www.giantbomb.com/dota-2/3030-32887/

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqtkfCLjJz4&ab_channel=DotaCinema

[srslyscary]

┊┊. PROFILE !

⟿ BASIC ?!

STAGE NAME: rae (래)

BIRTH NAME: raelene kwon

KOREAN NAME: kwon miri (권미리)

NICKNAMES: raerae, raeli, riri

BIRTHPLACE: new york city, new york

NATIONALITY: american

ETHNICITY: korean-american

BIRTHDAY: september 13, 1997

ZODIAC: virgo

LANGUAGES: english (native), korean (fluent), japanese (conversational), french (conversational)

FAMILY: mom, dad, younger brother, older brother

⟿ PHYSICAL ?!

FACE CLAIM: dayeon (kep1er)

RAP CLAIM: yezi (soloist), soyeon (g-idle)

VOICE CLAIM: chaehyun (kep1er)

DANCE CLAIM: hyoyeon (soloist)

HEIGHT: 176.26cm (5’9)

WEIGHT: 141.8 lbs

BLOOD TYPE: B+

BODY MODIFICATIONS: 2 tattoos

⟿ PERSONALITY ?!

MBTI: INFP

MBTI TYPE: The INFP personality type is introverted, intuitive, feeling, and prospecting. they are known to be extremely sentimental and nostalgic, often holding onto special keepsakes and memorabilia that brighten their days and fill their heart with joy.

POSITIVE TRAITS: humorous, generous, open-minded, kind, affectionate

NEGATIVE TRAITS: withdrawn, self-isolating, unfocused

⟿ CAREER ?!

OCCUPATION: singer, rapper, dancer, lyricist, producer

POSITIONS IN ATEEZ: vocalist, performer, rapper

DEBUT: october 24, 2018 (korea) december 4, 2019 (japan)

ACTIVE: 2018 - present

AGENCY: yg (2011-2017) kq (2017-present)

INSTAGRAM: @th3ywonder._

REPRESENTATIVE EMOJI: 🦝

FAN NAME: miri-gijeog (미리 기적)

ANITEEZ: a racoon named RAELIgog

⟿ EXTRAS ?!

> she is the oldest out of all the ateez members

> rae was the 9th member to join kq entertainment

> she has a younger brother (kwon yejun / spencer, May 6 2000) and an older brother (kwon jungwoo / nathan, July 10 1994)

> her nicknames given by members: tinky, ri-ah, kwonmi

> she is a former yg trainee

> rae’s hobbies are listening to music and sleeping

> her favorite movies are The Happytime Murders and Spy, and her favorite actor is Melissa McCarthy

> she has a st. bernard dog named dzuwa (pronounced ‘zoo-wa’)

> her favorite colors are blue and gray

> rae is actually an ambivert. she’s very extroverted around the members, but introverted when she’s not with them. she used to be VERY introverted while she was warming up to the members during their pre-debut days

> her role model is Moonbyul

> her favorite artists are T.I, BAEKHYUN, SHINee, and Rain

> rae’s microphone color is green because she finds emeralds pretty

> during her yg trainee days, she was training to become a producer instead of an idol. when she switched to kq, the ceo gave her an option to wait a while longer to debut, or get in the final lineup with “kq fellaz” and ultimately decided to become an idol.

> rae auditioned for MIXNINE but didn’t pass

> she has two tattoos: a spider on her left arm, and one on her neck saying ‘belle âme’ (meaning ‘beautiful soul’)

> she is friends with THE BOYZ’ Eric, and BIBI

> rae admits that if she wasn’t put into ateez at the last second, she wouldn’t have debuted at all

> rae has a unique new york accent

> she hates when they have missions on camera and the boys try to mess hers up because she will either be very pissed off and do the best she can not to cry or scream.

> rae’s motto is “push yourself to be great, not good”

[svt-sunnie]

. x ! sunnie’s background ・❥・ ・

warnings - xenophobia/racism, misogyny, bullying

this is my first time writing anything 🤕

ഒ‧₊☾. CHILDHOOD ૮꒰ ྀི◜๑◝ ꒱ა

bei yuming was born in wuhan, china on march 7, 1998 to her father, bei feiyu, and her mother, bei yiren.

she has 3 younger siblings, her brother yuxuan born in 2000, her sister yichen born in 2006, and her youngest brother haoyu born in 2008.

at the age of 10 she watched lots of television, and saw a lot of ads about chinese idols and immediately knew she wanted to be a singer.

she signed up for singing lessons at the age of 11, and was bullied a lot at school for telling people she wanted to be an idol, with them saying she was ‘too ugly’ or ‘couldn’t sing.’

♫⋆｡♪PRE-DEBUT ₊˚♬ ﾟ.

around 2010 she started falling in love with music, especially when she discovered kpop. snsd, kara, & f(x) are really the groups that made her want to be a kpop idol in the first place.

in late 2010 she opened a youtube channel where she uploaded videos of her singing kpop songs which had around 15k subscribers and in december 2011 pledis reached out to her for an audition.

at first her parents refused for her to go to korea alone but they eventually let her go, pledis told her she got accepted the day before she went back to china in january 2012.

in korea she attended school at hyeongsim arts school and took extra korean lessons, plus signed up for ballet.

→ TRAINEE YEARS ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥

at first pledis planned to debut her with a girl group which would debut in 2013 but the group got completely ignored by the company so most of the group members left the company.

in 2013 pledis decided to put 15 year old yuming in a survival show for a chance to get the company’s name out there.

she joined the survival show ‘girls evolution’ as a vocalist, and it was going really well for her until round 3 where she was paired up with a contestant ‘cho yoo-jin’ for a duo stage.

yoo-jin was a really rude person and acted like she wasn’t in front of the cameras, but behind the scenes her and yuming absolutely hated each other. yoo-jin frequently bullied yuming and always made comments on her appearance or made fun of her for being chinese. after the duo stage came out, everyone was praising yuming’s vocals and said yoo-jin couldn’t sing. so in jealousy yoo-jin leaked her and yuming’s texts to each other to make it look like yuming was bullying her.

yuming got kicked off the show and finished in 37th place out of 50 contestants, the bullying allegations were proven false after pledis released the full texts between the two with proof that yoo-jin was bullying yuming and being xenophobic and that got yoo-jin kicked off the show aswell.

yuming went back to training at pledis, and they put her in the lineup for pledis girlz which they planned to debut as pristin in 2017. but they suddenly pulled her out of the line-up and decided to have her debut with seventeen.

she was really akward training with them at first but junhui, soonyoung, & joshua really made her feel comfortable to debut with them.

she appeared on 17tv during season 3 and ended up staying for the final line-up of the group as the only female member.

