Tuesday 26 February 2013

Kdrama story

My main passion is Kpop so this blog is more about music than other stuffs but I like to be balance with my blog. In this post is how I get to know about Kdrama.

My very first Kdrama was Autumn in my heart, which could have been the reason why I'm obsessed with the season. That or maybe because I love yellow color lol. If I was born in Korea, it would be autumn. Song Hye Kyo was so beautiful and Wonbin is my first celeb crush!

I could tell this story in so many ways that I just don't know how to start. My parents don't let me watch TV on weekdays during school time and thankfully this drama was shown when my exams were over. I don't know if it's because it's the first drama I watched since a long time or simply it was different from the TVB (Hong Kong drama) that I'm used to because I was so excited about the drama. My friend who caught an episode like the drama but couldn't watch it because her family wanted to watch different channel. Everyday I would have tell her what's going on and eventually wrote the summary for her because I am a bad storyteller and forgetfull. That piece of paper is being circulated in class. I feel proud to perhaps introduce Korea to others! (U ingat lagi ah? Time darjah 6 tu..lepas upsr?!)

I've watch a couple of drama since then, Jang Nara was so influential for me, I just love her! I also like Goong and Sassy Girl, ChunHyang. Good times! These are on a differenf post.

KBSWorld started premiere in Malaysia and I think the first drama I watch was Bad Love. It was forgettable...but I finished it for Kwon Sang Woo. It was my first time watching a Korean series not dubbed and it was weird. Since then, I try to catch up with the latest drama.

Another first, Coffee Prince was the first drama I watched close to real time. I thought it was significant to add because I remember going to YT every week to watch the drama during my biggest exam year. It was risky business I tell ya. It didn't matter to me because it is still one of my favorite dramas ever! 2007-2008 was a good year to get to know YT, back then google haven't bought YT which was awesome because you got no problems with copyright issue. YT was famous but not as famous like the present times. I'm still sad whenever my favorite uploaders got suspended. Boohoo.

As times goes by, the number of Kdrama to watch keeps growing. You literally don't have enough time to watch every single Korean drama. Unless you never sleep or you have no life. I love Kdrama but sleep is king.

Kpop Meme

Because I'm totally free, stole from tumblr.

KPOP QUIZ

1. First KPOP Group?

DBSK or ShinHwa..don't know who I saw first. Or maybe it was SuJu?

2. First KPOP Song?

Too long to remember, maybe Rain's I'm coming

3. Favorite Male KPOP Group?

Super Junior and Phantom

4. Favorite Female KPOP Group?

Secret

5. Favorite Solo Artist?

Hmmmmmmmm. Ah, Just remembered, Ailee

6. Favorite KPOP Song?

All time, forever and ever is SuJu's Miracle, currently on Feb 26 2013 is Phantom Like Cho Yong Pil.

7. Favorite KPOP Music Video?

Obviously SuJu Miracle.

8. Favorite Ballad?

I Miss You by Kim Bum Soo, Bogoshipda~!

9. Catchiest Tune?

Kpop is always catchy, no matter how I hate the song.

10. Best Male Dancer?

Shin Dong. Tell me the total dancers who are overweight? Not much.

11. Best Female Dancer?

Victoria

12. Best Male Vocalist?

Give me 5, JYJ Junsu, Byun Jang Moon of former A'ST1, Phantom Sanchez, SHINee JongHyun and Lee Seung Cheol (listen to never ending story by Boohwal, you will agree with me!)

13. Best Female Vocalist?

I'm more attracted to Male vocals..but Ailee's vocal is awesome along with Sistar Hyorin.

14. Best Male Rapper?

Phantom, just because I'm biased

15. Best Female Rapper?

Yoon Mirae. She is the boss.

16. Best Male Leader?

Dunno, why don't you guys take a poll with the idol members themselves?

17. Best Female Leader?

See above.

18. Current song you’re listening to?

Phantom Theory album

19. Previous song you’re listening to?

See above.

20. Next song you will be listening to?

See above.

21. Current KPOP Group addiction?

PHANTOM!!!!

