Running commentary on the things I've seen, the places I've been and what I've done in my measly years. It might help some, entertain others or bore everyone (including me). Regardless, let's get this started...
i recently stumbled upon the korean indie group, J Rabbitt, and immediately became enamored with their songs and style. definitely out of the realm of the usual kpop i listen to.
the fact that they're not a manufactured, over-produced group makes them more endearing. plus they're a women duo (don't see many of those) who write and compose their own songs. one girl plays all the instruments and the other one sings. and they're only 26-years old. PLUS, although they have officially debuted and released 2 albums, they're pretty much part the amateur-youtube-movement, which, Bieber aside, i like because acts that come from that medium without all that corporate backing usually truly represent what the people like/want. they're actually part of a collaborative project with other indie artists called friendz.net
ok Won Bin, you got me. i have officially hopped on the Won Bin train.
i took my sweet time getting around to watching Ahjussi 아저씨 aka The Man from Nowhere. i'd heard it was a good movie, top grossing in Korea and blahbitty blah etc. however, when i heard that my guy cousins were falling all over themselves in love with it, i got slightly turned off about seeing the movie. in the same way that guys are in love with Old Boy올드보이, their extreme passion about it makes my latent rebellious side refuse to watch it out of some perverse refusal to follow the trend. plus, it's slightly weird how devoted the male species is to that movie. also, since i wasn't a rabid Won Bin fan, i wasn't particularly enthusiastic about watching Ahjussi.
but now that i've watched the film, i've got to admit: it's good. REALLY good. the action scenes were great to watch in that they're the kind that i like. not crazy machine guns and car explosions but more close, hand-to-hand combat in small spaces. one of my favorite fight scenes that i always watch when it's on tv is from The Bourne Identity: when Matt Damon, while suffering from amnesia, all of a sudden discovers he's skilled with hand-to-hand combat by taking out 2 German police officers that stop him in the park. so cool. and that's similar to what the action sequences are like in Ahjussi. Won Bin's character is calm and collected and extremely focused in his single-minded mission throughout the movie. and after he cut his hair in the second half of the movie and flashed some shirtless scenes, i had purchased my ticket aboard the Won Bin express. CHOO-CHOO!
speaking of all things korean, i recently found out from MrsOppa and Kiddo that Pandora's added k-pop to their playlists. say what?! when did k-pop become so mainstream? although, since i'm chinese and avidly listen to k-pop, i guess i really shouldn't say anything...
Kiddo discovered Big Bang's Hands Up through Pandora. of all of Big Bang's songs, Hands Up isn't my favorite but that might just be because the group has SO MANY hit songs to choose from. so, in honor of Kiddo's discovery, i'll share some of my Big Bang recs.
since i don't want to seem like too much of a teenybopper fan, i'll limit it to these 2: a new album song, Cafe, and a classic, Lies. Enjoy!
so after being MIA for this long, i come back and immediately post MVs instead of doing anything fun?? yea, that's right. that's what i'm doing.
yea, lots of stuff has happened: i've graduated from law school (who would've thunk it?) celebrated a birthday Coleslaw has left NYC (forever? sniffle, sniffle, i hope not) AMW and i are kaput Oppa celebrated a birthday and got a girlfriend (another who would've thunk it moment) and so much more...
and maybe i'll tell you all about it. but right now i'm spending all my time studying for the dreaded bar exam. which means i spend 3-4 hours every day in Bar/Bri and then spend another 6 hours doing the other prep work assigned by the course. i literally only left my apartment twice today and each time was only about 10 mins. it's so miserable.
which means, in the small amount of down time, i don't want to think. i spend my time watching tv or surfing the net, and a lot of time while transcribing notes, listening to music. and these 2 MVs were amongst my internet browsing. i'm a big fan of the group which is 1 girl and 2 guys. and the MVs are like little movies, which fits perfectly into my allotted downtime. it's like watching 2 movies in the span of 10 mins.
Paul Giamatti walked by me on Boerum Place. what was really weird was that i had just been watching his movie Shoot 'Em Upon HBO the night before. and he couldn't have looked any more different from the character he played. o well, it was still a little thrill to see him. i guess it's one of the perks of living in NY. i was pretty surprised at myself for not turning into a simpering, shrieking idiot which is what i always think will happen when i see a celebrity. and it never does. weird.
BLS had a fundraising event at Ceol on Smith Street right before the weather started getting cold. what was even better was that ILS had their Mentor-Mentee event in Geraldo's right before with free beer. so of course we were all in Geraldo's maximizing the free beer before we headed out to the bar. we even got into a game of Kings, which is my favorite drinking card game. i like it because, unlike Asshole, it doesn't require too much thinking, but unlike Up the River Down the River, it doesn't require no thinking either. plus it's interactive and gets people really into the game since just about every turn involves getting somebody else involved. we don't play Kings too much tho, because everyone gets so turned off at the thought of learning the rules. here's what i've interpreted to be the simple, no nonsense, rules. of course there's way more complicated ones, but i'd stick to these when you're dealing with ppl with short attention spans who don't look convinced: 2 is for You 3 is for Me 4 is for Whores (yes, it's un-PC but it's an easy rhyme to remember) 5 is Social 6 is for Dicks 7 Heaven 8 Thumbmaster 9 Bust-a-Rhyme 10 Categories J Never Have I Ever Q Questions K Kings Cup A Waterfall
ok, i think that's pretty much the general gist of how we played. after the game, we finally headed over to Ceol which was reedonkulously packed with BLS kids but that's to be expected. it was a pretty random night, and since i had class the next day, i left at a respectable hour.
