Big Bang Collection Cards Giveaway

I just posted this on my tumblr in case anyone isn't following me on that and wants in on this giveaway of some of my Big Bang Collection Cards. I'm running the giveaway through the 31st of May!

You can get the details here. If you don't have a tumblr or twitter, you can't do the giveaway. But if you have only one, GO GO GO!

xoxo
Wally

Spring has almost sprung.

Aside from yesterday which was extremely sad and cold and rainy (it actually snowed in Gangwon-do, which is RIDICULOUS) the weather has been getting nicer and nicer. It's been sunny and warm and bordering on hot. Sunday I work shorts AND a tee-shirt and was perfectly comfortable. AMAZING.

Aside from my ankle (doctor tells me I tore two of the lateral ligaments in my ankle... level 2 ankle sprain), which is still a bit bothersome, everything is looking up.

I saw Big Bang on Sunday in a stroke of pure luck thanks to two co-teachers and some fast ticket buying at the last minute. To make it even better, due to an unfortunate incident involving SNSD's Taeyeon, everyone got full refunds for their tickets. This means I went to LotteWorld Amusement Park and saw Big Bang for FREE!! Gotta love it. Oh, and Park Bom of 2ne1 waved. TO ME!

Anyways,  my birthday is soon, and I'm gearing up for that, but more importantly, this weekend I am going to Jeju for a frisbee tournament that I'm not supposed to play in because of my ankle. I'm playing anyways.

Also, my baby sister, Melly officially got accepted to graduate school, and put in her deposit at Indiana University and she is going to get her master's degree in Water Resource Mangement and I couldn't be more proud of her if I wanted to. She is growing up and she is becoming a lovely, intelligent, well-spoken, beautiful woman. It's so exciting. I miss her so much. Like more than anyone. I just want her in Korea with me. Korea needs to work on all Resource Management, including water, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she'll come here one day. lol. not likely.

I also got my Dream Concert ticket/invitation. It's really complicated because it's not really a ticket. A student gave it to me, then I had to go to this random website to register my number and then there is a random drawing for 25,000 people to go the concert. I also had to use Hoon's name, not my own because evidently only Korean people can sign up, which is dumb.

That's it for now, I think. I have to make exam questions for my mid-terms today!! I can't wait for midterms. It's the start of a nice little mini vacation for me, and I'm very much looking forward to it. ^^

Big Bang 4th Mini Album Review

I got the album last Friday, and haven't had a chance to review it until just now.

But a warning. It's really long. And also, it's only at my tumblr page. I am trying to transition so my tumblr is all kpop all the time and my blogger is more personal, with focuses on Korea and teaching and my life here, not just kpop (which believe it or not, is only a part of my life)

Anyways, CLICK THIS LINK to read my review!

Bigbang Big Show 2011

I know I said I would keep this mostly kpop free since I started www.reallywally.tumblr.com but this is like the most exciting thing that's happened to me in Korea ever. So here's the post:

So. I went to the Big Bang Big Show Friday night.

I know I might get bricked by some VIPs for this but my review will have some negatives.

That being said, there will also be a whole lot more positives.

I went with my boyfriend who is not a huge Big Bang fan, but he loves me, so he will go anyways. His first concert ever in his life was YG Family Concert, and this show is number two.

Actually my day basically went wrong in every way humanly possible before the concert, so I actually wasn’t that excited until we basically were in the hall. To list my problems: we lost our plane tickets for our summer vacation home because the travel agent essentially lied about the price and we cannot afford them, my two kittens still haven’t met, and I had to go home before the concert to feed them, my usb drive broke, I had to go to the other side of town to get the Big Bang cd, and I realized I left my Big Bang lightstick at home roughly five minutes after it was too late to turn around and go get it.

But, enough on that. We got to the stadium and thats when everything started to get better. My boyfriend (who used to take lifeguard training classics at the olympic swimming ppol next to the main olympic stadium) found us some secret bathrooms that had no line as opposed to the 50 person line in the concert provided toilet stalls.

Got in line, where everyone was pretty friendly if not moderately terrified of how tall we are. They all were nervous about standing behind us.

We waited as the sun set and they slowly began to let people in to the standing sections. We were in section 5, which is , if you are looking at the stage, to your left a ways, but still standing and relatively close. We managed to get right into the corner where two walkways would meet, so we thought we would be able to get lots of close-ups with Big Bang walking by.

It got pretty hairy as the rest of our section poured into the standing area. I would say about 60-65% of the fans were really young (high school or younger) and the other 35-40% were about my age. Anyways, a group of middle school or so aged girls ended up standing right behind us (foolish move) and proceeded to complain loudly about how they can’t see in Korean as if I couldn’t understand. Then they said to my boyfriend that they couldn’t see, and I firmly informed my still green concert going boyfriend that we would not move for anyone, regardless of how short or whiny they were. If one person gets in front of us, we may just throw up a neon sign that says, step right up. The girls were pretty unhappy with me, but there’s nothing I can do about that.

Just before the concert began, some very severe pushing started within our section. It was pretty horrible, and I just thought plain unnecessary. Everyone was just temporarily out of their mind and shoving everything within sight to get as close as possible. It was really frustrating and before the show even started, I saw a girl get carried away by security because she had passed out. That’s how intense it was. In the course of the evening I personally saw about 6 passed out girls carried away, as well as one illegal camera use escorted out.