* ˚ ✦ DEBUT ERA +*:ꔫ:*﹤

debuting as the only girl in a mostly boy group made yuming a heavy target for bullying and misogyny, especially from antis. during debut era was especially the case for her.

she had so many antis, ot13 carats, interviewers, and even other idols all saying horrible stuff about her and asking if she slept her way into the group, or saying her personality is too annoying, and doesn’t deserve to be in the group that she considered leaving seventeen permanently. seventeen tried their hardest to support her during this time and really uplifted her spirits.

overtime everyone started to accept her as a member of seventeen after 95 line publicly shut down an anti at a fansign.

now she has a lot of fans and is one of the most biased members in the group which she earned with her powerful vocals and amazing stage presence.

.　 . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆ .　 . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆ .　 .

[genav0s]

✶ . AVOS ◞ ‎ …    ! is a five-member boy group formed by APRICUS CULTURE on january 9, 2014. the group was assembled through the 2013 survival show, GENERATION: AVOS, through which all five members were chosen for the final lineup. the show experienced immense success among the viewing public, breaking previous survival show ratings in favor of the 35 initial trainees.

the final lineup was decided by a 50/50 split of judge input as well as votes from the general public. announced in the final episode of the show, the five members: SANGHYUK, CARTER, IAN, ROMEO, and HWASEONG, had all done considerably well throughout the show's airing with carter in particular being ranked first throughout its duration.

the group made their official debut on january 9, 2014, with the mini-album, SENTIMENTAL, lead by the title track, BLUES OF SENTIMENTS. the debut project received praise as it was made public that the members were largely involved with the creation of the record. their reputation as a self-producing group would continue to be their most powerful draw. nicknamed the 'golden group', their famous midas touch success saw them quickly rise through the ranks becoming their label's most-profitable group, overtaking their successors, NYX and LETALIS in 2016.

much of their success has come wrought with controversy, often self-inflicted by the members themselves. interestingly, their scandals have never seemed to dent their reputation as a powerhouse group, frequently attributed to the pr genius of apricus culture and their hold over the news cycle.

after their record-breaking stadium world tour in 2020, avos entered a highly publicized hiatus in order to focus on solo activities while establishing their sub-label as part of their contract renewal negotiations. this sub-label, STUDIO AVOS, would become avos' main management firm for both group and solo activities as of 2021.

❝  that loneliness, for the most part forced upon me, was partly sought. ❞  ⸻ MEMBER PROFILES.

AHN SANGHYUK, better known by his stage name SANGHYUK, is a south korean singer and dancer. born to a single mother on july 9, 1992, sanghyuk was raised in yeosu, south korea alongside his older sister. he found a love for dance in middle school eventually joining an underground dance group in high school.

after graduating from high school, sanghyuk moved to seoul in pursuit of an engineering degree, using his dance experience to make money in order to alleviate his mother's financial burdens. he would be discovered by apricus culture training manager, YOO JOOEUN, who managed to convince him to sign on as a back-up dancer for soloists NINE and JIOH from 2011 to 2013. following the departure of a trainee who was scheduled to appear on the survival show, GENERATION: AVOS, sanghyuk earned a last minute spot while receiving vocal lessons in between filming.

despite having very little vocal training, sanghyuk was the third member chosen to debut in the show's final group: AVOS in december of 2013. currently, he is the LEADER, MAIN DANCER, and LEAD VOCALIST of the south korean boy group avos, which debuted under apricus culture in 2014. sanghyuk takes an active role in the writing of the group's music with credits attached to nearly 95% of the group's discography under the penname BRIGHT.

✶ . ㅤ ╱ ㅤTHE BASICSㅤ˒

STAGE NAME: SANGHYUK

BIRTH NAME: ahn sanghyuk

ALIASES: bright

DATE OF BIRTH: july 9, 1992

ZODIAC SIGN: cancer

PLACE OF BIRTH: yeosu, south korea

HOMETOWN: yeosu, south korea

ETHNICITY: south korean

NATIONALITY: south korean

LANGUAGES: korean

✶ . ㅤ ╱ ㅤTHE CAREERㅤ˒

OCCUPATION: idol, choreographer, songwriter

TRAINING PERIOD: n/a

YEARS ACTIVE: 2011 - present

LABEL: STUDIO AVOS

GROUP: AVOS

POSITION: leader, main dancer, lead vocalist

✶ . ㅤ ╱ ㅤTHE APPEARANCEㅤ˒

HEIGHT: 6’4” (193 cm)

TATTOOS: none

PIERCINGS: none

FACECLAIM: son hyunwoo

CARTER KIM, better known by his stage name CARTER, is a korean-canadian dancer and vocalist. carter was born in toronto, canada on october 15, 1993, to bradley kim, a museum director, and joyce kim, a hotel manager. from an early age, his parents did their best to raise both carter and his sister, cassandra, in the way they believed would best benefit the twins. though their parents were both second-generation korean-canadians, they made sure their children stayed in touch with their korean roots, spending summers in korea and celebrating traditional holidays.

while spending a summer in korea with their cousins, the siblings were introduced to k-pop groups and began growing a love for the industry. eventually, cassandra tricked carter into auditioning for GEMINI INC. in 2010. though both siblings passed the audition, carter was hesitant to accept the offer. after an ultimatum from his parents, carter decided to move to seoul with his sister in order to support her dreams though he was still skeptical.

after a few years of training, carter gained a reputation for his aptitude for both dancing and singing and was selected to take part in GENERATION: AVOS. while he considered it to be an honor, he notably struggled with the korean language and customs throughout the show especially after the departure of his sister from the label. despite this, he managed to rank first consistently throughout the show.

carter was the first member selected to debut in the show's final group: AVOS in december of 2013. currently, carter is the MAIN DANCER, LEAD VOCALIST, and CENTER of the south korean boy group avos, which debuted under APRICUS CULTURE in 2014. carter takes an active role in the production of avos' music with credits on a majority of the group's songs under the producer name MOOD:SUN.

