My K-pop Spirit Animal

Wow, it feels like it has been forever since I wrote anything here. What with my moving to Korea, no internet in my home yet, and then the Sewol ferry incident, there has been no time or opportunity to write about anything. All the students are taking their midterms right now though so I thought I would take this moment to write something pointless just for the sake of writing something. Hold on to your hats, here we go.

What do you think about when you aren't thinking about anything? Well that all depends upon what is going on around me. Am I in a quiet nature-y area? Who are the people that I am around, if any? What kind of music am I listening to and what language is it in? These are just a few variables that cause my mind to run rampant.

One such thing that I have thought about is if we as an F4Plus1 were a K-pop group, who would we be? I know weird. I thought about this when I first got into VIXX because Leo is totally my spirit animal. 

It's true! We both basically hate everyone except those lucky few we allow into our presence, and even then, sometimes we only tolerate them. But even though we would like to occasionally smack them, we still love them. We both are also more comfortable while performing than just being ourselves. Leo kills it on stage but then runs for cover from the camera off stage. I am much more articulate when writing than I am speaking. Talking to people is annoying.

But at the end of the day we do actually like the people that we hang out with even if we don't always show it. And then when we do, it gets weird.

 

After thinking about it more though, I realize that my friends and I would totally be VIXX if we were a K-pop group.......and guys........that could also help.

N = Autumn

How could she not be and not only because she is basically our fearless leader. Everything is done at her house and she is normally the one who plans the outings and get togethers. She is also loud and bubbly and likes to hug, much like N.

Replace N and Leo with me and Autumn and it's basically the same thing.

Leo = Me

As stated before, Leo and I would get along really, really well I think. We would enjoy each others mostly silent company while playing with animals and babies and be perfectly content. We would also need various snacks. Snacks are important.

Ken = Becca

I was debating putting Becca as Ravi because she is Autumn's sister and Ravi is kind of like the VP of VIXX, but I think that Ken fits her so much more. Becca is very excitable and loud, and just like Leo and Ken this has also happened with Becca and me

Ken and N are also really alike in temperament and weirdness levels too. They are both the ahjummas of the group and are very vocal and expressive when it comes to life in general.

Ravi = Alyson

Ravi, as the VP of VIXX is very responsible and when I first got into VIXX I thought that he was higher up in the age line than he actually was. Alyson, even though she can be very funny, I feel is one of the most responsible in our little group. I guess it comes with the territory of being a teacher. All she needs to do is work on her 'levels of swag' (writing that made me die a little inside) and she'll be perfect.

Hongbin = Andy

Oh, Andy, how we miss you. From what I have seen of VIXX, Hongbin's role in the group is to go along with what the other people do. He watches and laughs and then occasionally says things that are funny or just generally strange. Since English is Andy's second language, he would usually just watch the goings on and probably also judge a little. Sometimes, not very often, but sometimes we would also need a little clarification of what it was he was trying to get across as well.

I wasn't sure what picture to put up for Hongbin so I'll just make the masses happy (i.e. the friends being spoken about) and insert this picture. 

Nope, I found something even better

N and Ken (Autumn and Becca) forcing their love upon Hongbin (Andy)

This also makes me think of the Plan V episode where N forces Hongbin to wear this stupid scarf even though Hongbin does not want to wear it. Becca and Autumn liked to make Andy do "cute" things.

Hyuk = Murphy

This one is a little hard to explain, but it feels right. A lot of Hyuk's time seems to be spent laughing and making jokes and that is totally Murphy. For some reason I can also see Murphy doing something like this

I don't know why, but I see Murphy in this picture. Is it just me?

And there you have it. For all intents and purposes F4Plus1 is really VIXX. Now for the rest of you, who is your K-pop spirit animal?

~ Alora

Happy Birthday to Us!

One year ago this Saturday we posted our first post and continued to do so with a good amount of regularity. I guess that means that we like it or something. Or at least I do, I've kind of been abandoned and I mention that to people frequently and you'll notice what good that's done. Anyways........I guess that means I just made $40. I feel no shame about that either.