Anyhow, the security was super tight around me so I didn’t manage to get basically any pictures or videos, which is a total bummer. But, I was really close to the stage, so that was lucky, or at least I thought it was.

There are other posts that tell the exact line-up, I’ll just say my best memories:

1. The show opened with a revealing of the GD&TOP 집에가지마 video which was just spectacular and retro and so perfect for them. after the m/v, my boyfriend kicked something on the ground. He asked me what it was because it was a cylindrical box of some sort, and I looked down and discovered a box for big bang merch. I didn’t actually get to the merch table, so even though I knew the kind of stuff they were selling, I didn’t see any of the packaging to know waht would be in the box. But, regardless, I thought, that’s MINE now. I carefully picked it up and put it under my arm as the next song began. The pushing started back up again as people attempted to get every millimeter of closeness possible. In the next lull, I opened up the box and discovered, to my extreme joy, it contained the new edition of the light stick which I had been whining to my boyfriend that I wanted to buy since I left my old one at my house. So basically not only did I get standing seats to the concert, I also snagged a free brand new light stick.

2. Secret Garden parody was the best thing ever. They mimicked the scenes so well, and with such nice comedic timing and I really enjoyed it. There was lots of kissing, and lots of GD grabbing his fake Gil Ra-Im boobs, and Taeyang wearing a hilarious wig, and Daesung being the perfect mother of Joo-won (TOP) and the perfecrt recreations of all my favorite scenes: situps, cafe kiss, oska socks, I’m Gil Ra-Ims fan, farewell letter (omg, TOP CRYING), Seungri’s hair for Oska was perfect. Seriously perfect.

3. Taeyang’s solo performance of Where U At and I’ll be There. I wasn’t sure what he would perform or even if he would perform, so this was nice. Where U At is my boyfriend’s favorite song by Taeyang/Big Bang so he got really excited. Downside? As most people mention in other fan accounts, no shirtless-ness from Dae the ENTIRE concert. Major let-down.

4. 뻑이가요 performance by GD&TOP complete with segways, ridiculous suits, and a big ass tank on stage which GD climbed up on. Also, Oh Yeah featured Bommie live, which was great, and then High High all the boys came out on stage, which was also really exciting.

5. Seungri is typically my least favorite in the group. There is always something about his boasting and general loudness that I find a bit annoying. However, I’d like to officially retract all the negative things I’ve ever said about him. He was the only member of Big Bang to really show any love to our section at all. The walkways I was sandwiched between? Virtually unused. GD rolled by on the segway at the opening of 뻑이가요, Daesung walked by once. But in the middle of the show, Seungri heard our section begging them to come to our side, and he listened. He seemed to really show our section love, coming over to ourside (basically right in front of me) and pointing and singing and dancing right in front of us. It was nice that he recognized that we were getting basically no love and he helped us out. Also, his solo performances were really good. I don’t even own his mini-album, but after the concert, I’m tempted to buy it if only to express my gratitude for his concern during the show.

6. During the Encore, Taeyang stopped basically right in front of (there were maybe four people in front of me, but I’m gonna go ahead and assume he saw me and said, this is just for that sexy foreign girl right there, and he danced and sang and did this unbelievably sexy vibrating dance I am almost died right there I was so excited.

7. During the encore performance, TOP had the sexiest hip thrust I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I swooned so hard. It was right in time with 1, 2, 3, BIG BANG (jumpring down from the platform at three hard core hip thrust at BANG). I was like, yo top, come bang it over here in my direction.

8. The pyrotechnics were great! They went light on the fire and heavy on dope fireworks. The fire is awful because it severely impedes your vision and is fucking hot. The fireworks are just bad ass. There were some green ones that exploded and created really trippy smoke rings when they popped in the air. I was really intrigued by those.’=

9. Daesung’s Solo performance was the most memorable of the night. Actually, his performance throughout the concert was essentially flawless. He killed every note, and his new song Baby don’t cry was beautiful. It’s so nice to hear him sing a ballad. He was amazing. I love him.

The negatives:

1. Way too much pushing and hostility from the fans. It was uncomfortable and dangerous. A bunch of people fell in our section, and people were passing out right and left. This is common at concerts like this, but still, it’s depressing to see how fans get when their emotions take control.

2. No love on our side, including almost no attention to our neighboring walkways and a big light blocking a portion of the stage.

3. Security too close for any good pics

4. NO TONIGHT MUSIC VIDEO. This was the most disappointing thing as they announced on THURSDAY that they would premiere it and then Big Bang had to say that it didn’t get finished. They showed an unfinished version, but i actually really wished they hadn’t shown it at all. The clips were good, but they werent timed properly to the music, and it was super choppy and just disappointing

5. Serious technical difficulties before performing their newest songs. Fans shouted 괜찮아 but it took forever for them to fix the issue. Disappointing.

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed that.

I have to go take care of my just been neutered kitten who is lethargic and semi-depressed right now. Plus, I’m starving.

xoxo

By the way, did any of you go to the concert? What did you think?