✶ . ㅤ ╱ ㅤTHE BASICSㅤ˒

STAGE NAME: CARTER

BIRTH NAME: carter kim

KOREAN NAME: kim sunyeol

ALIASES: MOOD:SUN

DATE OF BIRTH: october 15, 1993

ZODIAC SIGN: libra

PLACE OF BIRTH: toronto, canada

HOMETOWN: toronto, canada

ETHNICITY: south korean

NATIONALITY: canadian

LANGUAGES: english, korean

✶ . ㅤ ╱ ㅤTHE CAREERㅤ˒

OCCUPATION: idol, producer

TRAINING PERIOD: three years

YEARS ACTIVE: 2013 - present

LABEL: STUDIO AVOS

GROUP: AVOS

POSITION: main dancer, lead vocalist, center

✶ . ㅤ ╱ ㅤTHE APPEARANCEㅤ˒

HEIGHT: 6’2” (189 cm)

TATTOOS: several scattered

PIERCINGS: none

FACECLAIM: kim jongin

MOON WONHYUK, better known by his stage name IAN, is a korean-american singer and actor. ian was born to his parents in the midst of his mother's medical residency in incheon, south korea on january 29, 1994. shortly after his birth, ian's father took up a position as chief of pediatric surgery at a hospital in singapore to better provide for the family. the moons suddenly moved to dallas, texas, around ian's seventh birthday for unknown reasons.

the sudden move became even stranger after he was adopted by his father's younger brother and his new wife in late 2003 when ian was nine years old. despite this, ian went on to excel both academically and socially in suburban dallas. his natural athleticism awarded him a scholarship to attend duke university to play basketball for the institution. unfortunately, after sustaining a career-threatening injury halfway through his first season with the university, ian forfeited his scholarship citing mental health. with his persuasion of his aunt, ian moved back to south korea to audition for APRICUS CULTURE, to satisfy his life-long interest in music.

after a photo of ian was leaked to the public as a trainee, he was added to the survival show's lineup. despite early popularity for his looks and magnetic personality, ian dropped to the near bottom of the rankings during the second half of the competition. after being saved from near elimination by a judge vote, ian just barely edged his way into the final lineup during the last two episodes.

ian was the the last member selected to debut in the show's final group: AVOS in december of 2013. currently, ian is the MAIN VOCALIST, SUB RAPPER, and VISUAL of the south korean boy group avos, which debuted under apricus culture in 2014. ian is the third most credited songwriter of the group and has sustained notoriety as a successful solo artist, actor, and brand ambassador for prada.

✶ . ㅤ ╱ ㅤTHE BASICSㅤ˒

STAGE NAME: IAN

BIRTH NAME: moon wonhyuk

LEGAL NAME: ian moon

DATE OF BIRTH: january 29, 1994

ZODIAC SIGN: aquarius

PLACE OF BIRTH: incheon, south korea

HOMETOWN: dallas, texas

ETHNICITY: south korean

NATIONALITY: american

LANGUAGES: english, korean

✶ . ㅤ ╱ ㅤTHE CAREERㅤ˒

OCCUPATION: idol, actor, songwriter, model

TRAINING PERIOD: one year

YEARS ACTIVE: 2013 - present

LABEL: STUDIO AVOS

GROUP: AVOS

POSITION: main vocalist, sub rapper, visual

✶ . ㅤ ╱ ㅤTHE APPEARANCEㅤ˒

HEIGHT: 6’2” (187 cm)

TATTOOS: three

PIERCINGS: both lobes

FACECLAIM: jeong yuno

SEONG JIOH, better known by his stage name ROMEO, is a south korean rapper, songwriter, composer, and television personality. he was born the sole child of his lawyer turned politician father and businesswoman mother in seoul, south korea on may 23, 1994. much of his childhood was spent in the public eye, especially after his father began pursuing politics when romeo was only four years old. his parents were exceptionally supportive of him both in private and publicly, despite the breakdown of their relationship that later ended in a highly publicized divorce in 2007.

romeo had always shown an inclination for music having received piano, cello, and violin lessons throughout his childhood and into his teenage years. through his parents' support, romeo decided to audition for several companies in 2008, eventually being signed to train at APRICUS CULTURE that same year. after several years of training, romeo was picked to appear on the survival show GENERATION: AVOS in 2013.

though initially struggling to gather fan support, romeo steadily rose through the rankings of the survival show before securing the fourth spot in the final group. currently, romeo is the MAIN RAPPER and FACE OF THE GROUP of the south korean boy group avos, which debuted under apricus culture in 2014. romeo is the group's most credited composer having received recognition for his work both for avos and other projects.

✶ . ㅤ ╱ ㅤTHE BASICSㅤ˒

STAGE NAME: ROMEO

BIRTH NAME: seong jioh

DATE OF BIRTH: may 23, 1994

ZODIAC SIGN: gemini

PLACE OF BIRTH: seoul, south korea

HOMETOWN: seoul, south korea

ETHNICITY: south korean

NATIONALITY: south korean

LANGUAGES: korean, japanese, english

✶ . ㅤ ╱ ㅤTHE CAREERㅤ˒

OCCUPATION: idol, composer, television personality

TRAINING PERIOD: six years

YEARS ACTIVE: 2013 - present

LABEL: STUDIO AVOS

GROUP: AVOS

POSITION: main rapper, face of the group

✶ . ㅤ ╱ ㅤTHE APPEARANCEㅤ˒

HEIGHT: 6’0” (183 cm)

TATTOOS: several scattered

PIERCINGS: left lobe

FACECLAIM: kim hanbin

EUN HWASEONG, better known by his stage name, HWASEONG, is a south korean rapper and songwriter. hwaseong was born to park yowon, a former idol who later became an actress, and oh hajun, a celebrity chef on december 16, 1995 in anyang, south korea. due to the controversy surrounding his scandalous conception, hwaseong's mother was forced out of her former group before eventually being redeemed in the public eye after marrying renowned comedian, lee jiseong in 1999.

a young hwaseong and his younger half-sister were exposed to the entertainment industry quite early. most notably, hwaseong made his public debut in 1999 with his parents after their marriage as part of a reality tv series. encouraged to explore his creative senses from a young age, hwaseong quickly picked up multiple instruments by the time he was 10 years old, landing him a spot in an international premier children's classical orchestra at just 11 years old.

his success with the children's orchestra caught the attention of APRICUS CULTURE creative director, JUN JAEHEE, who convinced his mother to allow him to join the company's training program in 2007. hwaseong easily managed to succeed within the rigorous training system, nabbing features on his senior labelmates' songs beginning in 2010.

eventually, he was chosen to appear on the survival show, GENERATION: AVOS in 2013 and became the second confirmed member to join the final lineup. currently, hwaseong is the LEAD RAPPER and SUB VOCALIST of the south korean boy group AVOS, which debuted under apricus culture in 2014. hwaseong is the group's primary songwriter under the penname PLUTO.

