First post of the year. What.

How is it that I managed to not post anything until 31 days into the new year? Clearly, I should have made blogging more regularly my new year's resolution.

As it turns out, my brief obsession with the GazettE was, well... brief. I don't follow any news about them at all, aside from major things like the Tokyo Dome concert (and by that I mean that I know that it even happened, not actual details) and the Heresy fan club closing its doors to international (i.e. non-Japanese) members/applicants. I still like their music, I just don't fangirl over them anymore until I see Reita being all sexy as always.

I suppose the same could be said for SS501; I don't really follow them anymore, though I would say I'm a little more interested in their current endeavors than I am in the GazettE's. Speaking of which, the SS501 members are finally becoming more active, albeit individually. E.g., Park Jung Min recently released his first solo single album (he is looking FINE these days, btw) and Kim Hyung Jun is going to have a second season of that progamer show. I'll probably watch it, as long as it's as lulzy as the first season.

I also started listening to Park Hyo Shin recently; omg, that man's voice is just... I don't even have words for it. Unfortunately, he got drafted for the military last year December so we won't be seeing anything from him for a couple of years. To be honest, I'm not much of ballad lover but the few songs that I do love from him are awesome.

Man, I gotta started doing my obligatory monthly updates earlier so I don't have to rush. Or maybe just post more often than once a month.

Listening to right now: Edwin McCain - I'll Be

I heart SS501

So it seems that I've been really out of touch with K-pop lately... so much stuff has happened in the last few weeks. Like SuJu's Shin Dong getting engaged. What? When was he dating? Gotta give the man props though for managing to keep his relationship under wraps.

SS501's former agency, DSP, also released an MV for their song "Let Me Be The One" (which is actually a cover of an Andre Mieux song). The MV is really just a compilation of various clips from performances, backstage, etc but it's so touching. Coupled with the ballad, it almost feels like a foreshadowing of SS501 breaking up. There hasn't been much news about their current situation in terms of signing with new agencies (aside from Kim Hyun Joong) or about anything related to them, really.

I usually try to keep my fangirling thought processes on the down-low but I'll admit that I will actually be very sad if SS501 disbands. They may not be the most talented group out there, or the most popular, but they are the only K-pop group that I have consistently fangirled followed ever since getting into them (which admittedly was not that long ago). Watching them makes me smile, especially when they're together.

I mean it's not like if they break up I'm gonna sit in a corner and cry or anything, and it's supposedly highly unlikely that they'll break up. But the "Let Me Be The One" MV has such sad clips that it just puts you (or at least me) in that kind of mood/mindset. SS501, 화이팅!

Listening to right now: SS501 - Let Me Be The One

P.S. I figured it out... the D'espairsRay song "LOVE IS DEAD" reminds me of the 1984 song "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" by Dead or Alive. And consequently every cover or song that sampled it made thereafter.

Keep your shirt on

I'm going to have to stop fangirling every time I watch a SS501 performance otherwise every other post is going to be about how sexy they are much better their performances are getting. I watched their Inkigayo performance for this week and they switched to grey/silver suits. I like these and the white suits more than the black ones, just because it sets them apart from their back-up dancers, visually. Their singing is much better than their comeback stages last week so I assume that that was just due to nerves and overall trying too hard. I think the special effects that the Inkigayo people added into the video were completely unnecessary but at least their cameraman isn't as spastic as Music Core's. -_-;

I also watched one of the debut performances of a new boy band called Infinite. Their song "Come Back Again" is pretty catchy and their dancing is really clean and sharp; I'm pretty impressed. Hopefully their subsequent stuff will be even better.

One of the other performances I watched was MBLAQ's "Y". I facepalm anytime I watch an MBLAQ performance though... I get that Lee Joon has rockin' abs but come on, choreographers, please let the man keep his shirt on for once. Now that I think about it, 2PM's performances were also facepalm-worthy whenever Taecyeon ripped his shirt off. It just seems so overdone now.

And finally, I meant to comment on CNBLUE's new mini-album a while ago but I lost motivation and never got around to it. I don't really have much to say about it except that it's really good. Upbeat and catchy, and a nice change from all the auto-tuned dance songs dominating K-pop these days. Definitely loop-worthy.

Okay, one more thing, lol. I never understood why Super Junior's new song "Minah (Bonamana)" was so popular. Up until 5 minutes ago I had only ever seen/heard it in music show performances and it didn't seem like a very interesting song at all. So I just watched the MV and it's actually pretty catchy. Damnit, I think it's even growing on me now.
Oh, and look, Leeteuk also has no shirt on. *facepalm*

Listening to right now: Super Junior - Minah (Bonamana)

I am a fangirl, hear me squeal

Warning: Major fangirling ahead!!


I just watched SS501's performance on Music Bank for this week and....

omgomgomgomgfaint!