One little kpop spam

Okay, so I've been pretty good at keeping this mostly k-pop free because, well, I started that tumblr account of mine that is pretty much strictly dedicated to all things k-culture (pop, drama, culture) and this is going to mostly anecdotes and stuff from life in Korea, food, school, activities, events, etc. If you are interested in that stuff, I recommend you head over to tumblr and subscribe/rss feed/read religiously/ask questions/etc!

But, tonight at 12 a.m. marks a major moment for me personally here in Korea. It's BigBang's comeback (after 2 years and 3 months... but who's counting?) and as lame as that may be, I am anticipating this and hyped for this more than perhaps anything in my whole life. This, to me, is more exciting than making the varsity basketball team, getting into college, starting university, turning 21, getting a bid to college nationals for ultimate frisbee, getting a job right out of uni, leaving America to teach English in another country, traveling to 3 continents in less than 12 months, and any other major life moment I can remember.

It's just that this group has really defined my experiences here. If it weren't for bigbang, I think a lot of my life he would just be lived in a state of: "this is just temporary, so don't bother getting attached" but via my love of bigbang I have been able to engage my students and initiate deep and meaningful relationships with them, have opportunities to meet people (both famous and not) that I'd never have met before, and learn a tremendous amount about the culture I am living in first hand.

If it weren't for big bang, I think I'd probably still believe that my living in Korea is 2-5 year commitment and just a break from a "real" life beckoning from America. However, this "temporary" Korean life has become so much more than that, and I can frankly say that this 2-5 year commitment has suddenly developed into a love that will last my whole life for a culture that I was turned on to at age 21 when I first saw the video for 거짖말 on youtube.

Thanks big bang for 2 years of memories and amazing experiences, and hopefully to many many more years filled with your music and concerts!!

Anyhow, here's the last teaser before bigbang has their comeback at midnight tonight. I hope you can see in it some little sparkle of love that I have huge quantities of.

p.s. In another life update, I'll add that I got my first kitten, Casanova, last friday, and am picking up my other lovely baby tonight. He doesn't have a name yet, but I will post pictures tomorrow. I promise.

p.p.s. OMG BIGBANG BIG SHOW IS FRIDAY. I'm dying.

Tumblr Giveaway

Thinking about doing a giveaway on my tumblr.

Big Bang's comeback is nearing and I'm thinking about doing a special comeback cd giveaway. I'd like it to be special for tumblr followers because my tumblr is new, and it'd be like a bigbang comeback celebration + tumblr christening.

Anyways, check out my tumblr and comment/reblog/whatever the hell it is, if you are interested in getting some Big Bang tunes for freeeeee!

www.reallywally.tumblr.com

xoxo
A

Korea

A full update on my life was promised so here goes. The good and the bad.

1. I got food poisoning on Wednesday/Thursday. I was up all night doing, you know, food poisoning-related things, and not sleeping at all. I called in sick because at 6:30 when my alarm went off I was like oh good, I've slept a total of 40 minutes or so, and I just threw up 20 minutes ago. This doesn't bode well. So I slept all effing day and ate nothing while trying to let my body recover. Korea is dealing with some serious livestock diseases, but i don't think that's what got me. I think it was veggies that came in contact with raw meat and then weren't cooked thoroughly. But anyhow, I'm all better now thanks to lots of sleep, and plenty of water.

2. On Tuesday I bought two first floor standing tickets to the Big Bang Big Show which I am SUPER excited to see. I'm basically dying, I'm so happy. I will be among the first people to see Big Bang perform new songs live after a two year hiatus from Korean promotions. Granted, they have performed at YG Family Concerts and last year's Big Show, but nothing new, so this is super exciting. Their album will release the day before the concert and I will go get it and memorize every song in 24 hours if it kills me. Then I will buy the official Taeyang usb drive at the concert sales booth and then I will fangirl spazz for 2 hours while my boyfriend questions why he ever started dating me.

3. I bought the Taeyang Solar Concert DVD. I made a youtube video about in case anyone hear reads my blog but hasn't subscribed to my youtube channel (Uh... SUBSCRIBE NOW PLEASE). Anyways, it's awesome except for this one hilarious and awful English mistake where a page reads, "Let's get start it" which obviously makes no sense. This is disappointing because YG has tons of high level English speakers, and you'd think that for once they would check something like this. Over 100,000 of these DVDs were produced and no one thought to go to a native English speaker and say, hey, is this right? Listen, YG, I'm your girl. I can do this free of charge (except every English grammar proofreading required document must be personally delivered by either Taeyang or Se7en, but that can be arranged, right?)

4. Frisbee practice started this weekend. We had practice on Saturday and Sunday and I am sooooo tired. But it was really fun, and I'm really really looking forward to more practices in increasingly warmer weather.

5. Last weekend I played in a volleyball tournament. I've never had so much fun playing volleyball. Somehow, I think I got better at volleyball via not playing it for 8+ years. I remember kind of sucking back in my freshman year of high school and thinking, welp since I literally can't do anything except blocking (I was a beast at blocking but I couldn't hit, which made me mostly useless) I'm gonna go ahead and quit and focus on bball. And I did just that. But volleyball was awesome and it makes me wanna play a whole bunch more.

6. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. I am actually pretty excited for it. Hoon and I are going to have a quiet night in. I am going to make dinner (maybe a revised hopefully even more delicious than last time tomato cream sauce pasta with garlic bread if I can figure out how to make garlic bread without an oven; can't I just crush some garlic, mix it with basil and butter, spread on a thick slice of baguette and sautee?) and give him my gift. In Korea, V-Day is different than back in the States in that only a girl gives a gift and the boy will give a gift to his girlfriend or crush or significant other on White Day which is on March 14th. So I will give a gift, which I will take a photo of and post later, and we'll do something again in another month. I like this time because Feb 5th was our 200 day anniversary (they celebrate every 100 days or at least the first couple, plus 1000, and then they stop, I think), then valentines day, then white day, then one month later is Hoon's birthday, and then two weeks after that is my birthday so it's like nonstop celebrations until May rolls around (but then our one year anniversary will be in July~ hahaha)

7. I might go skiing this upcoming weekend with Hoon and his family. Except we will go only one day and only at night, from like 9 p.m. until maybe 5 a.m. which will basically kill me (I have to go to frisbee the following day at 11) but I am really looking forward to it. Hopefully I can not totally suck at skiing so Hoon won't think I'm a completely uncoordinated loser.

8. I am trying to convince Hoon to get some of his Physical Education classmates to make a frisbee team to send to Jeju. I said I could be the coach. I think it'd be really fun and since they are all athletes (we're talking seriously jacked, run a marathon and then benchpress twice their weight, and then swim 4 miles and then take a 100 question exam on history of sports, sports rules, and human physiology without hardly breaking a sweat-type athletes... this includes the girls) they would probably dominate all the other beginner uni teams because they can run for hours without getting tired. Plus then I'd be obligated to get in better shape and practice frisbee with them too. Win-win, you see?

9. My school had graduation on Friday. I went, and it was only a little sad for me because I was still recovering from food poisoning and had to concentrate really hard on not falling over from fatigue during the ceremony. But, now that I think about it more, I'm pretty bummed. I've known all these students for two years, and they are AMAZING girls. I've gotten to known some of them (maybe about 15 or so) really well and I will certainly miss their smiles, hilarious jokes, helpful Korean lessons, sincere interest in English, enthusiasm for my class, and all-around good attitudes. The prospect of having these students in my classes later in the week helped me get through all the whiny, misbehaving, snarky students I had to deal with from time to time. I will miss them!!!

Also, in case you didn't know yet, I have a tumblr at www.reallywally.tumblr.com. It's basically 100% Korean culture all the time. Emphasis on kpop, but also with touches of food, drama, models, konglish and other interesting tidbits.

That's it.

xoxo
A

Bathroom Humor

This never gets old to me. Imagine seeing a sign like this in America. As awesome as it would be, it will never happen. But in Korea it is commonplace.

In other news I had food poisoning and am almost all recovered. And today I have my first frisbee practice. I also bought my unqlo big bang hoodie today. Pics at my tumblr!♥ www.reallywally.tumblr.com

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.6

New Things

Tonight I'm going to a big b-boy event in Seoul. Also, Dumbfoundead, David Choi, and Jay Park will be performing. I'm really excited about this. The unfortunate thing is that the event starts at 7:00 on the complete opposite side of Seoul from me. I checked the subway distance, and it looks like it's about 100 minutes via train (but it should be less given that I'll be taking the rapid), but that's really far, and I have to be at work until 4:30. So that means, I have to haul ass to the subway station after school is over in order to make it in time to meet my friend. I'm currently looking at time tables and route information to determine if I can go home or if I have to go directly to the concert... hmmm

Anyways, I'll take lots of pictures and videos and post them tomorrow hopefully.

Also, in other big news, my GD/TOP cd giveaway entry period is almost over, and I currently have some 120-something subscribers, so I will be doing the giveaway as planned. Just gotta reserve the cd sometime soon and go pick it up on the 24th or 25th. ^_^ yaaaaaaay! Hopefully I can get two copies at once. idk how that works.

xoxo
A

Take It Slow Spanish

So I just found this:



Also, I want to add that OMG I'm going to a party Friday that will be me and in the same club as Se7en TOP and GD. And I get to wear my gorgeous new dress AND be with my BOYFRIEND!! Merry Christmas to me!

G-Dragon and T.O.P. High High CD Giveaway!!

Hey, in an attempt to capitalize on my semi-popularity due to the YG Family Concert Fan Cams, I plan to do a special giveaway for my subscribers. I will  be giving away one copy of GD-TOP's High High full-length cd to a lucky subscriber.

See my video for information, and don't forget to subscribe to my channel, rate, and comment on my video!! GOOD LUCK!



xoxo
A

YG Family Concert Picture

OH. MY. GOD.