22. Current KPOP Song addiction?

Answered but Like Cho Yong Pil by Phantom

23. Female KPOP Idol bias?

SooYoung of SNSD

24. Male KPOP Idol bias?

Yoochun of JYJ

26. Hottest Male Idol?

Hmmm. Too many.

27. Hottest Female Idol?

They're too skinny to be hot.

28. Cutest Male Idol?

YOSEOBIE!!

29. Prettiest Female Idol?

Er.. SulLi but she's short hair now... Huhu

30. Cutest maknae?

Fake maknae are the best! Yoseob and JYJ Junsu are my fave.

31. MBC, KBS or SBS?

KBSWorld

32. Are you active on AllKPop?

heck yeah..duhh.

33. Which Fandoms are you apart of?

E.L.F. And Phantomism

34. Which KPOP Group forum are you most active on?

Ain't got time for that!

35. What is your favorite Korean Drama?
You who rolled in unexpectedly

Around the World with Mizz Nina feat Jay Park

Finally..... I can say this. I support my local music scene! Lol

I knew this since last year because @HallyuM (Kpop happening updates in Malaysia) tweeted about the rumor of Mizz Nina to collaborate with a Kpop artiste. I figured Jay Park right away because they shared the same stage on MTV World Stage in Malaysia last year. Then @NazimOthman confirmed my prediction, he is a Malaysian actor who is a Kpop fan.

If you wondering why the single is in English, Mizz Nina has been trying to breakthrough International market. I'd say she's popular in Malaysian Radio but that's it. She had Colby O Donis and Flo Rida collaborated with her in the past. She's good but ya know I'm busy with Kpop to listen to other stuff. She's famous for being the daughter of one of the richest person in Malaysia and is married to Noh, a singer in a band called Hujan. Fun fact, Hujan means rain.

Around the World is produced by Chacha Malone, part of Jay Park AOM crew. I love the song except the part when there's no singing part, because it feel like the beats are just put together randomly, possibly to make way for choreography? Jay Park raps in Korean is sort of surprising, will they perform in Korea? I wish Mizz Nina would slip some Malay just to balance it out. The lyrics are pretty disappointing, it lacks creativity (the part "I want to touch the sky" is meh) and I have to point out that Malaysia-Korea travel doesn't require visa, unless you stay more than 90 days. Yup, I googled.

I'm really interested on what other's think of the song. I know it will be played in Malaysian radio but will it reach Korea? This is sort of out of ordinary.

Monday 25 February 2013

Learning Korean

I am happy whenever I see my twitter timeline and understand the Korean tweets. I don't understand all but it feels like an achievement.

Before I was a Kpop fan, I was more into Japanese culture because I grew up reading manga. I read less but part of me still love manga a lot. I had a group of friends who were into Japanese cultures as well. They were more advance than me, they know some Japanese phrases and can write in Japanese. I thought it was cool but never bothered to pick up the language.

I always think if I'm going to learn a new language, it has to be Chinese first. It is my ultimate goal to master Chinese. It's a complicated story but I wish someday I would be very fluent in Chinese!

However, as I become a Kpop fan.. Learning Korean was a natural process. I started to learn Hangul first because I was jealous at non kpop fans who had their names in Hangul on Facebook. Suddenly I wanted to know how to write my name in Korean. Btw it's 밀리. ㅋㅋ Hangul is really not that hard, I started with 안녕하세요, 사랑해 and 오빠.

While Hangul is easy, speaking Korean is hard. I know the difference between Jeondaemal (Formal) and Banmal (informal) but there's saturi (dialect) too. There are many ways to express a simple sentence. For example Thank You can be Kamsahamnida, kumapsumida, Kumawoyo, kamsahae or kumapta. My spelling seems odd but romanize Korean is not easy too. That's why I resort to type in hangul, because it look better.

Now I speak some Korean to my dogs. None of them understand Korean yet, but my dogs are already bilingual, so no pressure. Lol If I'm alone, I mostly mumble in Korean and when I watch Korean drama. Instead of studying like an exam, I prefer learning Korean naturally. It's a slow process, especially when I don't talk to a Korean or live in Korea.

Is it necessary for Kpop fans to learn Korean, nope. Music is universal language but there's no harm in studying hangul. Fighting!

