*sigh* 杰倫...回到過去

I'm watching Jay's old MVs nonstop...I love his old look. I can't point out exactly what it is about the way he looked back then compared to now. I think it could be the way he holds himself..? It's not only his physical appearance but also his music. It's not like I don't like his music now...far from it. But I do miss the feel of his older music.

I feel he's changed a lot. Of course this is only from the viewpoint of a fan. I don't know him in person (as much as I wish I did).

Remember the old days when he'd wear baseball caps on TV cause he was shy? He's a lot more confident now,  with many more albums, concerts and a truckload of greenbacks under his belt. When was the last time he appeared on TV or at an awards show?

Is it just cause he's ridiculously busy? Will we see a lot of Jay soon? Probably, since he's got an album, 'Pandamen' and 'The Green Hornet' on the way. Guess I'm just a stupid, impatient fangirl.

I wonder if he had an idea when he released his first album, that he would be where he is today.

Here's one of the first songs of his I ever heard, from his first album. He looks so young! I really don't get the shots of a random Caucasian woman smoking though (she looks decades older than Jay with that evil ciggie). But hey, who cares. Jay and his music are all that matters.

Maybe ten minutes ago, I was kinda frustrated. After writing this and thinking it all over, I feel at ease again :) Writing is therapeutic.

So is Youtube ^^

For you, I will continue to wait <3
對不起， 周杰倫。。。

MV Review: 楓 (Feng) and 彩虹天堂 (Cai Hong Tian Tang)

These two MVs tell one story. The first is sung by 周杰倫 Jay Chou (my one true love) featuring 劉畊宏 Liu Genghong. The second is sung by Liu Genghong, featuring Jay <3

Part I: In which one heckuva hot loner-with-a-past discovers his buddy's gonna marry a girl of great significance to him, whom we discover once was the loner's girlfriend--but she doesn't remember *gasp*



In this MV, 杰倫's (Jay/Jie lun in case any readers don't know) character, whom I shall just call Jay, is seen hanging out with 畊宏's character (whom I shall call Genghong) and his loverly girlfriend (also seen in the movie 'Miao Miao' which I reviewed a while back)...a lot. As if it ain't awkward enough hanging out with a couple that is so obviously in love, Jay seems to have some kind of past with the gf. But this info is never revealed to us curious little viewers in this MV. Anyhoo, Genghong is completely oblivious to this one-way tension between his buddy and his babe. When he reveals to Jay that they are getting married (no, him n his girl, not Jay ^^), Jay is obviously upset. He leaves the cafe quietly, conveniently forgetting his cell. Genghong has some kind of plans so asks his now-fiancee to bring the phone back to Jay. At Jay's awesome Japanese-style home, she returns the phone, and later while wandering around, she discovers billions of pictures of her and Jay. Freaky much?!?!? He appears suddenly and realizes what she saw. He asks her:

"Now do you remember?"

AHHHHH! And then it ends there, with a message saying it will be continued in Genghong's MV.


So what do you do? You watch the next MV my friend :)

Part II: In which we find out about the past (which proves to confuzzle me), and in which there are many lovey-dovey couple scenes and the loner from part I is joined by another loner, therefore neither are loners anymore haha.



We see a bunch of scenes of the girl and Jay from their past and they are oh-so-cute (esp. Jay with glasses omg<3), and then we cut back to the present and see the girl crying while looking at Jay. We see scenes of the girl with Jay at the doctor with scans of her head. Then the same scene with Genghong (WAIT how did he come along? again?) and then the lovey-dovey scenes with him. But what happened with Jay? Yea the girl's freaking confuzzled and thinks Genghong was the one with her all along, but Jay completely disappears and is replaced by Genghong (wouldn't Jay have come to look for her? :S). Anyways, later Genghong comes home to a letter...DUNDUNDUNNN and the girl leaves him. She doesn't go back to Jay either, guess cause she can't bear deciding between the two of em. It ends with Jay and Genghong standing together looking hot and memory-loss-girl-less (lol).


Well, I definitely like Part I better because it's less of a let down, and I kinda like the sad end. Also, who could possibly compete with the UBER-AWESOME presence of Jay Chou. Um. No one :) The fact that 楓as a song is amazing helps it along too.

Part II isn't very straight-forward and anyways, I was still reeling from the essence of Jay (this should so be made into a fragrance/cologne/perfume), so I am biased. Boohoo.

Part I: 4/5
Part II: 3/5

MV Review: さよなら

My best friend showed this to me just now.


I want to put it up in the hope that everyone, and anyone who comes across this blog will watch it.

It just broke my heart.


:'(

Sayonara by Orange Range


I just makes me realize how lucky I am in to have everything that I have.


Don't we all need reality checks like this, no matter how seemingly insignificant they may seem, to remind us to love life? To keep on living, to not lose hope, no matter how hard it may seem, because somewhere, someone is fighting just to see today's sun set, and be able to see it rise again tomorrow. Someone with a life much harder than our own.




Love to live.
Live to love.

I'm in waaaaay over my head...