but not before i introduced Seven to JAK. as soon as i'd walked into the bar and i saw Six, i was informed that Seven was very interested in JAK and was dying for the introduction. so before i left the bar that night, i made the introduction and then left those 2 little hipsters to their own devices.
to go along with this lovey-dovey theme, i thought i'd post this video. it's a korean song by Humming Urban Stereo called Hawaiian Couple. the song's already really cute and catchy and the video's just as adorable. this keeps popping up on my iPod and i just can't help but bop around with it.
before i had Oppa i had O, my chinese oppa. however, O moved to China a few years ago and obviously that makes it hard for him to continue being the protective-older-brother-type he once was (tho it always fall back into place when he comes home for visits). o wait, i'm getting ahead of myself.
on thursday night, Brazen Head was doing a free happy hour-yes, you read correctly, free-where they were serving drinks made with some new vodkas they'd purchased e.g. Absolute Peach, Absolute Pear, etc. perfect for a sometimes girly drinker like me and you know i can't pass up anything that's free. i had only intended to stay there until the happy hour was over which ended up being 8:45 pm (although it was supposed to be until 9 pm) but then Crush showed up and altho i've very much given him up (it would be too incestuous now that he dated/is dating ManEater) he still is (what i consider) good-looking so i stayed a little longer. in the meantime, i had texted Chop and told him to come to the bar to which he replied he would and so i ended up staying out much longer than i'd planned. i also ended up drinking much more than i planned.
and i woke up the next day slightly hungover.
which was quite unfortunate b/c the following friday was jam-packed. and that brings the story full circle.
O was in town until Sunday but would only be in the city that Friday so of course i had to see him. i met up w/him at Bull McCabe's, a bar on St. Marks on the block that i frequent the most but yet never noticed this place, probably b/c it reeks of a dive bar feel-although it contains a decent backyard and a kick-ass high-tech dart board. O was there w/his entire NYU entourage from his college days. it was so good to see them all out together b/c i haven't seen that happen since his NYU days. *sniffle, sniffle* i think i'm getting all teared up. seeing them together reminded me of my high school days hanging out w/them (they were the cool college boys) and all the scandalous hijinxes that occurred. PerfectCouple was also there (yes, it's 1 nickname for 2 ppl). they're so nicknamed b/c they've been dating since 7th grade. that's 16 yrs. and they're finally getting married: this coming saturday actually. congrats!! i love their story. it appeals to the inner romantic in me. i only wish my future marriage story could be as idyllic except that would mean i wouldn't get married until i was 42. no thanks.
unfortunately i couldn't stay long b/c Oppa was having a birthday party at Volstead the same night. since it was Oppa's birthday, i made the obligatory appearance but didn't stay long b/c the when i showed it the party was way too scattered. apparently they were just congregating there until all the invited ppl showed up so they could move to a better venue so there was a whole "limbo" feeling to the party. i still did my part for my oppa tho and bought him a birthday shot (tequila to be exact. i'm such a hypocrite-i would never drink that). then DRC and i made our way to 230 Fifth to meet her friends. talk about nostalgia. i haven't been to 230 Fifth since the time of Gohm, or just about that time. the place hasn't changed much altho it's definitely lost it's super-new-shiny feel to it. rooftop bars just aren't the novelty they once were and they're all over the place now so why bother going to such an overpriced place as 230 Fifth? it seems NYC shares my view b/c when we got there we only had to wait about 5 mins in line before we got in, the rooftop wasn't as crowded as usual and the bathroom lines were manageable. once we got there i got into an intense convo w/Shy on the phone and when i got back to the table DRC was rocked. she'd gotten it into her head that she had to drink as much free vodka as she possible could and apparently she was very successful at doing so.
we left the bar shortly thereafter and what happened afterwards has been relegated to the vault never to be mentioned again. all i'm gonna comment is that my apartment seems to be spanish fly for some ppl, altho, sadly, not me.
since i'm not allowed to talk about the events of that night, i'm gonna dork out and talk about the japanese tv series correlated to this MV. the song is the theme song for Absolute Boyfriend aka Zettai Kareshi. the premise is interesting but definitely comes off as completely idiotic (i know b/c i tried to explain it to Egg and his eyes started rolling before i'd even gotten through the 1st sentence). ok fine yes: it's about a robot boyfriend. yes, you may proceed to roll your eyes too. a girl gets the opportunity to be the test agent for a robot that's been created to be the perfect boyfriend. the girl isn't able to actually enjoy it b/c she gets creeped out by the fact that it's a robot. but the robot boyfriend, in order to be the man she loves, slowly develops beyond his programming and begins to really love her and then there's a whole love triangle w/her boss and...ok, ok, nevermind, it's too hard to explain w/o me looking even dorkier than i already am. but if you ever get the chance to watch it i promise it won't disappoint. when i saw Egg the day after i finished watching the series my eyes were all puffed up from consistently blubbering and crying during the last 2 episodes. it was so good and sad.
i've been listening to the theme song on a repititious basis b/c it's perfect for the series. the title of the song is Okaeri which is roughly translated to "Welcome Home" which is what the boyfriend says every time the girl comes home (and she misses it when he isn't there). sigh... if only life were like asian tv series sometimes.
