Happy New Years!

Happy New Year!

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year! With the time differences all over the world it might already be the New Year or you are just a few short hours from the New Year. In my time zone it is 8:40. So I still have a few hours.

I don’t know what everyone else had planned for today but I did nothing. My day consisted of watching TV, going to see Thor 2 and messing with my blog. Oh! I also started a twitter account. Don’t know what I will do with out. I guess only time will tell.

But to everyone reading this I wish you success in the coming year. Good luck on all endeavors and never give up. I plan to spend the rest of the night at home watching TV with my stupid dog. I have no useful friends to go out with. I’m a loner by nature.

We never know what will happen in the New Year. We all make new years resolution to help guide us towards our life goals. So I just wanted to share a few of mine with you.

1.     Get a job. I am a new college graduate stating out in a profession that wants experience.

2.     Lose weight. I’m sure this is on everyone’s list but everyone needs to be healthier.

3.     Become a better person. I know I have an attitude problem and a temper. I just need to learn to control it better.

4.     Be more giving. I know this might fall under being a better person but for me its not. I can be selfish and ignore what I am asked to do. I should be more giving and do things before they are asked of me.

5.     Be a better blogger. I am new to this would and I wish to become better and expand on things I blog about. I have new rants and other things k-pop related started to talk about.

6.      Learn basic Korean. I am a lazy person and to even learn the basics of this language would make me happy. In nursing school I was told, “Perfect practice makes perfect”. I am horrible at other languages. So to learn on that none of my friends, family or acquaintances speak will be hard. But I will try my hardest and see where it takes me.

So Happy New Year everyone!!!! Don’t party to hard; You still have a whole year to celebrate. 

"Hard to Love, How to Love" by Beast Albu, Review

The last two albums I reviewed were ones I bought myself and now I am moving onto the ones I received for Christmas. So the next album I am reviewing is Beasts “Hard to Love, How to Love” CD and DVD version. But here is a question for anyone who reads this. Is the Thailand version different from the Korean and Taiwan version? My mom bought the Thailand version and its apparently it’s different then the other versions. Which is stupid.

“Hard to Love, How to Love” was released in July of 2013 and the title song was Shadow. Beast is one of my top favorite groups. Beautiful Night was my first music video and they had me hooked the minute I saw DooJoon wearing a Spurs jersey. I am a huge Spurs fan. After Beautiful Night I went back and watched some of their other music videos: Shock, Midnight, Fiction and Beautiful. I loved all of the music videos and it cemented me into their B2uty fandom. But this is the first album I actually own by them.

It’s been a few years since the debuted and I think they have done really well. They put out good songs and produce good music videos. They guys have their own personalities and it’s nice not to see cookie cutter artists. I hope they have a good 2014 and it’s full of success!

I don’t own an iPod, I own a Zune. We pay for one of those unlimited download pass things and I bought this album. When I first listened to “Encore” I thought they were saying anchor. Their English was so cute. I know it probably has to do with their accent. I really do love “Encore” but it is my second favorite song. My first favorite song would be “Be Alright”. But the whole album is pretty awesome. The album contains eight songs and the DVD contains three music videos. The DVD is also region all.  

The album cover has like the robot looking head with the back part of it coming off with falling flowers or something. It looks slightly futuristic. The Thailand version I received didn’t have a full booklet. I the little booklet that I received had selected photos from the regular booklet. In this booklet not all of the photos are from the Shadow music video. But they all did look pretty good. I just wish I had the other version so I could have all of the photos.

The packaging that the album came in was one of those clear plastic album cases. So the booklet was small enough to fit into the front. It also came in a sleeve that matches the album cover.

Would I recommend this album: Yes I would. I loved every minute of this album. In my opinion it’s a good mix of upbeat songs and slower songs. But not buy the Thailand version.

Track List (Album)

01. Intro
02. Shadow (그림자)
03. How to Love
04. Be Alright
05. I'm Sorry
06. 괜찮겠니
07. 너는 나빠
08. Encore

Track List (DVD)

01. Shadow
02. I'm Sorry
03. 괜찮겠니 

Not a Cookie Cutter Group: Wa$$up

I wasn’t able to get into girl group but there are four songs/music videos by girl groups that I actually like.