Haha, just had to throw that in. But seriously, their dancing was so crisp and clean in this performance; I'm really impressed at how much better it is compared to last week. And the white suits... niiiiiice.
The only problem I had was that the stage was so small... I felt cramped just watching them dancing in that tiny space. I would say they should cut back on their back-up dancers but that would probably mess up the whole choreography, etc. I liked the contrast between SS501's white suits and the dancers' black outfits though... it helps in distinguishing SS501 from a distance, haha.

So basically throughout the whole video I was going "niiiiiice" like every 10 seconds and grinning like an idiot. Not totally unlike every other SS501 video I watch.

Listening to right now: SS501 - Love ya (Music Bank performance - June 11, 2010)

Edit: I just re-watched their comeback performances from last week and their dancing was actually pretty good in the Music Bank performance. I think it's either the white suits or the stage backdrop this week that helps to emphasize their movements and make them look more crisp (or maybe they really are more crisp). The singing seems to have improved though. On the other hand, last week's Music Core performance was overall not that good. Also, the Music Core cameraman needs to calm the fuck down, holy shit.

All it takes is good hair

So SS501 made their comeback this weekend and I've been watching their performances for "Love ya" and "Let me be the one" on Youtube. They really nailed "Let me be the one" and even threw in a little choreography which I thought was a nice touch, even though it's a ballad. It's too bad that they sang a shorter version of the song and not the whole thing since it's a such a good song. The "Love ya" performance wasn't as impactful (is that even a word? lol) as I thought it would have been. The choreography works better in the video than on stage, imo, and I'm not sure I really like their outfits that much. At least their hair looks better this time around so I can overlook pretty much everything else. I also liked that they had live instruments on stage, and even though I complained about the rapping in my previous post, that was surprisingly the part that they pulled off the best.

One thing that I'm a little disappointed about is that SS501 is not that consistent with their live vocals. I can understand that some of their dance choreography is very demanding and that affects their overall stamina and hence their vocals, but there are other groups that also dance and sing at the same time and can still stay on key more consistently. I know that they have talent up the wazoo because they always pull off their ballads beautifully, and they can sing well in their faster songs, so I think it's just a matter of stamina or something when it comes to the dancing while singing. With regards to "Love ya", I'm hoping that as the weeks go by they'll be able to polish their performance a bit more since they'll be doing it so many times anyway.

Listening to right now: SS501 - Let me be the one

P.S. The title doesn't really have any relevance to the post itself but I've found myself lacking inspiration for witty titles lately. Though I was watching some of SS501's older performances (e.g. U R Man) and I was reminded of how much difference a good hairstyle can make.

Let me love ya

SS501 just released the MV for their new song "Love ya" off of their new mini-album "Destination". But before I get into what I think about either of those, let's backtrack a bit.

Pictures were released a few weeks ago of their new look and the concept was... wow. Personally, I liked the first set of pictures (the ones with the mask) because the look was incredibly sexy with a touch of BDSM. Park Jung Min pulled if off especially well. However, the set of pictures where they kept the BSDM theme but lost the mask wasn't quite as good, imo. I don't know if it was the hair or the make-up but I found that there was something excessively feminine about the whole look. Key word being excessively because we all know how much I enjoy watching effeminate-looking men.

I was a little bit disappointed that the new album ended up being another mini-album rather than a full album. I mean, anything at all is great but at the same time I was hoping to hear more from them. The songs themselves are really good (quality over quantity, I suppose); I honestly like the songs (and their new look) on "Destination" a lot more than those on "Rebirth". I'm especially addicted to "Love ya" and "Let me be the one" even though there isn't that much choice seeing as there are really only 4 different songs to choose from.

And now back to the "Love ya" MV. The song itself is a strong, catchy, and altogether addictive track. The rap (does every K-pop song these days have a rap?) sounds a little clumsy to me; something about it doesn't flow... I don't know if it's the lyrics themselves, or if it's the fact that none of the SS501 members are really rappers. I think the best part of the song is at the end of the chorus when Jung Min sings all gravelly and then Young Saeng follows up with this smooth voice. Great contrast. Kim Hyun Joong doesn't really sing that much which is a little disappointing simply because I like it when all 5 of them sing a significant portion of the song. While I was watching the MV I was actually thinking "huh, not that much Hyun Joong" and then BAM! solo dance.
Overall, the choreography is pretty decent, though I could do without the air humping; luckily, they don't do too much of it. Strangely enough, the gunshots (or whatever that sound is supposed to be) totally remind me of the yaoi game Zettai Fukuju Meirei [Absolute Obedience]. (Good game, btw.)

I haven't been following SS501's activities as closely as I did last year but I'm looking forward to their comeback performances and such. I get this warm, fuzzy feeling whenever I watch them nowadays because they've matured and improved so much. They also don't sound like almost every other K-pop group out there which is refreshing. Now if they would only release another full length album.