✶ . ㅤ ╱ ㅤTHE BASICSㅤ˒

STAGE NAME: HWASEONG

BIRTH NAME: oh seonghyeon

LEGAL NAME: eun hwaseong

ALIASES: PLUTO

DATE OF BIRTH: december 16, 1995

ZODIAC SIGN: sagittarius

PLACE OF BIRTH: anyang, south korea

HOMETOWN: seoul, south korea

ETHNICITY: south korean

NATIONALITY: south korean

LANGUAGES: korean, english

✶ . ㅤ ╱ ㅤTHE CAREERㅤ˒

OCCUPATION: idol, songwriter

TRAINING PERIOD: seven years

YEARS ACTIVE: 2014 - present

LABEL: STUDIO AVOS

GROUP: AVOS

POSITION: lead rapper, sub vocalist

✶ . ㅤ ╱ ㅤTHE APPEARANCEㅤ˒

HEIGHT: 6’1” (186 cm)

TATTOOS: two full sleeves

PIERCINGS: six total

FACECLAIM: jeon jeongguk

[svt-rei]

-> REIKO :: PROFILE

BASIC INFO !

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

NAMES ->

BIRTH NAME — Takashima Reiko

KOREAN NAME — Kim Rina

HIRAGANA — たかしま れいこ

❪ ★ ❫ NAME MEANING ->

REIKO: from japanese origin, 礼 (rei) meaning "courtesy" and 子 (ko) meaning "child”. Thus, the name Reiko can be interpreted as a child who embodies courtesy and kindness.

RINA: is a feminine name of Korean origin similar to rena, meaning "beloved; joyful; melody".

NICKNAMES ->

nini ❪ by carats ❫, reini ❪ by seventeen ❫, Korea's ambassador ❪ by the korean & international public ❫, human chanel ❪ by carats & public ❫, rina ❪ by parents ❫, sweetheart (by parents)

❪ ★ ❫ BIRTHDATE & LOCATION !

BIRTHDATE — december 3rd, 2000

AGE — 22

ZODIAC SIGN — Saggitarius

BIRTHPLACE — sanya , tokyo, Japan

HOMETOWN — shibuya, Tokyo

RESIDENCY — sanya, tokyo❪ 2000 - 2002 ❫, Shibuya, Tokyo ❪ 2002 - 2014 ❫, seoul, south korea ❪ 2015 - present ❫

NATIONALITY — japanese

ETHNICITY — korean

★ LANGUAGES ->

japanese : 100%

korean : 85%

english : 60%

!! PHYSICAL DETAILS ->

HEIGHT — 164 cm ❪ 5'4" ❫

WEIGHT — 47 kg ❪ 120 lbs ❫

BLOOD TYPE — O negative

HAIR COLOR — black ❪ naturally ❫, black ❪ currently ❫

EYE COLOR — brown

!! CLAIMS ->

face : jennie ❪ blackpink ❫

vocal : kyungjoo ❪ pixy ❫, shannon bae (ex- pledis girlz),

rap : joy (red velvet)

dance : yumi ❪ choreographer ❫. , karina balcerzak.

!! GENDER & SEXUALITY ->

GENDER — female

PRONOUNS — she / her

SEXUAL ORIENTATION — pansexual

RELATIONSHIP STATUS — single

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

->  CAREER

NAME ->

STAGE NAME — Rei ❪ pronounced RAY-ee ❫

HANGUL — 레이

ORIGIN — since her name is of japanese descent, she wasn’t completely sure if she'd like using her full name yet, At the same felt uncomfortable with her korean name. so she settled for a nickname of hers.

!! INDUSTRY -

COMPANY — SM entertainment (2012-2013) pledis entertainment ❪ 2014 - 2020 ❫, hybe labels ❪ 2020 - present ❫

TRAINEE PERIOD — 2 years, (2011 -2013) 1 years ❪ 2014 - 2015 ❫

DANCING PERIOD — ballet ❪ 2006 - 2015 ❫,pointe ❪ 2007 - 2015 ❫, hip-hop ❪ 2012 - 2015 ❫

!! SEVENTEEN ->

DEBUT AGE — 14 ❪ seventeen ❫, 19 ❪ solo ❫

GROUP — seventeen

SUBUNIT — vocal unit

POSITIONS — main vocalist, visual, face of the group, sub rapper, maknae

REPRESENTATIVE EMOJI — 🐻 / 🥳

REPRESENTATIVE COLOR — light yellow

INDIVIDUAL FANDOM — koko or koko's plural.

RANKING ->

vocal : 9 / 10

rap : 7 / 10

dance : 10 / 10

visual ❪ korean standard ❫ : 9 / 10

stage presence : 8 / 10

acting : 8 / 10

producing : 5 / 10

songwriting : 6 / 10

choreography : 10 / 10

leadership : 7 / 10

public speaking : 9 / 10

overall ranking : 88 / 100

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

--> PERSONAL

MBTI ->

enfp-t, the campaigner

DESCRIPTION — Campaigners (enpf's) are true free spirits- outgoing, openhearted, and open-minded. with their lively, upbeat approach to life, they stand out in any crowd. even though they can be the life of the party, Campaigners don’t just care about having a good time. these personality types run deep as does their longing for meaningful, emotional connections with other people.

EDUCATION ->

KAIS Elementary & Middle School ❪ 2005 - 2014 ❫, Hanlim Multi Art School ❪ 2015- 2018 ❫, Seoul National University ❪ 2019 - 2023 ❫

PHOBIAS ->

arachnophobia❪ fear of spiders ❫.

ALLERGIES ->

N/A

LIKES ->

pickles, exercise/working out, simple games, organizing, art, driving,

DISLIKES ->

relish, clutter, mustard , creepy settings, onions, horror games, humidity, being interrupted, the days where she simply cannot focus.

