"Today my body is acting strange, as if it doesn't belong to me." Returning to the locked ward, we present IU's new video, "The Story Only I Didn't Know":

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(If you don't see English subtitles, click through to YouTube and then on the lower right click CC ( Read more... )

Nothing problematic about this one, at least for me, except to wonder why sullen passion is captivating in this video when I wouldn't find it sexy in real life. Ga-In is gorgeous, of course, with her chiseled, chilled prettiness. Narsha's made up as her twin, and the fierceness between them is stronger than anything they might feel for the guy ( Read more... )

At Maddie's suggestion, I'm posting Co-Ed School's "삐리뽐 빼리뽐 (Bbiribbom Bbaeribom)" as this week's problematic Korean video.

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This presents the mentally ill as goofy and silly in kiddie-candy colors, so as potential objects of ridicule, I guess, though also as fun. So the positive side would be that, in playing crazy, the Co-Ed Schoolers get to be ( Read more... )

Here's some stomping r&b that's intensified rather than compromised by the four-four and the Autotune, singers as strong as the beat. And I get that the performers may potentially be seizing the derogatory "Piggy" and turning it around, making it their own. My main problem with the vid is that, if the point is that fat can be sexy, then the singers ( Read more... )

This week we present a trio of leggy model types in their late teens/early twenties dressing like kiddie toys in a kiddie picture book. It looks incongruous and eerie to me. As Mat says, "It's odd, because they almost have a supermodel look to them with their long legs, and it just seems grotesque to put them in cheap girly Halloween costumes." I ( Read more... )

Hi folks. It's Friday, which means it's Problematic Korean Video Day here at poptimists. Our latest episode features T-ara, pronounced like the bejeweled crown one wears atop one's head (if one is the sort to wear bejeweled crowns atop one's head), except that our story here finds the young women opting for feathers instead.

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Now, the depiction of Native ( Read more... )

What's the general feeling in Freaky Trigger etc. circles about the Go! Team? I know little of their stuff and sense that they get an ambivalent reaction, but I actually like the little I've heard. An old track of theirs was used effectively in the U.S. this year in a television PSA (public service announcement):

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Yes, my personal shopper does happen to be a parrot. What of it?

[Later] Excuse me, you seem inadvertently to have left your parrot in my gift shop, so I am personally returning it to your home at midnight.

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This is pretty good, isn't it? The gentleman doing the rapping is called Wretch 32 and the song is called 'Traktor' as in "I ride this motherfvcking beat like a traktor". There are "choo-choo"ing noises. The video features a lady hitting a dusty drum and a random OWL.

Videos:

RESTRAINT
Sunny Sweeney

It's someone else's party and she'll cry if she wants to, but discreetly.

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Or on Vimeo.

LESS RESTRAINT
Ga-in "Irreversible"

Regrets, she's had a few.

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[EDIT: I've now found a version with English subtitles; if you're not getting them, click CC. RE-EDIT: But KBS Media made YouTube kill it, so I'm now back to ( Read more... )