1.     Like a Boy by Girls Generation

2.     The Baddest Female by CL

3.     Gi-Yeuk by GI

4.     Wassup by Wa$$up

This little rant is about Wa$$up’s “Wassup” music video. I know a lot of people are saying that they are twerking but in my opinion I don’t consider this twerking. You want twerking look up Miley Cyrus’ We Can’t Stop. You can’t even compare what Wa$$up was doing to what Miley was doing. Yes Wa$$up was shaking their butts but I don’t classify it as twerking. They were just dancing.

I also saw a few comments where people were complaining that they made their younger members “twerk”. Their youngest members are seventeen and I’m pretty sure if you walked into any public middle school you would find the students twerking. The younger members knew what they were doing. I’m pretty sure the company didn’t brainwash them and force them.

I liked the fact they tried to be different then other female girl groups because to me most girl groups have the same look. They pretty much match in the whole music video. Nothing is out of place. They all dance in sync together and they all have the same look about them. There a few groups like 2NE1 that are different but for the most part girl groups come from the same cookie cutter.

Would I buy their CD? Probably not but if someone else offered to buy me the CD then I would take it. I don’t think they were very successful in their debuted but there is always a second time to change public opinion. I would have to look at other music videos to help decide on whether or not I would continue to follow them. But their song is catchy and their music video isn’t that bad but it could be better.

Grown by 2PM Album Review

Grown by 2PM was the second K-Pop CD I bought and it was released in May of 2013. The single for this album was “A.D.T.O.Y”. I have heard of them before I bought their CD I also watched them on Let's Go Dream Team 2. When I day them on the TV I did think they were cute and funny but I didn’t look into them. Somehow o cam across their music video from “A.D.T.O.Y” and I was like “WTF! These guys are sexy and good looking.” I added the video to my playlist and listened to it over and over.

It has been a few years since they debuted but they are going strong. They are pretty successful. With all of their success thus far they can only strive to achieve more. Be go-getters and expand on their knowledge. There is never a point where you know everything. These men definitely used their sexiness to their advantage in their title song.

“A.D.T.O.Y” I think is the only music video I have ever watched of theirs. Its sad to say I like them but never looked into their earlier stuff. Out of all the tracks of the CD “Game Over” is my favorite and that’s even counting “A.D.T.O.Y” and I really like “A.D.T.O.Y”. I did like all of the songs but there are songs that I did enjoy better then others but I am allowed to play favorites. A lot of the songs were slower songs and had more a “romantic” feeling.

I also bought this CD off of eBay for twenty dollars. At first I didn’t know there were two versions until I kept seeing “Ver. A”. So by using the wonderful world of YouTube I searched for an unboxing of version B. now that I knew the difference between the two versions I had a choice to make. I went with version B. I mean who doesn’t like to look at pictures of guys without their shirts but I wasn’t being creepy about it. I hope.

The cover was really weird. It would change colors when you touched it, like, well I can’t describe it. I couldn’t really see the guys on the cover very well because of the changing color thing. The booklet reflected pure sexiness. Some had their shirts off and other just looked sexy poising with shirts on. Some guys just have a natural sexiness about them.

I don’t think I have heard anything about them since this music video but I don’t go on all the different websites. As stated above I haven’t looked into any of their previous work and not to sure if I will. Whenever they make a comeback I will look and listen to what they have made and then decide on whether or not I will continue to watch for them. Also I don’t feel creepy about liking the group since all of them are around my age. Since I am not a huge, die-hard fan but just a kind-of fan I don’t have a bias but all of them are good-looking men.

Would I recommend Grown to others: I would recommend it but I would tell them to listen to the CD somewhere on YouTube before buying it. its not a bad CD I guess I just heard better albums.

Track List

1.     A.D.T.O.Y." (하.니.뿐)

2.     Comeback When You Hear This Song" (이 노래를 듣고 돌아와)

3.     Zero Point" (원점으로)

4.     I’m Sorry

5.     The First Date" (오늘부터 1일)

6.     Dangerous

7.     One More Day" (오늘 하루만)

8.     Game Over

9.     Coming Down

10.  Go Back" (고백)

11.  Love Song

12.  Suddenly" (문득)

Mini Albums: Are They Worth It?

You know the U-Kiss first U.S world tour? Yes, the one going to New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. I am lucky enough to go to the LA concert. A week or so ago an e-mail announcing that there merchandise was now on sale. I am a HUGE fan of U-Kiss and I wanted to buy their new album “Moments”, but is it worth spending at a minimum of twenty-one dollars for six actual songs and one instrumental?