Saturday 23 February 2013

Rest in Peace Sung In Kyu

Cancer has robbed yet another star from us, I'm so sad when I read the news. You know how they say, "no news is good news"? I knew InKyu was sick back in 2011..it really did feel like it was yesterday I read that news. It's so unfortunate that the next news was this.

Sung In Kyu was a rapper in a group called A'ST1 (pronounced A Style) debut in April 2008 and disbanded in November 2009. Their songs were 1,2,3,4, Back, Dynamite and Yearning of the heart (Boys Over Flowers OST). Please do watch their radio videos..heck watch all of their videos. It's not that much, since they only active for a year. I love every single video available on YT.

A'ST1 was my favorite debut in 2008.. Yeah, I love them more than SHINee, 2AM, 2PM and others who debuted in the same year. It's so ironic how I got to know them, DSP is a stoopid company who made lousy marketing move. Before the influx of foreigners in Kpop, SuJu was the first group to have a foreigner in the business, HanKyung. By having Tomo (Japanese) and Hai Ming (Chinese) in the group, DSP market them as a challengers for SuJu. It angers SuJu fans, including me because well, anyone could have misunderstood the concept.

So here I was prepare to protect SuJu to comment A'ST1 on YT..remember I am 17 back then, lol. Instead I fell in love with the group. Haha 반전! Twist ending. 1,2,3,4, back was my song! It was a catchy song and the boys sound awesome. Since then, I become a fan and you could imagine how angry, sad and frustrated I was, when DSP announced their disbandment a year later! I hated DSP so much, I even hated Rainbow. I felt DSP didn't treat A'ST1 properly like Rainbow. Ah, in case you don't know.. Despite the level of fame now, Rainbow was one of the popular debuts back then.

I still love the group, so I try to keep up to date with the group members. Jungjin appa is preparing debut with a new group in Japan, Tomo is hosting a show in Japan, HaiMing went back to China, HanByul is part of Monday Kiz and last time I check, Jangmoon is in Star Empire to debut as Impact. Star Empire......is so late. The news is old, please give my JangMoon debut.

I remembered the letter back in 2011, the one that InKyu wrote to tell his condition. i was already upset then, since before his announcement..there weren't any updates at all. Turns out he was sick. In the letter, he mention he wants to be on stage in the future. It breaks my heart, the dream was not fulfilled. This is so upsetting. Part of me, still feels this whole event is unreal.

인규 오빠, 사랑해요.

Thank you for all the joy you have given me in your lifetime. I really hope the other members will succeed for you. A'ST1 fighting!

Friday 22 February 2013

ㅜㅡㅜ ...... T_T

My title cannot be more random than that! Anyway, if you don't get it.. It's emoticon for tears. In this post I'm discuss/review two hip hop song with tears in the title.

Bae Chi Gi feat Ailee "Tear Shower" 눈물샤워

It's super hot on charts and I've seen lots of people raving about it. It's keep on getting 2nd on Music Bank, I hope they win because charts are like so predictable. I want to hear them indies do some Thank You speeches! I like the rap parts but not the chorus. I know... How could I hate Ailee's part?! She is indeed, amazing but I dislike the "lounge feel" or the "old feel" of the song. It's just not my cup of tea. I've heard various K Hip hop, it's nothing to shout about, but it's good.


LeeSsang feat The Seeya's Eugene "Tears" 눈물

Coarse/ Husky kind of voice is kind of tricky for me, I sort of like it sometimes but at times I feel like giving Gil a huge bottle of water. It definitely is not boring, though. Lol. As seen in Running Man, Gary is smooth with words. I love the song, it easy listening and catchy within the first listen. I'm anti CCM so it was really hard to review Eugene, hmm..she definitely sound helpless as in good for the feel of the song, I think she's a good vocalist but in some parts on the higher end is making me cringe. It sounded sharp, I think Baek Ji Young would have nailed her part so much better.

P/s sorry for spelling errors if any.

Supearls disband

What a disappointing decision made by YG and the girls.

There has been rumors of discord with Lee Michelle few months ago, maybe its part of the reason of disband. What's the real reason, nobody knows.

As a fan, I'm truly disappointed for having hopes on this group. It was a highly anticipated group from Kpop Star. I think YG thought Lee Hi wouldn't fit the group and without Park Ji Min, the group is not as good.