So at the concert, after the encore was finished, Se7en or G-D said, hey, we're gonna take a picture of YG family and the concert goers. I think they only did this for the last concert, but I can't really be sure since I wasn't at the other concerts. Anyways, the picture was just posted on the YG-life Blog, and I pulled up a bigger picture and OMG I am in it. My face is super washed out, but my hand is the one like a whole foot higher than everyone elses. And my boyfriend is next to me (hand also really high and making a peace sign) and you can see him too! It's soooooo cool! Anyways, here's the picture with a convenient circle around each of us. I'm on the left, my boyfriend is to the right. *^____^*

YouTube Videos

My youtube channel is currently ranked at the #46 most viewed South Korean channel of the day. This is a pretty awesome accomplishment. I'd like to thank GMarket for being amazing at finding me really close seats less than one week from the concert date, and YG Family for making an awesome concert.

Anyways, here are the videos from YG Family concert:









Share them with your friends, and get me even higher on the most viewed list!! And subscribe to my youtube channel!

YG Family Concert

I had a really great time at the YG Family Concert. Thanks to Miranda, I got a really awesome signed Taeyang cd (they went on sale at 10 a.m. and my concert wasnt till 7... so hells naw).

JH and I headed over to the concert at about 5:30. It was just enough time for us to exchange our tickets, pick up our wristbands, buy him a toast, let me guzzle my disgusting 한약, before we scramble to get in line just as our section was being let in. Thank GOD! It was JH's first concert ever, which is kind of shocking given we're both in our 20s and I've been to perhaps 30-40 concerts (my first being when I was maybe 11). I also had to give him lots of warnings about the crazy-ness of these fans (legit loco) and just before it started, I had to scold him into picking up his backpack off the ground. A good call because maybe 45 seconds later, the house lights dimmed and the intro to fire started playing and the crowd surged forward, pushing us a full 15-20 feet from our original position.

Anyways, the concert was pretty great. I'd have to say Se7en was the best in terms of overall quality of performance. His vocals were completely perfect, in my opinion. He looked amazing, and his voice matched impeccably. He and Gummy are obviously the really singers of the family, but Seven is an all-around performer. Plus, it seemed like his performance didn't have any tech errors, and the dancers he worked with were impeccable.

I was really impressed with Gummy, who displayed a lovely range of songs. Even though I'm not particularly familiar with her (I have maybe 2 Gummy songs), I enjoyed her performance (even though I thought it was too long...)

2ne1 was full of energy and really brought the fun. I used to really really like minji while bom and cl vied for second and dara was way behind. But seeing them perform, I thought they were just so perfect all together. It's hard for me to pick a clear favorite. CL is such a badass, and bom is just so fun, and dara is cute (at first I didn't like her cuteness, but in the show it was engaging), and minji is just this little spitfire. It was really cool to see them perform live.

Psy was fucking awesome. He's by far the oldest YG family member (born in 1977, he's nearly 5 years older than Gummy, the next oldest, and a full 17 years older than Minji, the youngest in YG), but he's also by far the most eccentric and engaging stage performer. His voice, his excitement, his crazy ass dance moves brought every single person in the crowd to a complete, standing roar of excitement. Through all of the songs he sang (4 in total), every single person was singing and screaming and jumping like some extra-human thing entered their bodies and took control. It was awesome. Psy had everyone hanging on his every word, his every movement. It was cool.

Big Bang was, shockingly, not my favorite. I already said Se7en was my favorite, so I guess you know that. But what I mean to say by that is I was a tiny bit disappointed by Big Bang's performance. Some things from Big Bang were really awesome: GD and TOP: 전화본호 in fur coats, 뻑이가요 (holy jesus this song is absolute fucking FIRE), GD/TOP/Taeyang: Hot 뜨거, 마지막인사, but the Daesung solo had a major mic error, which Daesung desperately tried to make funny, but without too much success, and the 승리 solo was way too much talking. Plus the boys looked a little tired. At the end of the encore, Taeyang wipe his face and breathed what seemed to be a sigh of relief that the concert's exhausting preparations and execution were finally over. Also, it seemed like a lot of Taeyang's solo vocal belts seemed out of place or strange.

I don't mean to say that the Big Bang performances weren't great, because they were. There just seemed to be an air of tiredness and a sense of rushed organization that usually isn't present in YG performances, especially from Big Bang.

I just hope our boys can get a tiny bit of rest in (especially Taeyang... he's been promoting for Solar since July and now is preparing for the Big Bang comeback) before they come back in February. I know TOP and GD are going to be doing promotions in December, but those guys (esp GD) have been pretty off the map for a while. I just hope that my taeyang can get his rest and charge up for a HUUUUUUUUUUUGE comeback.

Other stuff not kpop related coming soon!

A

OH MY JESUS.

The YG countdown revealed everything! OMG OMG OMFG IM FUCKING DYING.

G-Dragon and T.O.P. are releasing a double album. First digital single released Dec 14. Album out dec. 24th. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ME.

Also, BIG BANG COMBACK FEBRUARY 1 2011! OH MY GOD COMEBACK NOW.

Also also, Seung-ri is gonna have a single out January 3rd (happy birthday to my brother!)

No word on a 2ne1 international release. But aside from that, my life is complete. Everything will be entered into my calendars soon, and I will be counting down the moments till my happiness reaches its most ultimate point.

omg yes.

I found this on a tumblr and am obsessed.

Taeyang Solar Concert Review

As I mentioned, I went to Taeyang's Solar Concert this weekend. He had two concerts, one on Saturday, Sept. 25 at 7pm and another on Sunday, Sept. 26 at 6pm. I attended both, sitting on the first floor, 21st row on Saturday and second floor 14th row (?) on Sunday. I thought the concerts were both really amazing, but too short.