In this year (give or take a few months) a lot of things have happened. Becca went to Korea

Andy went on his mission to Australia

Becca, Autumn, and I went to KCON and met some pretty sweet people

I got to write a movie review on the site Soompi 

Becca and Autumn went to an Infinite concert and Autumn gave herself super awesome nails, as per usual

A large group of us, minus me, went to the LA K-pop festival and I would assume that was probably pretty awesome

And I got a job teaching English is South Korea! Side note about that, I'm only going to have internet at school for the next few weeks and blogging about dramas and K-pop at school seems wrong and stuff.  Right when Block B and EXO have their comebacks too. So sad. 

The only way this list could get any better is if I had been able to go to the Block B concert, because you better believe if I was in the states right now, I would have found a way to get there. They just came out with a new song though so I guess I'll just have to hang on to that and be happy.

And that is what has happened thus far! It has been fun and hopefully it continues to be!

~ Alora 

Golden Rainbow Drama Review

Since I stopped watching Cruel Palace: War of the Flowers, which I always berate myself for because I did like it, this is the longest drama that I have ever watched and it was even cut down by a few episodes. It was originally suppose to be 50 episodes but ended up being 41 instead. I definitely would have watched all 50 episodes had there been that many, but I'm glad that there wasn't. I think, had the drama continued, it would have lagged and become boring and that is always the worst way to end a drama.

This drama follows the story of that cute little family down there: Man Won, Baek Won, Young Won, Il Won, Yol Won, Shib Won, Cheon Won, and their dad Han Joo. They are all adopted children except for the twin Shib Won and Yol Won, and everyone thinks that Man Won and Baek Won are siblings until almost the end of the drama.  

About fifteen years after this scene the family has been reduced to this:

By looking at that picture you see that they are missing three of the children from the first picture. Two of the losses are really sad and one makes you cheer. Seriously, how is it that one person can suck so much? But I must say, the best moment ever happens in episodes 35 when we meet that cutie below. I was waiting for this moments for 23 episodes and when it happened, I may or may not have had a little party. It was a big deal, okay? And then, he turned out to be one of the coolest people ever!

 The main driving factor of their unhappiness stems from this man, Seo Jin Ki.

He and Han Joo, plus two others, Young Hye and Uk Jo, are all orphans that grew up together. Han Joo and Uk Jo became fisherman and Young Hye and Jin Ki married into the Golden Fishery company. For Jin Ki that turned out well, but for Young Hye not so much. Shortly before Young Hye gives birth to her daughter Ha Bin (later renamed Baek Won) her husband dies in a car accident and Golden Fishery's owner and Young Hye's Mother in Law blames her for the death. So, 100 days after Ha Bin is born, Young Hye is kicked out of the house, but without her daughter.

So, to make an already long story short, when Ha Bin is five she is "kidnapped" by Jin Ki, but she gets lost, then found by an eight year old Man Won whose grandma dies shortly after, then they are found by Han Joo and Uk Jo, Han Joo adopts them and eventually five other children.

Ten-ish years later the family is happy but poor and then Jin Ki comes and ruins everything, as usual, and you find that Uk Jo is the scum of the earth (one of the many in this drama) and Young Hye also comes back with grand plans of revenge against her mother in law. All these factors cause death, destruction, jail time, abandonment, general douche baggery, rifts between family and friends, but also one bromance and out future love line.

 

Moving forward another fourteen years and people are still suffering from the effects of all that stuff that went down before the time jump. Things do manage to get better for a while though which is a great breather for you heart which by this point is feeling pretty broken. The thing that made my heart the happiest was the reuniting of our lovely couple Do Young and Baek Won

 

They are definitely one my favorite couple of the year so far, the other being Min Joon and Song Yi. There is just so much happiness and teeth rotting cuteness when they're together you just can't help but love them. Jung Il Woo is also fantastic so that helps.

The second couple that is absolutely too cute for words is the second OTP. There were a lot of couples in this drama though, they could possibly be the third OTP. This couple consisted of Man Won and Hwa Ran who I mostly just called Little Polar Bear. She was seriously adorable and decided that Man Won would be hers no matter who he thought that he liked.

As for the ending of this drama, I felt that it was acceptable for the story that had been created. The two things that I had the most problems with was the three year jump epilogue and something else that I'm not going to talk about. Sorry. The reason that I didn't love the time jump was because I felt that it was a little heavy handed. I didn't expect it to happen even though it did kind of need to happen because of what happened before the jump that will not be mentioned. The reason that I didn't totally hate it was because all the characters got nice little endings which they deserve because by the end, they had all been through so much.

