IU [Loen Entertainment]

"When a singer is intimidated, his or her fans become intimidated too. So I want to become a singer that does the opposite for my fans." This is the goal IU said she has as a singer when she recently appeared on SBS talk show "Strong Heart." The audience hurled insults at her on the day she gave her debut performance and she then took first place on a music show with "Good Day" with only a single female fan who rooted for her as if 100 were. That is why her goal does not sound like the typical words that singers usually say. And if you were looking forward to reading about the cute IU, you may feel that you are unfamiliar with the IU you will encounter below.

IU was reminded of an old drama while singing "It's You" with Sung Si-kyung and enjoys reading Alain Botton's books which she at first "didn't know if I was reading a book or just looking at it" but "could understand what he was saying only after reading his books five or six times." And born with a personality that is placid enough that she feels nothing over ill comments on her on the Internet, IU taught herself to protect herself from others from a young age. "I think I'm preparing and protecting myself so that I don't get hurt. Nor do I think my popularity is all about me. After handing out the hair stylist's share, the make-up artist's share [laughs], there's really only very little that comes to me. And that's exactly how much I'm enjoying myself." Hence although all the songs to her latest album "Last Fantasy" placed on top of music charts following her popularity from "Marshmallow" and "Good Day," IU is an 18-year-old singer who believes that she should "not get used to being popular" instead of enjoying the moment. To call her mature would probably not do her justice. The 'fairy tale-like movies' she recommended too were not ones she has watched just once but so many times that she has memorized the lines to them.

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1. "Once"
2007 | John Carney
“The music to ‘Once’ is great but I think I just enjoyed the small stories within it more because it made me feel like I could be the main character of a movie and it also seemed like my story. [laughs] My album this time around too contains songs with stories about me, like in 'The Abandoned.'"

A music film which one could feel more sincerity from because of the appearance of Glen Hansard, the lead vocalist of English indie band The Frames, and Marketa Irglova who took part in the band's album as a guest. The two show that music is more powerful than words when it comes to looking into each other's wounds and emotions. The memory of them singing "Falling Slowly" at an instrument shop is not easy to forget.

2. "P.S., I Love You"
2008 | Richard LaGravenese
“I watched this movie for the first time in middle school. And I think I watched it about a total of 40 times after that. To the point that I memorize all the lines to it. The scene where the main female character said she is okay after her husband's funeral but went under the covers of her bed and listened to the answering machine of her bed after throwing her clothes about and shaking her hair loose was really sad. And then you know how the mom had the last letter that the husband had given to people around him to give to his wife, right? I cried again when the mom handed that letter to her."

The moments of being able to love and be loved by someone is very precious. "P.S. I Love You," where the husband prepares letters for his wife that he will have to part after he dies from a brain tumor, and the wife misses her husband upon receiving his letters, tells of those special moments.

3. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"
2005 | Tim Burton
"I like fairy tales in general but I really like the cynical ones. And I go crazy over Disney animations. [laughs] I wanted to try the Wonka chocolates from 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' so much that I bought them when I went to Japan. But they didn't taste the way I thought they would. I'd really like to try the hard Wonka chocolates from the movie."

The chocolate factory that Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp) runs is extremely famous yet nothing is known of the space. Then one day, Willy Wonka announces that he will reveal his factory to the children who find the Golden Tickets that he has hidden in five Wonka chocolates. From its story to characters to visuals to music, the production lacks in no aspect but it is also a film that leaves a slight bitterness after the sweetness.

4. "New York, I Love You"
2009 | Allen Hughes, Brett Ratner etc.
"I like actress Natalie Portman. So I watched 'New York, I Love You' too because of her although I didn't know what the movie was going to be about. The love story that she tells of is short but it really hit me. And there were some funny parts to it too but I think Natalie Portman looks really pretty with her head shaved. I also really liked the message at the end because it showed that all the segments were connected. I could tell that a movie was being made here and there."

The movie interweaves 11 short films -- from the romance which starts from borrowing a lighter to the love between an old married. And because it is an omnibus film, it is true that the links are loose but it is pleasing to watch the cast also including Bradley Cooper, Orlando Bloom and Ethan Hawke.

5. "Ponyo On The Cliff"
2008 | Hayao Miyazaki
"I love director Hayao Miyazaki. No joke, I've probably watched 'Ponyo On The Cliff' more than 100 times. I've memorized all the lines to it. And I've watched both the Japanese and Korean versions of it. [laugh] My favorite scenes were when Ponyo gets into a car and when Ponyo first slips right into a water bottle. And when the village got flooded, the stairs and everything were underwater so the fish went up and down them which made me want to go to such a place too."

"Ponyo" was director Hayao Miyazaki's first animation in four years since "Howl's Moving Castle." It is said that he made "Ponyo" after going on a group tour where he saw a boy looking at the sea from a cliff. The heart-warming movie tells of a curious fish-girl named Ponyo, who slips away to land without telling his father, and a boy named Sosuke that rescues her on the beach.

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10 아시아 Reporter : Lee Ga-on
10 아시아 Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@
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