FAVORITES ->

color : yellow, pink & black

food : strawberry ice cream, strawberry’s, hashbrowns, tempura, kimchi, taco triangles, tonkatsu, blueberries, purin, apples and caramel combo.

drink : strawberry sprite, strawberry flavored drinks, dr. pepper, dalgona coffee

movies : pirates of the carribean, knights of the zodiac, spirited away, drive my car, my neighbor totoro, the world of kanako, 20th century girl.

tv series : sweet tooth, love & death, death note, the after party, the summer i turned pretty, emily in paris.

number : 7

emojis : 🥳🤷‍♀️😧😘🤍🤩🫶

season : winter & summer

[fettesans]

Top, Dan Graham, Video Projection Outside Home, 1978. Via. See also, Video Projection Outside Home, 1978-1989, Architectural model, painted wood and plastic. Bottom, screen capture from .

--

A surge of electrical activity in the brain could be responsible for the vivid experiences described by near-death survivors, scientists report. A study carried out on dying rats found high levels of brainwaves at the point of the animals' demise. US researchers said that in humans this could give rise to a heightened state of consciousness.

The lead author of the study, Dr Jimo Borjigin, of the University of Michigan, said: "A lot of people thought that the brain after clinical death was inactive or hypoactive, with less activity than the waking state, and we show that is definitely not the case.

"If anything, it is much more active during the dying process than even the waking state."

Rebecca Morelle, from Near-death experiences are 'electrical surge in dying brain', for BBC, August 13, 2013. Via.

--

Fast forward to Wednesday 28th December, 2011, and the outside world is given a rare, brief peer into Pyongang, North Korea’s capital city. Why: it is the state funeral of Kim Jong-il. As snowy as Dr Zhivago and Dubai’s indoor ski-slope all combined, we see the funeral cortege comprised of American stretch limos (circa The Godfather), an immense billboard of the deceased Dear Leader, rendered in Social Realist Smiling style, schlepped slowly on a car-roof (viral movie poster). The corpse – which has been lying in a glass casket redolent of Lenin’s, which itself is a copy of Snow White’s – is ceremonially hauled through the city atop a padded, floral wig. There are hoards of soldiers too, frozen still not by the foreboding cold, but by unfaltering duty. Or, they’re CGI-clones, courtesy of Industrial Light & Magic.

Shumon Basar, from Dear Leader and His Nation of 24.45 Million Extras, December 29, 2011.

[pinkbrries]

#BASIC INFO

》 BIRTH NAME: park izabella (in hangul: 박이자벨라)

》 KOREAN NAME: park chaewon (in hangul: 박채원)

》 STAGE NAME: izabella / cherry

》 REASON OF HER NAME: from Sino-Korean 采 (chae) meaning “collect, gather, pluck” or 彩 (chae) meaning “colour” combined with 原 (won) meaning “source, origin, beginning”.

》 NICKNAMES: chae oppa | wonnie hyung | iza | ella | ellie | cherry | chae-lion | prince charming | ateez golden girl | chae-culator | 4th gen it girl

》 BIRTH DATE: dec 23, 1998

》 PLACE OF BIRTH: auckland, nz

》 ZODIAC SIGN: capricorn.

》 ETHNICITY: new zealand-korean

》 LANGUAGES: english (native), korean (fluent), japanese (fluent), french (conversational), mandarin (basic), thai (learning)

》 HEIGHT: 1.57 cm || 5’1

》 VOICE CLAIM (rap): yuhnway (soloist)

》 VOICE CLAIM (vocal): kim jung eun (loona)

》 FACE CLAIM: kim jung eun (loona)

》 EMOJI: 🦁 / 🍒

》 FAVORITE COLOR: pastel pink and pastel green

》 MBTI: ENTJ-A

》 ROLE MODELS: rosé (blackpink), cl (2ne1), bobby and hanbin (ikon), shinee, red velvet, twice, wonder girls, hyuna, cheetah, zico, iu, dynamicduo, queen, metallica.

》 POSITIONS: main rapper, main dancer, main vocal, visual.

》 INDIVIDUAL FANDOM NAME: cherries (because of her old stage name)

#CARRER

》 COMPANIES:

SM Entertainment (signed as an actress): 2012 - 2014

Starship Entertainment: 2014 - 2016

KQ Entertainment: 2016 - present

》 TRAINEE PERIOD: 6 years and a half.

》 PRE DEBUT & OTHER APPEARANCES:

actress for several commercials

drama: heirs

drama: reply 1994

drama: schoolgirl detectives

unpretty rapstar s3 (second runner-up)

show me the money s6 (second runner-up)

kq fellaz

good girl

immortal songs

amazing saturday

hello counselor

men on a mission

the show (mc along with juyeon and kim minkyu)

inkigayo (special mc along with minhyuk and jaehyun)

show me the money s9 (first runner-up)

kpop daebak

running man

drama: a love so beautiful (korean ver)

drama: our beloved summer

drama: blue birthday

high school rapper s4 (mentor along with simon dominic and loco)

》 DEBUT DATE: october 24, 2018

#BACKGROUND

Izabella was born in Auckland, New Zealand, on december 23, 1998 to a korean family, having two older sisters, one of them being Rosé from the popular kpop girl group Blackpink. At the age of five years old Izabella and her family moved to Melbourne, Australia; there, she started taking different classes since early age: jiu jitsu (even participating in national competitions), aerial and contemporary dance, she learned how to play the drums, the piano and the guitar, and even joined the church choir along with her sister Rosé.

In 2011, at age of 13 and influenced by her dad’s words, she attended an audition in Sydney, Australia for South Korean record label SM Entertainment, ranking at the top three among 1000 participants, and just some months after that, her sister Rosé signed with YG. They both dropped out of school and moved to South Korea with their mom.

At first, she was happy with being signed only as an actress and having small roles to start with her career, but then she realized that acting wasn’t her passion, and after two years, she parted with SM on good terms.

Some months after that, she got scouted by an agent of Starship Entertainment. Izabella even trained with the (now) monsta x members and even got contemplated to join the survival show “no mercy,” but she didn’t end up joining. In the winter of 2015, Izabella opens a soundcloud account and starts releasing her own songs under the stage name of “cherry,” her popularity starting to grow, even getting considered as one of the best underground rappers back then. In 2016, she decides on parting with Starship too on good terms.

