A few readers have suggested showing the music video Gee by the popular Korean group Girls’ Generation. This music video features a ridiculous number of poses done to an annoyingly catchy tune (it’ll make you say “Gee Gee Gee” all day long). I dream of the day when I’ll see some of these poses used in a Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, or 50 cent music video.

I originally found out about this song from my good friend Cutkillavince, who got me interested when he posted scans from their album a few months ago.

Here are a few poses from the video:

Why are poses so important? One reason is the phenomena known as the “boring photos lowers cuteness” effect. Consider the photos of He Jing shown below (known as momojing on MOKO). Notice how at the start she looks excruciatingly cute, but as you progress through these pose-lacking photos, it begins to get a bit boring. Eventually, you might even find her downright repulsive. It’s not until she starts doing some poses at the end that it starts getting interesting again and cuteness levels begin to rise.

I find this problem to be particularly noticeable while scanning through a large amount of photos. After a while, it can get really tedious if people don’t do something interesting.

So remember, don’t just smile, strike a pose!

If you aren’t convinced that Asians love doing poses, consider the Chinese beauty Niki from MOKO, who has no shortage of poses in her photographs. Here is just a small sample from her, which seems to show that the v-sign is a particular favourite of hers.