A Touch of K-Pop: March '13

It's the middle of week, nobody's home but me and my cat - I had planned to watch upwards of 7 drama episodes this day from 4 different shows I'm currently watching. What do I do instead? Get ridiculously side-tracked by K-Pop. As usual. 

Welcome to my new feature, where once a month I discuss my current thoughts on K-Pop: what's new, what's old, whatever thoughts that suddenly run through my head! Basically, an excuse to dish, fangirl, wail or bemoan, and link all kinds of brightly colored MVs. Bear with me for a bit. 

What's New:
Infinite's comeback with MV "Man in Love" and by the way, all I noticed was the CAT!  I like Infinite, I really do - but once I got over "Paradise" and "Be Mine" (dance practice versions), every other song of theirs takes months for me to warm up to. I suspect this new one will be no different. 

Man, I'm in love... with this kitty! Also, Hoya. But I think that has a lot to do with his role in Answer Me, 1997 (and being an awesome dancer) more than anything else. 


Read more for praises of EYK, itunes gift cards, Zico's eyelashes, G-Dragon's red lips, and - yes, I'm going to say it: Teen Top. Also, what on earth has P.O. been doing lately??

A Very Biased Report

G-Dragon of BIGBANG and Zico of Block B

Having a “bias” is a very new concept for me.  When I first started watching K-Dramas and listening to K-Pop, and I came across the term used in reference to individual people, it almost seemed like the word was used incorrectly.  To me, having a bias was more a state of mind, and almost always comes with a negative connotation as in ‘I am biased… against something.’ For the record I still find it hard to start a sentence off with ‘My bias is…’ in reference to my favorite male and female actors and idols. 

Now I’m more amused than anything about how often I use the phrase, and its particular meaning. It’s just one more sign that I’m helplessly immersed in the lingo of modern fangirldom- a fact that has become an endless sort of amusement and irony to me. Take a look at my two precious K-Pop biases above, and realize that even my noona status can’t diminish how much I admire and respect (and completely adore to bits!) two absolute strangers from across the world.

Sometimes, having a bias is a scary thing – as is coming to terms with it. As such, I have put together a list of definitions from as many sources as applicable.  So what is being biased? What is a bias? And what does it mean to be biased, have a bias, or live professing such biases. Read more for this and many more questions (and probably fewer answers). 

Sharing the Love

 

There are times in your life when you just can’t express the happiness you feel, the contentment of life overall.  Days you thought would never exist, moments you never even dreamed of.  Today I was part of something special – While sitting in my kitchen, pondering the boring layout of electronics, kitchen devices and Tupperware for our upcoming Thanksgiving cooking space, from down the hall stalks my brother-in-law (only recently a holiday guest) with his iPhone singing softly to himself:  “Hellooo…. Hellooo…. Yes, sir, I’m one of a kind… *mumble*…. Hello, hello….” 

*Rosie dies a supremely happy person*

Rewind a few hours.  Really this is all because my husband’s plan to garner sympathy from his brother backfired almost completely.  We are a strange family.  For one thing, I spend almost every hour of free time in front of a computer watching Korean or Japanese dramas, and when I’m not sitting here at my desk being ‘productive’ (aka writing about these things) I’m listening to Kpop on my iPod, iPad or Pandora radio station.  I also have this crazy urge to share my love with any and every poor soul that crosses the threshold of my home.  Even if I know they will probably hate it.  Why hide who I am? I like watching and listening to Korean people to the exclusion of almost every other form of entertainment.  My long-suffering husband has been making painstaking efforts to meet me halfway.  We now share a common fascination with everything Block B.  I still love BIGBANG.  He listens to Girls Generation…  

"Here, listen to this. It's awesome, I promise!"

But when his brother showed up, I think he genuinely hoped to find someone else to laugh with him over G-Dragon’s crazy music videos, and to ultimately sympathize with an illness called “My wife is in love with a Korean rapper.”  Symptoms include eye-rolling, heavy sighs, and a hesitant aptitude for picking out Engrish-sounding words amidst a sea of Korean lyrics. 

It occurs to me that I’m actually a very lucky person.  My sister is just as K-Pop obsessed.  Both she and my husband watch K-Dramas.  My brother-in-law finished watching City Hunter all by himself, and last time my mother visited she requested a second mixed CD featuring her favorite BIGBANG songs.  Last night, we all started watching IRIS.  It’s absolutely killing me that I’m the only one with enough time on my hands to marathon the drama. Having to wait around everyone else’s schedules just to watch one more episode is agonizing!  (It’s even worse than waiting for subs, because they’re already there! You just need to sit down so I can hit PLAY!”)

Now if only for Christmas I could appease all of my friends with a mixed CD, I’d be one happy person.  How about a coupon for 5-10 hours of my time to sit down and watch some fabulous drama?  (Really, doesn’t that sound like a great present?)

"Seriously, if you don't watch this drama with me,
prepare to be mauled by my bear-ears beanie!"

Exorcising My Obsession

If my obsession with all things Korean could be expressed with me as Park Shin Hye and my obsession as Jung Yong Hwa, then this picture should accurately represent about 90% of my everyday state of being.  The other 10% is after I've comatosed on Kdrama or Kpop overload and can no longer function as a human being, period.  And it's only optimism that makes me hope this second percentage is that low.  No, this post isn't about the seriously cute, but seriously flawed Kdrama Heartstrings.  I just imagine my life as me blissfully clutching onto the back of a world and culture in which I have no ties, and prior to a year ago had very little knowledge of, while that world rides on and on with barely a backward glance. And it's only optimism that makes me hope it even gives a backward glance.

Getting off my depressing soapbox...now! Congratulate me, I'm a blogger!  Honestly I have been resisting this crave for months, happy enough to comment on and participate on others' pages. If I'm not watching dramas, I'm talking about them. If I'm not talking about them, I'm thinking about them, and if I'm not watching or talking about dramas, then be warned: my inner BIGBANG fangirl has probably emerged to take over the world! Not even kidding. I don't know where it came from, but one day my very mature self listened to Haru Haru 하루하루 [Acoustic version] and tears popped out...

I'm going to lay the blame for this blog's creation solely on the author of Outside Seoul. I'm sure she'll give you permission to complain when my rants become overly long, so before I make this post a dissertation on obsession, I'll give you a few introductory points and take my leave.

• I have been watching Kdramas for almost exactly one year now.
• My first Kdrama was Lie to Me.
• The first Kdrama I loved to death was Coffee Prince.
• The Kdrama I will love even in the afterlife is Coffee Prince.
• My first Jdrama was Nobuta Wo Produce.
• The so-far only Taiwanese drama I have loved is MARS.
• After 6 months of scoffing at Kpop, I finally fell in love with CNBlue and BIGBANG.
• The fact that I will not see BIGBANG when they come to the U.S. in a month makes my heart positively ache!

Before this blog, there was MyDramaList.com. I'll leave you with some sample articles I have already had published on their very awesome and informative website:

So You Remember Your First Drama?

How To: Convert Your Friends Into Drama-Fanatics

Cheers!

Rosie