Trying to not give up even after the circumstances and after seeing her older sister’s success, she joins “unpretty rapstar” in 2016 under the stage name of ‘cherry’, making it into the finals and ranking at 3rd place. Izabella gained a lot of popularity due this survival, even getting calls from companies that were interested on signing her. It’s in october 2016 that an agent from KQ Entertainment reaches out to her, and after convincing her on giving the company a chance, she officially becomes a trainee at the beginnings of november 2016.

A year later, she joins another survival show: “show me the money,” being part of zico’s and dean’s team, making it into the finals and finishing on 3rd place.

On october 24, 2018, Izabella made her official debut with Ateez.

#SIGNATURE

[gaymer-hag-stan]

Happy anniversary to K-pop's chameleons!

On the 29th of July, fourteen years ago, Jiyeon, Hyomin, Eunjung, Qri, Soyeon and Boram gave their first ever performance as T-ara! Although said performance was met with backlash (because apparently T-ara were the only people ever to lip sync on a music show stage 🙄👀) and perhaps serving as a cruel first taste of what was go come later on, it only served as extra motivation for T-ara to do better, and their very next comeback with Bo Peep Bo Peep was a smash hit!

T-ara's career is marked by hook-heavy dance-pop music. A broad array of visual concepts have earned the group a "chameleon-like" reputation. The group has achieved commercial success in several regions in Asia including South Korea and China, with their 2011 single "Roly-Poly" being one of the most downloaded domestic singles since 2010.

Their debut studio album Absolute First Album was released in December 2009 to critical and commercial success, and spawned the hit singles "TTL (Time to Love)", "Bo Peep Bo Peep", and "You Drive Me Crazy". Both their debut Japanese single and studio album reached number one on the Oricon weekly charts and were subsequently certified Gold. They subsequently gained nationwide recognition after releasing "Roly-Poly" in 2011, which went on to become the Gaon chart's best-selling single of the year. At the height of K-pop's popularity in Japan, T-ara signed onto management agency J-Rock for $4.7 million—reportedly the highest figure of any Korean girl group expanding into the territory at the time. T-ara's late-2011 Korean release Black Eyes spawned three consecutive number ones: "Cry Cry", "We Were in Love" and "Lovey-Dovey".

In 2012, T-ara experienced a dip in popularity as the group faced accusations of internal discord, resulting in Hwayoung's immediate departure with Areum following a year after. T-ara's later material was released to varying degrees of success before the group began focusing on promotional activities in China, where they attracted attention for their cover of Chopstick Brothers' "Little Apple" in 2014. T-ara's final release as six members was tentatively scheduled for May 2017, ahead of Soyeon and Boram's expiring contracts; however, conflicts with their management delayed What's My Name? until June 2017, effectively ending their involvement.

On January 3, 2018, T-ara went on an indefinite hiatus in order to allow the members to pursue their solo careers. T-ara reunited after four years and released their first independent album, Re:T-ara, in November 2021.

According to Sina Entertainment, T-ara is the 9th best selling K-pop girl group in terms of physical albums with a total of 1,14 Million albums (as of December 2020), ranking third amongst second generation groups.

T-ara are a constant reminder that hard work and perseverance, no matter outside forces tarnishing your reputation with false claims, will always shine through, and that serving bop after bop after bop is never a bad choice!

[sicaism]

jessica for 1st look korea, december 2011 issue

[mjohnso]

Quarterly Debut Review: Q4 2023

Quarterly Debut Reviews are a supplementary series to my biannual Periodic Rookie Group Reports, which are published quarterly. Each installment covers three rookie groups that debuted over the past three months. For this third installment, I covered NiziU (October), Peony (November), and Golden Girls (December).

As always, a full list of rookie groups that have debuted thus far in 2023 is available here: 2023 Rookie Groups Debuts

October / NiziU Debut: October 30, 2023 Debut Song: “HEARTRIS”

NiziU made history when their Korean debut song, “HEARTRIS” won the Champion Song title on the November 8, 2023, episode of MBC M’s Show Champion. With their win, the group not only became the first foreign group to do so but also tied their labelmate ITZY’s record, becoming the fourth fastest girl group to win first place on a music show following their debut.

They may or may not have also been the first j-pop group to accomplish this feat. Whether or not they qualify will vary from person to person, depending on their classification of NiziU as there is no consensus. This is not due to any lack of spirited debate on the issue, as both the j-pop and k-pop camps have made their cases. The former points to their focus on the Japanese market, their debut in Korea notwithstanding, their songs sung only in Japanese, and the fact that they have, again until recently, never widely promoted within the k-pop system. As for the latter, they highlight the group’s connections to JYP Entertainment, including their hand in the group’s origin through the survival show Nizi Project, and that the group’s lineup features several former trainees from the label. Then there is the fact that the group, like many produced through survival shows with ties to Korean agencies, sometimes pulls both visually and sonically from k-pop.

Treating this issue as a matter of either/or maybe the wrong answer to the question of what NiziU "is". Instead, a better approach may be to treat the group as fitting into both. That is like the k-pop girl groups that over a decade ago promoted in both Korea and Japan they fall into what San Jung and Yukie Hiarata in their 2011 paper “Conflicting Desires: K-pop Girl Group Flows in Japan in the Era of Web 2.0” described as “an ambivalent third space between the domestic and the foreign.” Writing about SNSD and KARA who like NiziU muddled categories whose borders once seemed so firm, they wrote: 

Another aspect of the new way of embracing K-pop in Japan is demonstrated through how K-pop is now placed in an ambivalent third space between the domestic and the foreign within the Japanese pop music scene. At the 2011 Japan Gold Disc Awards, SNSD was awarded the New Artist of the Year Award in the Japanese music division (hougaku bumon), while KARA was awarded the New Artist of the Year in the foreign music division (yougaku bumon).1 It was a significant result considering the fact that both of the groups are from Korea: in Japan, yougaku usually refers to ‘Western’ music. BoA and TVXQ, who are overwhelmingly popular in Japan, are perceived as K-pop idols as they are from Korea, yet at the same time are treated as J-pop idols within the paradigm of Western vs. Japanese. The article “Is K-pop Japanese music (hougaku)? Or foreign music (yougaku)?” in Asahi Shinbun suggests that K-pop girl groups such as KARA and SNSD cannot be categorised as either Western or Japanese pop because they are extremely successful even when they sing in Korean (Miyamoto 2011).