I would have prefer this news broke out after Kpop Star 2 ended. It feels weird to watch Kpop Star 2 now. YG better not let me down again with Lee Seung Hoon. I'm still waiting for him to debut.

In another news, I truly don't want Akdong Musician or Racoon Boys to debut under Big 3. I feel like the Big 3 would make them focus more on "audience" rather than music itself. I think maybe SM won't sign contract with anyone this year as well.

Sunday 17 February 2013

HallyuSurfer, name explained.

I write this post for my twitter account as I noticed a number of real surfers following me.

Sorry to disappoint, but I don't surf ocean wave at all, I surf the internet and the waves only mattered to me are sound wave and Korean wave. I don't even swim.

You've learned science back in school on what is sound wave so I'll just explain what is Korean wave. Korean wave, better known as Hallyu is a term describing the popularity of Korean Pop culture overseas. The term is first coined by the Chinese media, as Hanliu.

I am a foreigner who loves Kpop, therefore I called myself, HallyuSurfer.

Feel free to click the unfollow button.

Saturday 16 February 2013

Idol Analysis : Concept

Idols concepts are a lot but if you take all the unnecessary adjective from the description, it really goes down to just Sexy vs Cute.

Cute

I love cutesy stuff, and cute concept is the thing that made me a Kpop fan in the first place! It's something only Kpop can pull of. Well, Jpop can be cute too but naah Korean bromance FTW! If I were to name 10 favorite idol performance, 8/10 of it are cute concept. I love group members interact with each other during performance, I love the playfulness of the song and I love they are smiling on stage!

However, cute concept can be bad sometimes like T-ara's Bo Beep Bo Beep, DBSK Balloon, or SNSD Kissing U. I don't even want to let anyone non kpoppers watch those, I'll let them discover it themselves.

Sexy

It's a tricky concept because the line between "confident sexy" and "cheap sexy" is thin. I love looking at choco...ahem, you know but it feels uncomfortable to watch sexy concept. 1. Because I know how their diets are, 2. It looks cheap at times. I can't count how many time I stopped mid way because it was so distasteful. Ahemhyunaahem.

There are positive things about sexy, it shows confidence and hardwork. I love charismatic sexy male concept and female groups do need to grow up from cutesy concept too.

Short post, but I want to at least write a post everyday.


Variety Guide : Immortal Song 2

I love variety shows but it's really hard to blog about because I am not really passionate, it don't matter for me to miss an episode. I choose to write Immortal Song 2 because today is Saturday!

Immortal Song 2 is a music competition that features singers from variety of genres battle each other to win the trophy. Each week, has a new legend and singers will choose the legend's song to reintrepret. At times, there are special week featuring old shows, holiday festival and many more.

The singers on show are part of fixed cast, recurring guest or newbies. The main MC is Shin Dong Yup, while Moon Hee Jun and Jung Jae Hyung are the backstage MCs doing commentaries with the other singers. There are 500 audience acts as the judges.

The order of who goes first is chosen by Shin Dong Yup, the legend or invited guest will comment on the performance. The audience will vote via pushing the electronic button. Winner will be chosen with the higher number of votes.

Here's a secret. I mainly watch for the commentary. I usually skipped the performance to watch the reaction. If the reaction is really good, then I will rewind to watch the performance. My favorite cast are Sweet Sorrow, Ulala Session, Hong Kyung Min, Ailee, B1A4, SuJu KRY, Infinite, Cha Ji Yeon, Jay Park, Hyorin and Changmin. Actually a whole lot more...but it will be a long post.

The program introduce more singers and especially musical actors, initially meant to showcase idols singing capabilities but idols are too busy to commit to the show. It's a good show for the whole family.

Friday 15 February 2013

Album review : Phantom's Phantom Theory

1. Hide & Chic (feat Microdot)
2. 조용필 철럼 [Jo Yong Pil Cheo Reom, Like Cho Yong Pil]
3. Dutch Pay
4. 할 수 있는게 [Hal Su Itneunke, The Things I Can Do]
5. 손톱 (feat HJ) [Son Ddob, Fingernail]
6. 말 놓을게 [Mal NuhEulKe, I'll Talk Plainly]
7. 조용필 처럼 (inst.)