The buy from www.powerhouselive.net it would cost 27.50, to buy from www.music-plaza.com it could cost 21.00 and to buy from www.ebay.com it would cost around 25.00. To buy the same CD from iTunes minus the instrument song it would cost 6.99.

Are mini albums worth the money you spend? I understand that you get the booklet, postcards, posters and whatever extra things that comes with a CD. But is the extra stuff worth the difference? I looked at other mini albums but I just couldn’t make myself spend money just for a few songs.

I really liked 24K’s “U R So Cute” song and music video. Because I liked the song so much I looked into the album but the CD only contains three actual songs, one radio edit and three instrumentals. So in my head it’s not really worth twenty dollars for their mini CD when I get three actual songs for a few dollars.

 I’ve noticed a lot of groups have more mini albums then regular albums. If mini albums were a little cheaper then the regular albums I would buy them. But if I have to pay the same price for a mini album and a full album I’d rather buy the mini album off of iTunes.

So in my opinion mini albums are not worth it. I will still buy them but I will shop for the best deal.

Janus by Boyfriend CD Review

The first K-Pop album I bought was Boyfriends Janus. It was released in December of 2012 and the single, take a hard guess? Janus! I watched some of Boyfriends “Hello Baby” on YouTube but I really didn’t like them that much. I thought they were very feminine but I fell in love with them during the music video for Janus. I guess the video showed a more masculine side of them.

I think Boyfriend has a bright future ahead of them. It has been two and a half years since they debuted and if they continue to work hard and develop their musical ability they will go far. Also since many of there members are still pretty young I think they are aiming more towards the younger fans then the older ones. But that’s my opinion. They don’t use the sex appeal like of some groups do.

Janus is a really good song and because of it I am a fan. But out of the other nine songs I would have to say that either  “Good Night” or “Stop It” are my favorite songs off of the CD. If you never listened to the CD go do right now! I did enjoy every song on the CD.

I bought the CD off of eBay for like fifteen dollars. It was the best fifteen dollars I ever spent. I bought one of those special edition random pick CD’s where I guess the CD comes in a sleeve that has one of the members on it. You don’t know whom you will receive until you open it and I received Young Min’s sleeve.

I really loved the cover. The black and white two sided lions are pretty cool. All of the photos in the booklet were of them dressed in their clothes from the Janus music video. I am not too sure if the booklet reflects the title song or what. If you know the answer to that let me know. 

Since Janus, I’ve listened to their other songs and I liked them. Am I die-hard Bestfriend? No, but I really like them. But it’s hard to really love a group when all but one member is a few years younger then me. I just feel creepy sometimes. I should be glad that my bias is Donghyun, the oldest member of the group.

Would I recommend Janus to Others: Yes. It was a good CD and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Track List

1. Janus (야누스)

2. Good Night (내 꿈꿔)

3. Excuse Me

4. Trippen (이랬다 저랬다)

5. Mystery (미스터리)

6. Go Back

7. Stop It

8. Listen

9. My Dear (잘 지내니)

10. Soulmate (열쇠)

My First K-Pop Experience!

If you looked through my MP3 player before I found K-Pop you would have found a lot of rap. I had artists like Ludacris, Nelly, Ke$ha, Three Days Grace, Billy Idol, Rob Zombie any many more artists. I never heard of K-Pop until the end of May but I have watch K-Dramas before and I fell in love with the dramas. My first K-Drama was Infamous Chill Sisters/Famous Princesses in 2006. Now back to K-Pop my very first K-Pop video was Big Bangs Fantastic Baby. The first time I watch it I didn't watch it all the way and did something else. But for some reason I went back to the video and fell in love with the world of K-Pop. Big Bang is my favorite group but I listen to many others. I try not to limit myself to what artists or groups I listen to but I was never able to get into girl groups. I tried but it didn't happen. Currently I have around 100 music videos on my YouTube playlist from artists like Big Bang, U-Kiss, Big Star, Boyfriend, Super Junior, FTIsland, N-Sonic, NOM and many many more. I didn’t fall in love of some of the artists right away. For some of them it took a single song for me to fall in love, while some took me a few music video, interviews and show appearances for me to fall in love. But after my first music video I was hooked for life. I only listen to K-Pop and nothing else. If someone asks me to recommend songs I give them K-Pop songs. I am not a crazy, die-hard fan but I will always support K-Pop. I think in the future K-Pop will take hold of the world and any K-Pop star will be welcomed anywhere and everywhere. Until that day I have to buy my CD's from the Internet and wait for K-Pop groups to come to a city near me.