NiziU's place in this third space is evident in the mouthful of words that are used to introduce the group. Never referred to as a k-pop or j-pop group, they are often called JYP Entertainment's Japanese girl group. The 'JYP' part emphasizes their link and history to the Korean market hailing from one of the Big 4 agencies, while describing them as Japanese highlights their difference from other JYP groups and their connection to the j-pop industry. Neither side cancels out the other but exists together, each side a part of the group's identity.

November / Peony Debut: November 23, 2023 Debut Song: “Checkmate”

I did not expect to be writing about the Future Idol Asia project again this year but then they debuted their ninth girl group of the year, Peony. In retrospect though, I should have known better. Three years into the project and with a total of 40 groups under their belt, Rainbow E&M is an old hand at this thanks to their system (See: 2023 Q1 and 2023 Q2). Under it they scaled their project from three groups in 2021 to 19 new groups in 2022, which accounted for 25% of all groups that debuted that year. Now, this year has seen the debut of 12 new groups, accounting for 13% of the new groups that debuted. No other agency debuting new groups today has yet to match their number for this year or last year.

Rainbow E&M appears to have every intention of matching this same pace, or at least trying to in 2024. In June and July, they began posting on their official Instagram audition advertisements to recruit new participants, between the ages of 12 and 18 for their group that would debut in January 2024. By August, they were recruiting for their groups that are to debut in February and March, while their September and October posts mention a May group. Their posts from November and December are for those interested in joining their June group. If they manage to pull off this schedule, they will have debuted a group in at least five of the six months in the first half of the year.

According to the timetable deduced from these posts, Rainbow E&M will start looking for groups to fill out their roster for the second half of the year between January and February 2024, even as they are debuting their first group. Trainees, after all, are the lifeblood of this project. Their system only runs if there are trainees to feed through it to create groups to market to agencies at their showcases, which need new groups. The more trainees they can fit into their showcase, the better the chances that one will be asked to audition for other agencies. Then, to connect it to a point I made in my 2023 Q3 post regarding their showcase, they can use their trainees' association with these agencies to market their program and its success to recruit even more participants to their project, allowing them to produce even more groups, and continue the cycle.

December / Golden Girls Debut: December 1, 2023 Debut Song: “One Last Time”

Most entertainment agencies know not to debut new groups in December. Between the end of the year, award shows and festivals, holiday performances, and winter releases, audience's attention is anywhere but new groups. It is better to wait until the first quarter of the new year when a group’s debut has a better chance of finding fans.

Of course, not all agencies heed this advice. Most years, a few groups risk their future on an end-of-the-year debut, albeit with varying results. For some, their December release will mark both the beginning and end of a career, while for others, it will have no discernible effect. For example, the band Xdinary Heroes suffered little for the timing of their year-end debut in 2021, likely due to their association with JYP Entertainment. Similarly, JYP Entertainment’s super girl group Golden Girls, created from the KBS show with the same name and composed of bona fide legends Insooni, Park Mi-kyung, Shin Hyo-beom, and Lee Eun-mi, has proven immune to any of the downsides of a December 1st debut. The group won the Rookie Award in the ‘Show and Variety’ category at the 2023 KBS Entertainment Awards and recently announced their intention to tour in 2024.

Yet despite the show's association with a top entertainment agency, airing on one of Korea's three major networks, and the individual members' storied careers, it was not treated as a guarantee that Golden Girls would not meet the fate of so many other December debuts. Or at least that was the narrative surrounding the show early on. A promotional trailer released in October showed JYP meeting with each of the future members who initially dismissed the idea, with Hyo Bum calling it crazy and Insooni dubbing his then-dream group a “grandma group." Although all four singers eventually agreed to participate, that was not the end of the trouble surrounding production. As JYP explained on a November episode of MBC FM4U’s Kim Shin Young’s Noon Song of Hope, while KBS had approved the show, they required additional outside investment. And much like with the members, JYP found most companies were skeptical that his idea would work, although—as evidenced by the show's existence past episode two—some came around.

Perhaps they heard an early version of the group's debut song "One Last Time," which opens with the members singing about stagnation and their fear of the unknown. Then it builds to a chorus that provides a blueprint for breaking out of that rut, instructing listeners to, “Pour it all out Shout/Scream together/Go crazy like this is the time/Wake up and fight.” Take a chance on the unknown since as Eunmi sings, "Any challenge you haven't tried is a failure/Any chance you hesitate is a waste." So back that reality show with the eyebrow-raising, but not entirely new, idea to create a group of older women promoting a youth-centric industry. Debut a rookie group in December. Don’t, as Insooni sings, let any regrets remain.

[glitterslittleuniverse]

SVT Girls Profile: SAGE

Stage Name: SAGE (세이지)

Birth Name: Park Ye Jin (박예진)

Position: Main Vocal, Face of the Group

Sub-Unit: Vocal Team, DIAMOND DREAM

Birthday: December 18, 1997

Birthplace: Daegu, South Korea

Nationality: Korean

Height: 170cm (5'7ft)

Zodiac: Sagittarius

MBTI: ENFJ

Facts

Yejin grew up in Daegu with her Mother, Father and two younger brothers.

Growing up she always loved singing and dancing. She's trained in ballet from a young age. She's always felt free when she dances. She also took singing lessons too. To her performing has always been about expressing amotions and making the audience feel something special.

She always loved watching idols on TV and wanted more then anything to be like them. She was approached by a scout from Pledis at a showcase at her middle school and offed an audition. She took the offer and became a trainee at Pledis in 2011.

She attended SOPA (School of Performing Arts). She is close friends with her classmates Lee Jangjun (Golden Child), Ryu Sujeong (Lovelyz) and Jeong Sewoon (soloist). She graduated in 2016.

Her stage name Sage is her birth flower.

As a trainee she completely dedicated herself to become better. She worked hard and was known as one of the top trainees in the company.

She enjoys exercising, going to the gym, doing yoga, pilates and going jogging. Keeping her body fit and healthy is important to her.

Personality

Warm, affectionate and supportive, Sage is a people person and loves spending time with her close friends.

Loves helping others and supports them no matter what.

Completely devoted to her group. She deeply cherishes every single one of her members and sees them as not only her best friends but her family.

