Looking forward

Hi Hi sisters ...... only minutes away from 2010, do you have a lot of thoughts running through your mind? Like what you have accomplished this year, and what you plan to achieve in the coming year?

For me, 2010 will continue to have many challenges ahead, pushing both my emotional and physical boundaries. Somehow, I hope after encountering so many ordeals already in the past few years, I will be strong enough to face new ones - looking forward, no turning back!

Hehe, then these famous images of Yong Joon's back seem to convey the same message .....

Happy 2010!

Lacquer art up close

Hi Hi sisters ...... I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, did you eat and laugh a lot? We are pretty exhausted after returning from Taiwan, hehe, don't know if it is because we ate too much, therefore we have to drag more body weight along?? Even though it's still quiet from the Bae camp, but I notice our ''blogger' sisters have been diligenty posting :) Thank you so much for keeping us abreast of the Bae happenings around the world!

As you've read in flowerbossa's blog, Mr. Jun Yong Bok is holding an exhibition in Tokyo Korea Center. I am actually very much looking forward to this as my plan to visit Iwayama Museum prior to its closing didn't materialize, sob sob. I know the atmosphere will not be the same as standing in the historic setting in Iwayama, where Yong Joon had spent his apprenticeship there.

Hehe, but I'll take what I'm given :) Cloudnine, moichan, kiyomi took our visiting babasan there yesterday and I was happy to tag along.

We were greeted with this huge lacquer work of Mr. Jun - titled 'Onma'. I guess it's universal, whenever we think of our mommy, her hearty homecooking always comes to mind. You see the whole painting is filled with food in omoni's kitchen? Be it storing, hanging or cooking!

Yayaya, recognize someone's name hiding behind the pretty flowers?
No? Ok, I'll zoom in :) Yes yes, wish it were the real man himself intead of that flower stand, dreaming!

Sorry, no picture taking inside the hall. So I just took one aiming into it :) Yes, I've seen Mr. Jun's work in Meguro Gajoen before, but that was a restoration of traditional paintings. This exhibition is about his lacquer artworks - which expressed his thoughts and ideals.

I am very happy to be able to see up close on every piece of artworks he's created. Mr. Jun seems to favor primary colors - like strong red, cobalt blue, celery green and black of course. The theme drew a lot from nature like plants, birds, animals, mountains. His artworks appear to be abstract and free-flowing, yet the details reveal that it demanded a well thought-out concept and painstaking effort - the delicacy of every brush stroke; the thickness and tone of paint; the size, density and placement of every bit of mother-of-pearl. To achieve that shine (or 'slick' ness, sorry for my bad English) on the surface, boy, that workroom's got to be dust free! No wonder Mr. Jun chose such a quiet remote town to house his workshop.

You can't help but respect someone with not only such skills and dedication, but with dreams to spread the culture across borders and oceans. It is a blessing that our handsome prince will carry the torch and preserve a precious skill that reflect the fine cultures of both Japan and Korea.

1 more day to 2010!

To Seoul with love

Hi dear sisters ...... Wishing you all and that special 'someone' in my neighbouring country a very warm and peaceful Christmas! Hmmm ...... dreaming of a Seoul trip? Hehe, but Christmas is about family and togetherness, so we are off to Taipei for a few family-bonding days :)

Remember these very noble images from his 'BYJ Classics' CDs? That was Christmas 2006, 3 years ago! How time flies! He still looks every bit as handsome as before. Are you gasping like me?

Have a safe holidays! Please take care, love :)

Glittery pink 2010

Hi Hi sisters ..... Just received this glittery pink BYJ 2010 diary from cloudnine today! Yeah yeah, I am embarassed to reveal that I still have to bother cloudnine to order Japanese stuffs for me from BOFi. Thanks a bundle, dear cloudnine, you are always so helpful :) Oh, I love this year's choices of pink or silver, pink is so glamorous, silver is so elegant @@ Hehe, but I am a pink girl, I don't even have to think twice of what I want :) My lighting is so bad, it doesn't reflect how pretty and glittery it really is @@


Haha, enhancements this year include the very charming bookmark :)

and a very thoughtful pen holder! I have been saying to myself the whole year long, "if only there is a place to hold my pen too in my 2009 diary". Now it really comes true!
Here's the layout of the months and days

As usual, an info page of our handsome man @@

Hehe, the rest are some droolingly handsome pictures of Yong Joon, but cloudnine and I both wonder why they are from Bassini? Aren't those copyrighted by AB? We'd rather see some new shots of our handsome prince, right? @@

Have you ordered your copy through your country's fan site yet?