I don't exactly know how to start or how this post will be, I usually review based on what I feel at the moment as I literally listen to the song as I write the review. It's not like an in dept kind of review but if you want to discuss, just leave a comment.

1. This song proves how bias I am with Phantom. If this song is sung/produced by someone else, I wouldn't bother to listen twice, perhaps not even finishing it. The reason how I come to love this song is because of the awesome teaser! I totally got fooled by Hanhae, and Shin Brothers was awesome! I don't like the beats but I kept listening, just because. Microdot is Sanchez's brother, who was part of ALLBLACKS along with Dok2.

2. There's so much reason why I love this song, I already blog about this song but I need to say how I love the lyrics. My favorite part is Hanhae's "I'm not lonely because dreams caught me when I was young". My favorite song of the year so far!

3. This song had two teasers but both only featured Sanchez part which I absolutely love so I was curious how it sound like in full. Admitedly I was disappointed I didn't quite love as much I thought I would be BUT! I watch their radio performance, it was so fun and lively..so I ended loving the song. It would make a great main song so I'm hoping Phantom to perform it more in the future! Dutch Pay is a Konglish term for "going dutch" which means bills paid separately.

4. This song screams "CHEESY!" It has a lot of FEEL. Koreans would understand me. I do like the song a lot mainly because I love Phantom's voice in it but my face can't stop cringing for the overloadness of cheesy, mushy and greasy adlibs. Thank you for the rap parts, it actually bearable but ugh, the chorus is so emotional.

5. I don't know who is HJ but she sounds like Hwayobi with similar singing style. This song is my least favorite song maybe because Sanchez only rap in the song and it just feel mediocre. it's good but compare to what I've listen, this is just meh. The guitar was good and the beats are good, just feel plain. The good thing is, it felt perfect for Kiggen, I like that he started and ended the song.

6. Before talking about the song, let me inform you about Korean culture. Elders are always respected, there's two form of speaking formal and informal. Only friends of the same age or had mutual agrement on it are allowed to use the informal. So yeah, that explain why Kpop fans are always practising "Oppa" or "Noona". As you could guess, this kind of song is not my type but I can always find stuff to love. The song is full of wits, the lyrics made referrence to other "Noona" song, Lee Seung Gi's "You're my Woman" and SHINee's "Noona so pretty (Replay)" After several listen, the song got stuck in my head. The chorus and beats are easy to follow, it's heavy but it has sense of familiarity. The ending is 대박. Lol.

7. I can't find the instrumental on YT. I was hoping to sing along. Sigh.

Three is a crowd

First of all, Happy Lunar New Year! I'm celebrating it, so that's explain the lack of post. It's the year of snake, and I hope there will be great improvement on the blog.

As you might be well aware, I'm a big fan of Phantom, I still love idols but I am leaning towards less pop songs. It just so happen that the songs I like currently are from three member group

Aziatix - Cold

In case you didn't know, the guys recently signed a record with YMCMB for US advancement. I didn't expect it but wasn't surprised. I'm not familiar with them but they were regularly featured on Allkpop back when they first started out. Their musics are mostly in English, so I don't really check them out. I stumble their video on TV and this song got me hooked! This song is love at first listen!

Lunafly - Clear Day, Cloudy Day

They sort of debut last year. I don't recalled them performing on music shows. I would say they're like indie but has an idol feel. I like acoustic guitar but for me it serves like an interlude rather something I would listen to everyday. I just like the fact they sing their song in English too. They're good enough to sale their music but nothing to go crazy about. Teo is so pretty!

One Way - U Drag

So much love, I love this group before Phantom. I would be so excited if they're making a comeback but it seem unlikely right now. Chance is on Duble Sidekick team who produce a few top hits last year is probably preparing a new idol debut, while Peter and Young Sky are a duo called D20 (Detour) who also produce some tracks. Please correct me if I'm wrong, I just state a few that I know from reading tweets. Please comeback! This song is one of the older song but still good. I love the relax yet random song. Hehe.

Koreamie~!

Hello! It's end of May and this my first post of the year. *nervous laugh It's okay..because nobody read this blog right? haha. ...