The set list and a short review of the performances will be posted below.

A few preliminary notes: The Sunday show was supposedly sold out, and I almost arrived late. The shows were both at 경희대학교 which is a beautiful university campus (Kyunghee University), and I highly recommend any potential Seoul visitors to go there and look around. It's incredibly scenic, with beautiful buildings, especially peace hall, which is where the concert was actually held. It's also quite hilly, so it's good for a bit of walking exercise. Also, as I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm totally YB-, BigBang-, YG Family-biased, so probably the review will come off exceedingly positive (although I do have a couple complaints). Last, the concert on Sunday was 18+ so the things that were different (which were fewer than anticipated) will be noted in a different color. Also, this was Taeyang's second and third solo concerts, not his first as many mistakenly say. He had a solo concert for HOT a while ago, but it wasn't a full length concert because it wasn't a full length album.

Pre-show: Before the show began, beside the main stage were two large screens showing various Taeyang videos, as well as a couple 2ne1 videos (at least one). My seats on Saturday were a bit stage left, and my seats on Sunday (which I barely made it to on time) were a bit stage right, which was intentional so as to best enjoy the full experience of the show. Sitting on the second floor was actually really great because I could see the whole stage, and the venue was still quite small so I was rather close.

Intro: The show began with the house lights dimmed, the intro music for Solar playing, and an artistic video of Taeyang preparing to enter the Hall playing. Then, as the intro picked up in the middle, suddenly Taeyang began his descent from above the stage in a white circle lit from all around. All the lights were on him as he stood posed and ready while the circle descended to a few steps when he officially began the concert. He was wearing an all white ensemble with aviator sunglasses. He had on a white vest with the very large collar that is eternally popular amongst celebrities here in Korea. The vest was heavily studded with silver and was quite blingy.

기도 (Prayer): His first song was 기도 which he went right into after descending from the circle thing. The performance was pretty standard. Since it was one of his singles, the choreography wasn't much different for the performances. I had been keeping my fingers crossed that Teddy would come out and do his rap verse, which would have been really awesome. Unfortunately, at neither did he come out. Instead, they played the vocals for the song and Taeyang danced enthusiastically. This seemed to really stand alone from the rest of the choreography as particularly impressive. I really enjoyed it.

I'll Be There: After 기도 Taeyang transitioned very smoothly (props to the music and sound techs who organized what appeared to me to be a very very clean sounding concert, with the mild exception of a mic problem on Sunday) to I'll Be There. He sang, as expected, the Korean version, which I happen to like better. The primary stage prop was a circular set of all white stairs. The stairs ascended and wrapping around the stairs from the bottom right to the upper left of the stairs was a sort of slope quite similar to rock cliff that appears in Taeyang's I'll Be There music video. Just as he does in the video, Taeyang climbs the sloping white stage prop and drops to his knees as he sings. It was nice, but I did happen to think the glistening white stage didn't quite create the same effect as the overgrown graveyard in I'll Be There provided. See below for a reference on the slope thing.

Imagine this scene but minus the graveyards, cloudy skies and overgrowth and add a glistening white veneer and a live band.

죄인 (Sinners): After I'll Be There, Taeyang performed 죄인, which happens to be my favorite song off his first mini-album, HOT. Also, I happened to MUCH prefer this performance to the performance in his first solo concert for HOT promotions. In the old performance, Taeyang dances with a girl who has ugly clothing and is only kind of pretty and it involves some weird shit on a table and it doesn't really make as much sense. This time, the girl is only somewhat involved, and Taeyang really got into singing this song. He moved around the stage quite a bit and got on his knees and really sexed it up for us. This time instead of a table, they used a plush armchair. The sexiest part was when the dancer bent over at the waist and touched the ground and Taeyang came from behind her, grabbed her hips and did a mild body roll towards her. This was the moment when all sanity kind of left me on Saturday and I was mesmerized. Taeyang also did his favorite move when singing where he turns sideway giving his most popular profile view, spreads his arms out wide and throws himself back from the hips and just hits the note with full on intensity. He loves that pose. And frankly, so do I.

After this, he talked briefly and a little dolly rolled out and on it was a white jacket (he had removed the bedazzled vest earlier, perhaps during I'll be There or Sinners, I can't entirely remember). The new jacket has his face bedazzled in silver studs on the back. I bit much I thought, but so goes it. He introduced himself, and welcomed all of us to the concert. Then he introduced his next song, Just a Feeling

Just a Feeling: I thought this performance was just okay. I also think this song is just okay. Perhaps my lack of enthusiasm regarding the song inhibits my ability to fully appreciate the song, but whatevs. It was good, but really there was nothing special here. Just a lot of dancing and such. kind of standard I though.