Btw, I finally dropped by at Gosireh Gon in Ikebukuro this past weekend. It is in the basement food floor in Seibu Department Store. Aiyo, forgot which building again! Just follow the smell la, huh?

If you are familiar with the food floor under a Japanese department store, you know how each deli has its own square floor space with glass display case all around it.
Gosireh Gon occupies half of the square floor space, thus only has 1 side of the counter - see how tight it is? Well ..... price of real estate in Tokyo @@
Errr, since we still had a few other places to go that day, so I didn't buy any food. They sure look delicious and healthy, eh? We just quickly snapped up a few shots before being swarmed by the crowds again :) Hope I can do some taste-testing next time :) Time flies, only one more week to Christmas Eve! Are you ready?

Cold winter, warm reads

Dear sisters ...... Our sister Josephine's academic paper based on her study of Yong Joon is out this month, congratulations! It is published in Karunungan - a journal of philosophy. I still remember Josephine when she first entered her comments here during the airing of TWSSG. She drew many comparisons of Damdeok and Yong Joon, and she always provides us of her philosophical knowledge and thoughts. I knew about her study and writing of an academic paper on Yong Joon but am so grateful that she is sharing it with us, thanks Josephine!

Her paper is entitled :

"Junzi by Confucius and the Archetypes of Carl Jung in Bae Yong Joon and the Winter Sonata" Yes yes, I am pulling out my dictionary at this moment as I am reading the title. A quick glance at the content of the paper indicates that I will be needing it and probably an encyclopedia too. Sigh, I am not a scholar like Josephine and my tiny brain can only hold so much of our handsome prince :( But I am very eager to read about her study on Yong Joon. It will be a very interesting read for me when I am sitting on the plane to Taipei this Christmas :)


For you avid readers, Josephine has also written another knol about self management, change management and leadership based on the drama 'Lovers in Paris'. The knol is titled : "Lovers in Paris, a critique" Hehe, together with Yong Joon's 'Beauty of Korea' book, I think this Christmas Holidays will be filled with the warm thoughts of our handsome prince :)

*Note : According to US copyright laws, the academic papers are owned by Josephine, the journal, the academy and the university, it cannot be posted elsewhere nor translated into other languages without their written permission. Thanks for understanding that I only provide the links. Please feel free to write your comments to Josephine here. Happy reading!

Vitruvian Man

Hi hi sisters .... I dug out this very interesting picture, haha, someone had actually taken the effort to 'size' up Yong Joon! (thanks to the site/sister whom I got it from) Not surprisingly, our handsome prince is perfectly proportioned from head to toes :)

This reminds me of the drawing 'Vitruvian Man' by Leonardo da Vinci in 1487. It is based on the correlations of ideal human proportions with geometry. Based on ancient Roman architect Vitruvius' work, Da Vinci believed the workings of the human body to be an analogy for the workings of the universe. This is part of the long list on his study of the proportions of a (male) human body :

- a palm is the width of four fingers
- a foot is the width of four palms
. . . .
- the length of a man's outspread arms (arm span) is equal to his height
. . . .
- the maximum width of the shoulders is a quarter of a man's height
- the distance from the middle of the chest to the top of the head is a quarter of a man's height
. . . .
- the length of the hand is one-tenth of a man's height
. . . .
the length of a man's foot is one-sixth of his height

Hehe, I think you got the picture here :) Since I do not have the fortune (probably not even in my next life as I know the waiting list is pretty long already) to have such intimate access to our handsome prince. There is no way I can verify if he is a 'Vitruvian Man' or not, maybe you can be the judge here'?

Your verdict? Do we even need to ask? Hope you enjoy :)