So lately I've had quite a lot of time in my hands. When I'm busy, I don't get to keep up with my drama obsession. So what did I decide to do? Watch, watch watch. I really let myself go.

Here's the list of dramas/shows I am currently watching:


Hana Yori Dango (rewatching for the second time)


Idol Army (rewatching for the second time)



下一站， 幸福 (Autumn's Concerto)



桃花小妹 (Momo Love)



比賽開始 (Play Ball)

Dramas/shows lined up to be watched:



你是我的唯一 （You're My One and Only)


Hot Blood (going to REwatch)

Number of days of freedom left:
5

Amount of homework left unfinished:
Hours upon hours of sweat-soaked toil. Oh boy.




Someone save me from myself.

AATheory

Hello to anyone who actually reads this blog!


Just wanted to announce that AATheory, a website about Asian Americans is now up!! Ellie, the founder (check out her blog) has done an amazing job. I don't know how she does it! She must be so busy (she's also a writer on my beloved Seoulbeats) and yet she finds time to manage such a site and be so freaking awesome at the same time.


 Check it out!!

Have you ever...

...mustered up the courage to do something you were scared of doing because you thought if you didn't do it you'd hate yourself...



...and then totally hate yourself for doing it because of what did/didn't happen afterwards?



*sigh*

I just did. :(

Park Jaebeom.

I'm finally writing this post. It was inevitable, but I was waiting till all the fuss died down a bit.

On that day, when I came home from school I was anticipating the last episode of Wild Bunny like a five-year-old waiting for Christmas Day. It's habit for me to go straight to Seoulbeats, and when I did, I scanned the new articles waiting to be read. I stopped at "Jaebeom leaves 2PM", and I just thought: "Psh....it's just a joke." So I left it for later. When I finally came to read it, not only did I find that it wasn't a joke, I discovered the first boyband that I ever became a fangirl for had now just lost its leader: Park Jaebeom.

The following days, weeks were filled with sadness, but also a feeling of helplessness, because honestly there's nothing I can do to bring him back, to turn back the hour hands of the clock to the glory days of 2PM. When I see all the successful acts in K-pop now, it's really hard to think of what will become of the six-member 2PM. They were so ready to make it big... in fact they did, only for THIS to happen. The day after, in art class I spent the entire time listening to their songs. Over and over and over and over.

I'm not going to blame anyone in this post, I won't point any fingers. Because what has been done is done, and anything I say won't change it.

All I can do is wish Jaebeom the very best in whatever he plans for the future. He has so much talent and charisma stuffed into that body of his that I don't think he can lay low for long.

To all the 'fans' that boycotted the Dream Concert, who returned all their 2PM CDs, who refuse to support 2PM unless Jaebeom comes back, I'd like to say something:
I don't see how you can call yourself fans after stooping so low. I love Jaebeom as much as you all do, but your actions are not helping anyone. Don't you think that the six remaining members need even more support now than ever? Instead you're turning your backs on them.
I hope you'll all come to your senses.


I love Park Jaebeom.
But I also love Nichkhun
Wooyoung
Chansung
Taecyeon
Junsu
Junho.
I love 2PM and will continue supporting them.
2PM will always be a seven-member band to me, even if the seventh is separated from the others by the Pacific Ocean.








Instead of being sad, let's celebrate the good times.

Movie Review: Failan

I finally had time to guiltlessly watch a movie today. I watch a lot of movies on http://www.mysoju.com/. THE best place for dramas and movies I must say :) I love Korean romantic comedies. It's pretty much the only Korean movie genre that I indulge in...have I watched any other type? If I have, I can't remember doing so...

It's just that lately I've pretty much run out of Korean rom-coms that sound good. I'm a bit picky I guess...any suggestions anyone?

Well I just randomly clicked on 'Failan'. It's listed as a drama/romance, and I usually don't like this kind of stuff. It's too heavy for me. But since I have all the time in the world at the moment, I just thought: "Hey whatever. Imma go for it :P".

So I did.

And thank goodness I did :)

The plot:

Kang-jae is a sort of useless gangster, whose boss is a childhood friend. His boss can tell that Kang-jae isn't cut out for this kind of job. We as viewers first meet Kang-jae after he gets out of jail for trying to sell adult movies to teens.

One day while he's out with his boss/friend, the boss/friend gets into a fight and ends up killing the other dude and all the while Kang-jae's just standing there gaping in the rain.

Someone has to get punished for the death of the dude from the rival gang (or something), and before the police can get to the bottom of it all, the boss/friend begs Kang-jae to go to jail for him, and in return he'll give him a truckload of money.

The movie skips back in time to reveal that Kang-jae had agreed to an arranged marriage at one point to earn some extra money. His wife, whom he never meets or exchanges a word with, is a pretty woman from China who came to look for relatives who have since moved to Canada, leaving her stranded and alone. She agrees to an arranged marriage so that she can stay in Korea and work.

What becomes of the two?...