Move: Now this song is when Taeyang really starts to bring the sexy. Again, no teddy, but his rap section is included. The stage prop had turned at some point between I'll Be There and Sinners (I can't seem to remember it actually turning around) and it revolved once again to reveal the steps. However, this time, on the steps were three stripper poles extending upwards from the stairs. As the stage thing revolved, two dollies which also had stripper poles attached moved onto the stage creating a five girl stripper triangle of sorts, with Taeyang as the sixth on the bottom center. The girls were dressed in white button down dress shirts, black panties (of the cheeky boy cut variety), stockings and black heels. They were dancing really suggestively on the pole both on Saturday and Sunday. The dance was pretty much the same both days. This song really ramped up the sex factor. The girls were almost half-naked and dancing as glorified strippers while Taeyang walked around staring at the girls and sang lyrics like "move move, baby don't stop it" On Sunday the girls took their shirts off to reveal black satin lingerie. On Saturday, this did not happen. Additionally, on Saturday, parts of Teddy's rap lyrics were censored. The words censored were body and play, which seemed odd, because it was in the lyric: "You're body is my wonderland, I can play all night" and the lyrics: "I'm so vicious like Sid with my sex pistols" and "Niagra Falls, baby girl I got you wetter than" were not censored. Clearly the censors were not native English speakers and didn't grasp the excessive sexual nature of the latter lines. On Sunday, from my seat I could see the girls prepping for this song in the brief couple seconds between songs, and I was really impressed. This one girl came tearing across backstage and lept onto her stripper pole while buttoning her shirt just in the knick of time. The stage prop thingy rotated around at just that moment. Nice work lady.

Then there was a video. This (and the shirtlessness during Move) was the biggest difference between Saturday and Sunday. The video showed Taeyang dressed in white lying asleep on a big plush white bed. Then, his opposite, that girl, she is shown kind of looking for him. Also, between scenes of Taeyang in bed and the girl looking for him, there are images of him in his You're My get-up but more gripping, with focus largely on his hands. On Sunday, the video featured the two of them together in bed, snuggling and touching each others faces and holding hands and even at one point Taeyang rolling over and climbing on top of her. Also, there was even more focus on his hands, specifically the ring he always wears. At the end of the video, I could be mistaken, but it appears that the girl removes his ring from his finger, although I'm not clear what that was supposed to signify (holding onto his love, or ending the love...?)

Ma Girl: Then he said Ma Girl, which was pretty good. I thought the video graphics for this song were kind of eh, subpar. I thought they were pretty tacky. Otherwise, the performance was great! Ma Girl is one of my favorite performances because it's always really sexy. He sort of humps the ground and then lays on his back and body rolls and omg, it's so wonderful.

You're My: I hate this song. A lot. However, Taeyang was super super super super sexy when he sang this song because he was in a full suit and just look unbelievably handsome. Just impeccable, really. Plus, the live version of this song wasn't quite so high, because that would be difficult in the one opportunity he has on stage. It could strain him a lot. Still, this wasn't my favorite. I can't help but be reminded of the shitty English that I see everywhere else in this country when I listen to this song.

Talk: Taeyang talked briefly here about some things. And then said he'd be doing I Need a Girl.

I Need a Girl: totally one of the highlights. Taeyang went out into the crowd. On Saturday I was really close to him, but he still didn't see me (darn you security guard in my way) and he was singing to various audience members and I was jealous. But, I got even more jealous as he made his way across the hall and chose a girl  near him to come up onstage with him. He held his arm out and escorted her to the stage and had her sit on a chaise lounge. Then he danced around behind her and gave her a gift box, which she opened. Upon opening the gift, she discovered that it was a bra and panties, pink satin (On Sunday it was some kind of animal type printer and WAY sexier...) and then he sat next to her and proceeded to basically serenade that stupid little annoying girl (she wasn't stupid or annoying, I'm just jealous), while brushing the hair off her face and looking in her eyes. Then he turned sideway, and laid down and put his head on her lap!!!!! >.< And THEN he held her hand and he got back up and kissed her cheek!!!!! >.<   >.<   >.<  On Sunday he also picked up the girls legs and sat near her waist and leaned in to kiss her. She leaned away (CRAZY GIRL) and he ended up kissing her kind of on the neck. I was incredibly jealous. Then, as the song ended, he took her hand and they walked together off stage through a walkway cut out into the turned-around stage thingy.

니가 잠든 후에 (After You Fall Asleep): I hated this performance. Except for this cool horse gallop dance that Taeyang did, I thought this performance was really dumb. There was this big ugly looking bed that came out and Ji-Hye, his main dancer, is in the bed, and I was sure that something interesting was going to happen, especially at the Sunday performance and given the sexy bed scene famous in G-Dragon's solo concert, but ALAS, no such luck. He just stood on the bed and stepped over JiHye awkwardly. I hated this.

Connection: An all-English song which initiated a lengthy series of English songs. This song was on his solar international release album. I thought the performance was okay. The four main male dancers had little square risers that they set up in different groups and which Taeyang jumped on top of and sang from in various points across the stage. Meh. I was more entranced by the video in the background which had all the lyrics in a kind of interesting presentation, with the words dropping onto the screen and scrolling across is strange orders. It was pretty cool.

GUEST PERFORMANCE

Slow Jam (by Usher): Taeyang sang a duet of Slow Jam with IU. IU's voice was gorgeous. On Sunday, I thought her dress was really really beautiful. It had more flare from the hips and was all black and had this really cute big flowery bow on one shoulder. It was cute I was really impressed by IU

Better in Time (Leona Lewis performed by IU): Beautiful. I really liked that I knew all the English songs that they sang. IU is also super adorable and I love her. She's only 18, Korean age (so 17 everywhere else).

