Showing posts with label Zico. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zico. Show all posts

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Honest Thoughts About Block B 블락비 - Part 2: A Blocktober Special


131013 Ahh what a pretty number.” – Park Kyung

In honor of Block B’s first music show win on Inkigayo, what could be a better day to post my long-time-due second post for Block B. Months ago I introduced the first section of Honest Thoughts About Block B. Today, with the full disclosure that your dearest writer here is a diehard BBC (super fan!), I finish my thoughts, especially about their recent comeback.

Confession: I woke up this morning, read the news and then wept for 10 minutes straight. My husband just kept handing me tissue after tissue... He understands. He's a BBC too.  In all honesty (because that’s what this post is about), music program wins don’t mean too much in the long run. But to the fans and to the members of Block B – it’s just lovely.  


Coming up, reviews of "Be the Light" and "Very Good" along with a short history of Block B vocal performances and my general analysis (aka opinions) on select recordings.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Honest Thoughts About: Block B 블락비 - Part 1

Because I just can’t leave K-pop alone, and I tend to analyze or overanalyze things all by myself, here I am again discussing things I probably have no qualifications to discuss. That said... Do you know what time it is?

It's Block B time!

Here’s the plan:

I take a K-Pop group that I adore to pieces, give you the lowdown, and then attempt to honestly consider their merits, as a group or just individually, through music videos, discography, variety appearances and social media. I’ll test them objectively based on talent, performance, charisma, and charm. 

You said charm???

Charm. And swag. Gorilla swag. 

The Short Story

Block B debuted in 2011 under label Brand New Stardom, with the hopes of emphasizing a strong hip hop flair in the idol industry. They have made 3 comebacks to date, even managing to stay afloat through scandal and controversy. As of early January 2013, they have been battling with their label over supposed non-payment of their earnings for over a year. The group has not appeared together publically during this time, though individual members have been keeping active in other more low key roles. Fans, known as BBCs, are waiting ecstatically for the day all 7 return as one. 

Update 6/7/13: Block B has officially lost the court case, but determines to keep fighting the original case to have their contracts nullified.  They have no intention of working with Stardom again.  Block B, fighting!
Update 8/28/13: They are back! Under new management, with their exclusive contract transferred to 7 Seasons. Comeback for October 2013??? 

Sunday, April 28, 2013

A Touch of K-Pop: April '13

Sunday morning, and what am I thinking about? K-Pop of course! Here's another monthly edition of me ranting about whatever's on my mind. Read or skip at your own leisure. I won't mind. I'm a fangirl. To each her own. ;) 

All my biases at a glance... *heavy sigh*
What's up this month?
April brought some great joy to my life. Also some sad twinges of pain. Take the day Zico (and non-Block B friends) dropped a new cover and accompanying MV for “Feel So Young”: I swooned, I fangirled, I looooved, I danced, then I cried… for about 20 minutes. Then I did this on repeat for the next 5 hours. Because however exciting it is to see Zico doing awesome and new for a change, the fate of the rest of the group still hangs in the air. 

Seriously! When will there be [good] news about Block B! Stalking their twitter accounts on a daily basis to see if I can be the first to hear something has been mentally draining. Also, I run into lovely bits of information that I really could’ve done without. For example: Jaehyo went hiking one day, and his butt got firmer the next day. True story. He tweeted it. Now you all know. Thank your good friend Rosie for informing you of such. 

What else is up this month, or – more importantly – what else in the Kpop universe has been on my mind this month? Stick around for fandom updates (Angels, Melodies, Crowns – I’m coming!), some crazy ass stuff involving pink elephants and urinals (seriously, GD…), bias updates and changes(!!) and more. 



Thursday, March 21, 2013

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??


Monday, January 7, 2013

Block B: The Pits of Fangirldom


For anyone who’s been living under a rock the past few days, and didn’t take their allkpop news source with them, then you won’t have heard about the latest controversy involving Block B (my second favorite Kpop group).  On Friday it was reported that the seven members of Block B filed suit with their management company Stardom to nullify their contract.  The reasons:  they claim they haven’t been paid in nearly a year, seen any of the profits from their OST sales, and a ‘CEO’ of the company collected nearly $70,000 worth from their parents for promotional purposes, and then promptly disappeared with the funds.  Stardom’s response included a lot of the expected garble and denials, blah blah blah.

The point is: AHSHHHHHHKJEJ:EJOsdjf;poeoifjlksdjf*&@#^()!@)(^)$(^96#^^&%(&^%$797%!!!!

Translation: I think this is truly the pits of fangirldom.  A nightmare of hellish proportions, shocking my entire family (husband and sister included) into morose bits of sighing, almost-crying, and all around depression every time  we accidentally flip through a Kpop mixed CD and land on one of our many prized and priceless Block B songs (especially the slow sad ones). 

For anyone not familiar with my Kpop fangirl history, it’s a short one.  True, I’ve been poking around the Kpop world since nearly the same time as I discovered K-Dramas, but the chapter of my life where I could officially confess and publically announce my membership in not one, but two fandoms, happened only recently.  I’m primarily a VIP (BIGBANG), but running a close second is my love of Block B, and it’s no secret that being a BBC (*laughs at the name still*) has turned me into the perfect fangirl.  I swoon, I dream, bat my eyelashes, and generally try to convert anyone I can get my hands on into a BBC.  At the very least, I play their music a lot. 

So the news that my darling boys are suing their agency hit me hard in the gut. For days my heart has been fluttering with a whole array of woes and worries:


1.      They won’t be appearing in public anytime soon to sing beautiful music.

2.      They won’t be on any more variety shows, showing off their talent and personalities.

3.      They’re out on a limb, assuredly with BBC support, but in dangerous territory about to fight a court battle with an uncertain future.

4.      Will they emerge victorious? If so, what next? Will they sign with a different agency or persevere on their own?

5.      Will they lose, and be *whispers* forced to disband?

6.      A few of the members are probably talented enough make it on their own (Zico, Kyung, P.O. and probably Taeil).  But what about the others?



This development has done some strange things to this fangirl’s heart.  Never before have I had to deal with a scandal or controversy like this as it happened.  BIGBANG’s series of scandals in 2011, Block B’s own errors during the Thailand interview earlier this year, the legacy of DBSK (3 whole years of it!) – all were in the past before I ever came to even know about these groups, or even to like/love them.



The verdict: I almost wish I wasn’t so much of a fan.  The sadness in my life right about a group of guys I’ve never met, or even been on the same continent with is a scary bit of reality.  And the worst thing is that there is nothing I can about it.  I can’t fight.  I can’t picket outside the company buildings. I can’t even know what exactly is going on, or who is truly in the right, or who is wrong.  I can’t hold Zico’s hand and tell him to stay steady.  I can’t give the whole group a hug and say it’s going to be alright.  I can only sit back and wait for news as it slowly comes in, and hope that somewhere, sometime in the future things will be alright, and my OT7 won’t be torn asunder.  This. Sucks.


Some inspiration until I make it through:





Monday, December 17, 2012

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).