Listening to right now: SS501 - Love ya

P.S. Rabbit rabbit, bring me good luck!

So tempting...

Would it be too fangirl-ish to make a Twitter account solely to follow Park Jung Min and Kim Hyung Jun's supposed accounts? I'm hoping it will bring me one step closer to meeting Kim Hyung Jun and jumping/marrying him.

Too bad my Korean isn't good enough to understand most of the tweets. I guess that's what Babel Fish is for.

Yay for SS501 finishing up their Asia Tour! Hope they release a full length album and not a mini-album in May! ^^

Listening to right now: Kara - Lupin

"Oh my god, I feel like I just found out that my favourite love song was written about a sandwich."

In a continued Herculean effort to stop wasting money every month on Netflix and actually borrow a worthwhile number of movies, I watched 27 Dresses last night. It wasn't bad, actually. Typical romantic comedy where you can see who gets together with whom a mile away but then again, that's the charm of romantic comedies, right? I, for one, happen to like cheesy romantic comedies because my own love life sucks so bad they're light-hearted and usually fairly shallow, therefore require very little thinking. I really liked James Marsden's character, and the witty banter had its highly amusing moments (see this post title). I also watched all the special features, etc that were included on the DVD (gotta get my money's worth) and I gotta say, a couple of those bridesmaid's dresses weren't half-bad, despite the director saying that the costume designer was supposed to find the ugliest dresses in existence. Makes me question my own her fashion sense.

Also been hearing a lot about Kim Hyun Joong's controversy that stemmed from his attendance at the former South Korean president's birthday celebration. I don't feel like ranting a whole lot on his situation and everyone's reactions (including his own) but I will say this. Fangirls are annoying. Off-topic? Not so much. I dislike the fans who will defend their idol's actions and remove all blame from said idol as if he/she can do no wrong. Judging from what I've read about this former president (and I am in no way even pretending to know a thing about Korean history), it was a big deal that Kim Hyun Joong was at his birthday celebration and congratulated him. Saying that "he's an idol, not a politician" is a weak argument. Just because he's an idol doesn't mean that he's devoid of political opinion. And just because he's the oh-so-awesome Kim Hyun Joong does not mean that "he couldn't have been there intentionally" (even though it turned out that he wasn't there intentionally... but I'm targeting those who said this even before that fact came to light). And even though he was understandably upset at the controversy that his appearance caused, Kim Hyun Joong (based on the translated message that he posted on DSP website) should know that as such a popular entertainer, obviously people would jump on his back about this. As an idol, he should almost expect it. I mean, come on, haven't we heard enough accounts about how ruthless netizens and anti-fans can be?
And on a final note, to those who kept saying that him showing up at this guy's birthday party and congratulating him was no big deal and why is there this huge controversy, etc etc (historical background aside)... the sheer fact that numerous news articles came out about it obviously shows that there was more to it than it being "some dude's birthday party". And slightly off-topic, just because you don't see why a controversy in another country/culture is a controversy doesn't mean that it's not a valid one. Different culture, different values, and no, yours is not the better one.

Did I say that I wasn't going to rant a whole lot about this? ><

Listening to right now: Tim - 사랑합니다

Jung Min's image is too sexy

I just watched the episode of 강심장 [Strong Heart] that aired on December 15th 2009. It's the second episode that had SS501's Kim Hyun Joong, Park Jung Min, and Kim Hyung Jun as guests. Hyun Joong is hella funny as usual (can that man ooze any more charisma than he already does?), and Hyung Jun is as desperate as ever to show himself off lol. Of course, that's part of Hyung Jun's charm... trying too hard and looking immensely proud of himself afterward. Ahh, so cute.

At the same time, there's something off about him lately, appearance-wise. I don't know if it's his hair colour, make-up, clothes, weight loss, old age or what but he doesn't look as smoking hot as he did during the U R Man promotions. I was watching the Japan mini concert that the SS501 project group (Young Saeng, Kyu Jong, Hyung Jun) held in March 2009 and Hyung Jun looks so much more carefree and... yummy. And just generally, his personality on variety shows is different compared to before, much more seemingly forced than it used to be.

That being said, I enjoy watching their old M!Pick episodes, mainly because all of the members are very open and carefree, being on the brink of debut and at the very beginning of their career and also because it seems like there's SO MUCH Hyung Jun. Everywhere. Always talking. And it's awesome.

Listening to right now: Maroon 5 - Through With You

P.S. The title's misleading isn't it... I haven't mentioned Jung Min at all in this post. He didn't really have too much face time in this episode of 강심장 (there was more of him in the previous episode) but I liked his indignation at Hyung Jun's choice of Hyun Joong for reincarnation, to which Hyung Jun's reply was along the lines of "Jung Min's image is too sexy; I'd be tired of doing waves everyday." It's probably true. XD
[Translation credit to: Six Angels Production]