She tends to be hard on herself and stresses if a performance isn't perfect. She also doesn't give herself enough credit when she does well, to her she can always do better. Because of this she has a bad habit of overworking herself.

Always enthusiastic and optimistic, Sage is full of energy. She can be very talkative and loud, she has a lot of trouble being quiet for a while. If she isn't talking she's fidgeting or moving around.

Another members problems become her own. She's so emotionally attached to them that if something's upsetting them, she's upset too. She tries to help them through their problems the best she can. Although her intentions are good she can sometimes be a little overbearing, but her genuine concern and care is always evident.

Sage is generally a very likable person who make's friends easily. She's known throughout the industry, not only for her incredible vocals but for the respectful why she treats other idols. Not only idols but staff and producers have spoken about Sage and praised her for her kind and considerate behavior towards them.

The members describe her as bright and fun to be around. She relates to others well and brings out the best in people.

[ofwendyz]

Wendy, Son. 🦢

⃝웬디

GENERAL INFORMATION

BIRTH NAME: Shon Seung-wan

HANGUL: 손승완

NICKNAME(S): Olaf

BIRTH DATE: February 21, 1994 (age 29)

BIRTH PLACE: Seongbuk-dong, Seoul, South Korea

HEIGHT: 160.3 cm (5 ft 3 in)[1]

WEIGHT: 46 kg (101 lb)

BLOOD TYPE: O

♡₊˚ 🦢・₊✧⋆⭒˚｡⋆ | ˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗

OCCUPATION

JOB: Singer, Songwriter, Actress

POSITION: Main Vocalist

COLOR: Blue

YEARS ACTIVE: 2014–present

AGENCY: SM Entertainment

ASSOCIATED ACTS: Red Velvet, SM Rookies

♡₊˚ 🦢・₊✧⋆⭒˚｡⋆ | ˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗

Do everything to your best ability with a positive mindset.

-WENDY

♡₊˚ 🦢・₊✧⋆⭒˚｡⋆ | ˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗

Shon Seung-wan (Hangul:손승완; born February 21, 1994), better known as Wendy (Hangul: 웬디), is a South Korean singer, songwriter, and actress. She is the main vocalist of the South Korean girl group Red Velvet.

♡₊˚ 🦢・₊✧⋆⭒˚｡⋆ | ˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗

Wendy was born as Shon Seung-wan in Seongbuk-dong, Seoul, South Korea. Her family consists of her parents, an affluent couple whose names haven't been revealed to the public, and her sister, Son Seung-hee, who is three years Wendy's senior. Wendy spent most of her childhood years in Cheongju, South Korea.

Wendy aspired to become a singer from the age of six and throughout her life trained to fulfill this goal. She also learned to play the saxophone, piano, flute, and guitar.

At the age of 12, Wendy and her sister moved to live in Canada, and later the USA. Whilst living in North America, Wendy began using the name Wendy Shon and learned to speak English, as well as some French and Spanish. For her education in these countries, she attended Shattuck St Mary's School in Minnesota, USA, and Richmond Hill High School in Ontario, Canada.

After graduating high school in 2012, she moved to South Korea to establish a professional singing career. Prior to this in 2010, she auditioned for the "Koreaboo: Cube Entertainment Global Auditions 2011" with an online audition and was picked from over 5,000 videos by Koreaboo and Cube Entertainment to continue to the final round in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. G.NA personally picked the 15 finalists with Koreaboo to open for her first solo showcase, held in Vancouver, BC, Canada. In 2012, she auditioned at the SM Global Audition in Canada and was recognized for her musicality, being able to play several instruments, as well as having strong vocal skills.

♡₊˚ 🦢・₊✧⋆⭒˚｡⋆ | ˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗

Career

2014: Pre-debut activities

She trained for less than two years before she was introduced as a member of SM Entertainment's pre-debut trainees team SM Rookies on March 14, 2014

As part of SM Rookies, Wendy released the song "Because I Love You" for the soundtrack of the Mnet drama Mimi, which was one of the soundtracks of the Mnet drama series, Mimi, which labelmate Changmin starred in, appearing in the music video as well. A clip of Wendy singing a cover of Taylor Swift's "Speak Now" was released on SM Entertainment's official YouTube channel.

2014–2019: Debut with Red Velvet, stage accident

In late-July 2014, Wendy was assigned to represent the color blue and chosen to be the main vocalist of Red Velvet, which debuted on August 1, 2014 with the single "Happiness".

Wendy collaborated with rapper Yuk Ji-dam for the song "Return", one of the OSTs of KBS2's drama Who Are You: School 2015. The song was released on June 8, 2015 and debuted at #31 on the Gaon Singles Chart. She released another song "Let You Know" for the soundtrack of the JTBC drama D-Day on October 16. On January 9, 2016, she became a panelist on We Got Married. On King of Mask Singer (episode 43 aired on January 24, 2016), she participated as a contestant with the stage name "Space Beauty Maetel". Wendy released a collaboration single with Eric Nam titled "Spring Love" on March 4, 2016, as part of SM Entertainment's SM Station project.

On December 25, 2019, Wendy fell from a raised stage while rehearsing for a performance on the year-end show SBS Gayo Daejeon. She fell approximately 2.5 meters (8.2ft) and received multiple injuries, including a broken wrist, fractured pelvis, a cracked cheekbone, and other unspecified facial and bodily injuries. Wendy was subsequently on hiatus for over a year while she recovered.

2021: Return to activities, Wendy's Youngstreet, GOT the beat

On January 1, 2021, Wendy's health hiatus official ended and she returned to idol activities.

On July 12, 2021, Wendy became the DJ host for SBS Power FM's radio show Wendy's Youngstreet, adopting the DJ name "WanD". The show ran for almost two years, until July 2, 2023.

On December 27, 2021, Wendy was revealed alongside Seulgi as one of the members of GOT the beat, the first unit of the project group Girls On Top.[2] The unit debuted on January 3, 2022 with the digital single "Step Back".

2023: First musical role

On June 19, 2023, Wendy confirmed that she had been cast in the role of "I" in the musical Rebecca. She performed from August 19–November 19, 2023.

Filmography

Since her debut, Wendy has appeared on the variety shows, We Got Married, King of Masked Singer, Trick and True, Raid the Convenience Store and Battle Trip. She made a cameo in the series, Descendants of the Sun and made an appearance in the documentary, SMTown: The Stage.