Friday, June 27, 2008

Korean TV commercials

Hey. It's been 3 months since I updated. It has been a while, and I've been quite busy. I have a few stories to tell you all, but right now, what's important is for me to tell you about the awesomeness of Korean TV commercials.

Some commercials are pretty straightforward. It's easy to get. Others however, I don't know what the hell is going on or I'm deeply touched by the aesthetics and overall feeling of the commercial, then I get a Korean to translate them for me and then it's ruined.

Obvious commercials:
Obvious 1
Obvious 1.5
If you don't understand it 100%, be sure to see the Tell Me Music video in the link to the left. It was shown around Christmas. If you can't understand what product they're pushing, then stop taking whatever drugs you're on, they're seriously fucking you up.

Obvious 2
I don't want to ruin the surprise of soju, but I doubt any of you will ever come to Korea and be graced with soju. It's hard liquor. The kind of high quality stuff that the Japanese thought was unfit for consumption, so they only used it for cleaning weapons. Oh! And it's Korea's national drink. If you go into a restaurant, you're expected to buy soju. The woman in the commercial is Lee Hyori. She is my new celebrity crush.

I stole an advertising poster of her in a druken stupor. The whole night I would yell to people (in Korean of course) "It's Lee Hyori". I would get laughs from younger people and looks of hatred from older people (by that I mean the taxi cab drivers).

Obvious 3
Dunkin Donuts commercial. Not sure what they're saying, but it's obvious to know what they're selling.


Somewhat intriguing/awesome commercials that can get ruined:
Special 1
It's not the exact commercial that they show on Korean TV. This one has more information and less of the beautiful crying woman. I found out what the commercial was about by finding this on youtube. Only semi-ruined. If someone can tell me the name of the song, in the background, let me know. I will anticipate a post from someone and state that I am very well aware it's a French song.

Special 2- commercial that I can't find on youtube.
I will describe: Two Koreans, a young Korean man (YKM) and a beautiful young Korean woman (henceforth BYKW) in their early to mid twenties. They're outside at night and they're both facing a campfire that's slowing burning out with the sound of crickets in the background. There are a lot of stars in the sky and trees around them.

YKM looks shy and says something, he obviously has a crush on her.
BYKW say a very short response with a confused look on her face.
YKM looks embarrased, lost for words, says a response, almost expecting to be turned down and laughed at.
BYKW turns to him and smiles (absolutely gorgeous smile) and says something very very short, 3 words.

They both start laughing and they start getting closer to snuggle. Cue beautiful music. Sufficient to say, visually it's very touching.

Here's the explanation I got for the dialog and a bit from what I can understand. It's not exact, but enough to have pissed me off.
YKM: Do you believe love can be ("split" or "shared", not sure which one)?
BYKW: what?
YKM: It's just that (I can't make out the rest, and the Korean person was vague on the rest)
BYKW: It doesn't matter (or "I disagree", not sure which one), we have a BC card that we can share!

BC card is a credit card. Moral: the key to getting a woman is to give her access to your credit card...

Special 3
I hate this commercial with the passion of 1000 suns. It's a jeans commercial. What is she screaming you ask?

Lyrics (as far as I can tell):
It's very good.
It's being good.
It's good, It's good, it's good, it's good.
(this line is something, I only understand "bang bang")
It's good.
IT'S GOOD!
(next line in English)
Move and move, bang bang.

The jeans company is called bang bang. Imagine hearing this commercial once every 10 minutes you watch tv. Now you understand my pain.

That's it for now. I'm certain I'm missing some, but I'll add more later.

BONUS!
I almost forgot to put up some links to some awesome Korean music videos.

Won Ji Eun - Adios. Korean hip-hop. I think my friend JF said it best when he said: "It's hard to be afraid of these guys, they look like they should be engineers". Well everyone, here in Korea, nothing is more badass than an electrical engineer.
Epik High - One. The first time I saw this video, I was confused that this is acceptable in socially ultra-conservative, riot prone Korea. I haven't heard of any objections.
Wondergirls - So Hot. A student is teaching me the dance. Saturday is the big night when I get to show my moves to Korean women.

EDIT!
I found this video on youtube. Yes, it's a commercial by Lee Hyori. Have fun watching it.