Baby I'm Sorry: Taeyang came back to sing this song, which I don't know well. He was wearing jeans and a black jacket now, if I'm not mistaken. I liked his jeans, but felt kind of neutral regarding the jacket. However, this song is gorgeous and beautiful and perfect. I LOVE THIS SONG.

Wedding Dress: Another classic. But, for some reason, probably the clothing, the performance just didn't do it for me. The back-up dancers kind of outshined Taeyang on this one. I might get crucified for saying that, but it's just my opinion.

Super Star: OMG I LOVE THIS PERFORMANCE. I keep wavering on how much I like this song, going between meh, it's just so-so and liking it pretty well (it's never been my favorite, but on good days it breaks the top five on Solar). The performance, though, was really great. It was based on a drumline type style, not too unlike the After School Bang performances, except without the drums, and without the ripped choreography. It was really fun.

Breakdown: Also with sort of the drumline feel. I LOVE THIS SONG. And the performance was just so upbeat and fun and so that was really nice. I enjoyed this. Their outfits were all red and the girls had cheer skirts on and those drumline hats with the poofy white feathers. And in the part where he says Elevator 저럼 let's go up and down, Taeyang jumped into the arms of the male dancers and the lifted him up in the air and back down a couple times. It was cool if not a bit too literal.

I Want You Back (MJ tribute): Taeyang did I want you Back and it made me happy. I love that song, it's so classic, and he actually sang it really well all in English. Taeyang really is a lovely performer. It was at this point that I just kind of thought, wow, I love him.

Closing Comments: Taeyang said a few last words. At the concert I didn't understand exactly what he was saying. On Saturday, it was quite a long speech. He seemed really moved and really sad. It turns out that was correct. Translations of portions of his speech: "The journey of my Solar album... as with all journeys, there were difficult and lonely times, but all of those times taught me great things" and "I think my next solo album... I think that it will have to take a long time. Because I think I'll only be able to put together a new album after searching more of myself and knowing more of who I am." "And I would like all of you to really be happy...and I want to say that I am truly thankful. Thank you so much." He cried, like seriously cried during this speech and I couldn't help but cry too. It was beautiful.  It should be noted that he didn't cry at all on Sunday and his speech was much shorter. He didn't seem nearly so sad. And I'm glad for that.

나만바라봐 (Look Only at Me): I cried my way through this song. Taeyang was a little choked up singing it so he let it go for the audience in the first verse a bit, and the audience really impressed me with their  enthusiasm and supportive singing. This song really isn't very nice lyrics-wise (Baby, even if I cheat on you, don't you cheat on me. Even if I forget you, don't you forget me. Even if I don't call and a I go out and drink and I meet eyes with another woman, only look at me). But, he did a remix at the end, and I'm fairly certain (although not positive, given my shaky on spot translating skills) that it was sort of an attempt to rectify the questionable lyrics. It seemed to me to be like, I love you more than anything type stuff. But it was really good.

Encore:
Where U At: Hoodies and baseball caps were worn for the encore performance. A side note about encores. When the fans shout for an encore, they all pronounce like N-core, N-core. Which I find quite annoying. But, so it goes. When in Korea, do as the Romans do. This performance was good. Standard Where U At.

Take It Slow: I'm so happy that he saved this song for the end. This is the song he wrote and composed and it's beautiful. This is my favorite song on the album and I think it's a perfect conclusion to a wonderful concert. I LOVED this performance. He did another of his hands out wide and back bend thing and I wanted to cry again. I loved it.

Note: On Sunday there was a secondary encore performance that Taeyang did of 나만바라봐 and Take it Slow. For 나만바라봐 the audience sang the whole chorus and it was awesome. I LOVED it. And then Take it Slow AGAIN. A lot of people left before hand, but I was able to catch it AND take a video. So here's that video of 나만바라봐. I had to cut it off suddenly at the end because a security lady was coming over to scold a group of us for recording and I slyly hid it away just in the knick of time. For your viewing pleasure:




xoxo
A

A Video

This is for my friend Words Run Dry.



Maybe she's seen it, maybe not. But now all of you can see it.

omg omg omg omg omg

I am so jealous of Jihye. YOUNGBAE KISSSSSSSSSED HER. waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

I mean, sure, I have a boyfriend. I'm happy with him. But still, omg omg omg omg omg Taeyang kissed her. I'm so jealous. I'm glad my man understands my obsession with taeyang. otherwise, I'd be screwed.

Watching this video, I little squealed in pain when I saw it. And then I banged my fists on my desk and said, "NO NO NO NO NO!!"

See for yourself.

Taeyang Solar Album Lyrics

So I know this probably won't be of any interest to most of you, but I figured I could put the lyrics of the songs on Taeyang's Solar album all in one convenient spot. Please forgive the next nine posts being nothing but lyrics. I't s a service to my people.

Update: I created a new website which contains all the lyrics in Korean (hangul), plus a romanized pronunciation guide, PLUS English translations. Enjoy!

www.reallykpop.com