The verdict [spoiler alert]:

The plot is original, although one complaint that I have is the fact that it skips backwards and forwards in time, and when it first did that, I wasn't sure exactly what was going on :/

Kang-jae, played by Choi Min-suk is a great character in my eyes. At first, I thought he was just despicable, a littering, smoking loser. But as the movie goes on, you find out that a dream he's had since forever is to return to his hometown and get a fishing boat. He is a useless gangster because deep inside, beneath the scruffiness, the alcohol and the cigarette ash, he actually has a heart. When he goes to his dead wife, it all comes out. The scene in which he sits by the sea with his wife's ashes, reads her goodbye letter and cries.....wow. Potent stuff right there.

Even though the two never meet (besides a very close encounter), you get the feeling that there is a bond between them.

Cecilia Cheung plays Failan, and I manage to like her, even if Cecilia shall forever be tainted by the Edison Chen scandal in my mind... :/ Failan loves him even though she's never met him, and it really got me.

In the end, when he's going to go home, his friend is pulled off, and while he is waiting for his friend, unintentionally begins watching a video of his wife singing to him. He's transfixed.

It's so beautiful, and when the shot changes to the view of someone approaching from behind him, I knew what was going to happen, but I STILL didn't want to believe it. OMAGAAAD so sad...... :'( The music playing during the end credits is to die for. The tragic end is great in the sense that it isn't the cliche happy happy joy ending, but the romantic buried deeeeeeeeeEEEEp down inside me wishes that Failan and Kang-jae could have lived happily ever after.

Rating:

4.5/5

Movie Review: I'm a Cyborg But That's Okay

After watching 'Full House', I still hadn't really gotten enough of Rain. ... :) I could have watched 'A Love to Kill', but it was listed as a drama/romance. Romances filled with drama are not my thing... I need a kick of comedy to keep me going if I must watch a romance. So 'I'm a Cyborg, But That's Okay' seemed like the best option.



What a movie...

The plot:
Young-goon is a girl who has had a troubled past, and was very attached to the grandmother who raised her. She thinks that she is a cyborg and is landed in the loony bin. There, she meets many interesting people, including Il-soon a strange young man who wears masks and likes to steal things, played by Rain. During her stay, we learn more and more about her quirky character. Eventually she forms a bond with Il-soon and he convinces her to eat again, after a spell of starvation, which she brought on herself, thinking she only needed to charge her batteries...

The verdict [spoiler alert]:
Im Su-jeong is extremely believable as Young-goon with her blonde-eyebrows and strange expressions. The movie is rather abstract to say the least, and the plot is very original, I've never seen ANYTHING like it before. I like how each of the patients at the mental institution have their own stories. Il-soon's is heartbreaking... :'( There are quite a few instances where I couldn't differentiate between Young-goon's imagination and reality. Il-soon is so caring towards Young-goon. The whole thing with the rice->energy converter was so sweet. Il-soon definitely felt something for Young-goon, but I really didn't see anything coming from Young-goon. I guess it's just cause she's well...because she is how she is. OH and the kiss scene was...insanely strange. :/ Even Rain's presence didn't take the take any of the wackiness out of it. But oh well. A weird movie has a weird kiss scene. Surprise surpise. I was kinda expecting to be able to go ga-ga over Rain, but the movie was just too weird for me to think in that way!
I've used the word weird and its synonyms about a million times in this post already...
In the end, the movie didn't really go anywhere, although it left a hint that something substantial might develop between Il-soon and Young-goon. But that's it. Not really a satisfying ending, but then again, because of the nature of the characters, I can also see that it never really could've have gotten anywhere without becoming cliche. And let me tell you: 'I'm a Cyborg, But That's Okay' is ANYTHING but cliche.

Rating:
3.5/5

Changing voices?

I noticed something when I started watching 'Full House'...

Before, all I'd seen of Rain was the occasional concert fan-cam, complete with screams of legions of fierce fangirls, or a music video (#-.-#). Haha that emoticon is cute :) <3. In those two examples, he'd only ever sing. The only clips I saw of him talking were english interviews (I'm not going to start on his accent :]). So when I watched the first few episodes of 'Full House', I was like: "What the heck his voice is soooOOOooooOOooo deep!!". When he speaks English, his voice is higher-pitched, whereas when he speaks Korean, it's deep, husky and sexy. Mrow.
Korean

English

And this isn't the first time I've come across something like this either!

It's the same with Rudy Youngblood, who starred in one of my FAVORITE movies: 'Apocalypto' (if you haven't seen this, you seriously haven't lived). When he speaks Yucatec (a Mayan dialect)in the movie his voice is higher-pitched than it is when he speaks English.

Yucatec (Rudy's the one handing out organs...)

English

Other examples:
- I noticed when bi/tri/multilingual people (in Japanese and something else) speak Japanese their voice is higher-pitched than when they speak other languages.
- My dad speaks with a higher-pitched voice in English than in Chinese
- Apparently I speak with a higher-pitched voice on the phone and with people I don't know very well.


What the heck.
.
.
.
Am I just imagining things?
.
.
Has anyone besides me noticed this? :/