So, even though the ending wasn't perfect, it was a good ending that made you feel good which this drama definitely lacked in the last episodes. So much sadness.

As for whether or not people should give this drama a chance? Most definitely yes! Just be prepared for the length and feeling a lot of emotions.

~ Alora 

Sehun - Wolf Doll

Next up in the "Dolls Made for an Etsy Account that is Never Going to Happen" collection is Sehun! He's the maknae of the K-pop group EXO. This, of course, is from the Wolf era, the era that brought much, much joy to all the Exotics out there who were starting to tip over that edge they had already been teetering on for so long.

The main reason that I wanted to make a Sehun doll was because I wanted to do his hair because, let's be honest, his hair is crazy awesome.

I always make these dolls at my kitchen table and man, there were just mountains of felt everywhere. There was a large pile of red felt since his entire outfit is red. It was also because I COULD NOT make his hat. I don't know why I had so much trouble making it, but this is hat number three.

Then there was the pile of nine different sheets of felt, some full sized and some scraps which made it very hard to find what I needed. I usually watch things on my laptop as well while creating and I almost lost my laptop under the felt. Seriously, it was a problem.

~ Alora

Crayon Pop Uh-ee MV Review

How's the song? 

Crayon Pop is back with a song that doesn't sound like "Bar Bar Bar"! Hooray! Not that I hated that song, but it wasn't my favorite and it was everywhere. Crayon Pop's company even used it as the base sound for their boy group's debut song. I know it put you on the map, but let it go!

I really like the electronic trot sound of the song, it is different and it is fun and it is also very much a Crayon Pop song. Yes, it is a little juvenile sounding, but that is what makes it fun. There are enough sad mopey ballads and dance tracks and this song definitely stands out among the rest of them.

Something that I do wonder about Crayon Pop is that these girls are not as young as you would think that they are from the music that they put out. When I first saw them I thought that maybe they were in their late teens, but no, the five of them were born between '88 and '91 which blew my mind a little. That being said, how long are they going to be able to stick with this super cute sound, funny dances, and quirky costumes? Not that I don't like what they are doing, but the girls will want to grow up and probably sooner rather than later. 

How's the video? 

I thought that it was cool that there were little cameos in the video to make it feel like it was a real party. The only person I recognized was Bumkey though.

I did like that there was a group of girls that looked suspiciously like Girl's Day though. Maybe it was just because that blonde girl has hair like Hyeri. I'm just going to pretend like they are pretending to be Girl's Day. After reading some comments though it seems that people are saying that these are some Chrome trainees, I guess that would make sense. 

 

I would also like to say that K-Much are the worst security guards EVAR. I assume that this is Crayon Pop's party so that they can show everyone their new song, okay that's cool. So you would assume that they would want to keep the crazies out, apparently K-Much didn't get the memo and let this guy in

Why? That is the crazy sauce guy that is going to come in and murder everyone to protect his beloved Crayon Pop. He has sasaeng written - or painted - all over his face.

How's the styling?  

I wonder if Crayon Pop's agency will slowly let Crayon Pop look nice during their career. In every video there will be a shot of them dressed in "normal" clothes to accustom people to it.

The girls did look really nice for a hot second, but then the main outfits came out and they were ahjumma themed. As unfashionable as ahjumma clothes are, you have to admit, they look comfortable. Crayon Pop were looking pretty fierce too, like a small adorable gang.

Is the dance super amazing?  

I feel that during the practice stages of learning this dance there were a lot of poked eyes and smashed noses. I also liked that even though there was the difficult factor of all the flailing arms, there was also the cute ahjumma dance moves that were put in. My favorite part of the dance was that little foot movement that they did. 

As for the background dancers, they weren't as painful to watch as some other club settings, but as per usual those people had no idea what to do with themselves; especially those women that were holding the stringed instruments. I know that you are holding things as big as you are, but come on, look like you want to be there.

The K-Much boys were enjoying themselves too, I have no idea what they are doing, but they look happy.

Which member owned it? 

I felt that this song was all very equal visual wise. There were a lot of wide shots and when there was someone singing, they were on camera. Good job, Chrome.

Did the English make you ears bleed?  

There was one bit of English in the song, and no it wasn't saying Crayon Pop at the end. They actually say "bling bling" during the song. Now that I know it's there I can hear it, but it is stressed weirdly so it's hard to hear.

~ Alora