perfect vacation

i never knew why people loved going to boracay. i thought, "it's just a beach. white sand and great nightlife. and so?" even my colleagues from the other apac offices who have been to boracay can't stop raving about the island. and so, finally, i had the chance to go there this week and see for myself what magic charm this little island has that's got everybody keep wanting to go back.

me and my girl friends went there on the 27th - we flew via ZestAir (big mistake - cheap flights but flights were delayed). Our 11.50 am flight became 3 pm. From Kalibo airport, we had to take another 1 1/2 hour van ride to Caticlan, then rode a boat for 10 mins to the island and another 20 mins ride via multicab to get to our hotel. We reached White House Boracay almost 6.30pm.

white house boracay is in the middle of Station 1, where all the fancier and more expensive resorts were situated. (white house happened to be the least expensive among the rest - hehe). Overall, the hotel wasn't bad, but it wasnt good either. Reception is fast - i guess our nagging and constant requests paid off coz for the rest of our stay, most of the reception staff knew us and easily responded to our questions and requests (well except for the dvd player and the blow dryer but that's ok since they gave us a big electric fan in lieu of the blow dryer). unfortunately, all of the beachfront rooms were fully booked so we ended up staying at the rooms across the street, which wasn't bad but the beachfront rooms looked better than our room. Well, the room was pretty standard, nice queen sized bed and extra beds, quite roomy for 3 persons, we had a small tv with cable (and cai loved that there's PBB 24/7 installed). the room was clean (except for the a part of the ceiling which looked ugly). we booked 2 rooms - the room which i shared with cai and nina had an awful bathroom (specifically the shower was really really bad - the cold shower was broken so it would take us minutes to make it work while we were suffering from the hot hot hot (!!!) water). lea and benz's room's shower was much better - hot/cold shower was working fine and they even had a counter top for the sink - though i heard lea complaining that the shower head looks like it's about to fall off anytime. another bad thing about our rooms - we had a difficult time locking the sliding doors!

so now the beach.. station 1 was not crowded, the sand was really fine and white. water was really clear. we had the chance to pass by station 2 during the 4 days we were there and.. we're glad we decided to stay in station 1! the beach area in station 2 was the exact opposite - dirty, crowded and sand is not as fine and clean. station 2 looked too commercialised and the people looked "jologs" (sorry if i sounded mean and snobbish). the crowd in station 1 were mostly older, families rather than friends/couples, and looked like they had a lot of money (now, i'm admitting that in station 1, we were the one who looked "jologs" - hehe)
since we went to boracay to chillax - station 1 was the perfect place for us to stay - it was quiet and we can just lounge around the beach or swim in the waters and do nothing all day. on the other hand, at night, it was sosy - we had a sumptious dinner buffet at seawind on the first night (where they served mongolian rice/noodles and grilled seafood) and on the following night, we decided to splurge a little, wore our best clothes and dined at the buffet at discovery shores (food was ok - the expensive price was due to the ambience and the name of the resort). around 11pm, everything in station 1 is closed and there were barely people hanging around the beach, so we ended up going to station 1 for some night life.

some of our friends recommended bombom bar, guilly's island and hey jude. so each night we tried to go to these areas but i guess it's because it's december so there weren't many people in the bars. guilly's and the bar right beside it had an upbeat club music blasting but we didn't see anyone in sight or even dancing! we headed to bombom bar - it was crowded with nice live acoustic music - we couldn't get a table but luckily we got one at the next bar (creek bar) and our table were right beside the live act. we stayed there until 1am - a lot of people were there just drinking and chatting in their own tables and it got quite boring.

during lunch time, we headed to d' talipapa and had crabs and shrimps for lunch. yummy!!! we also tried the tuna omelette and sandwiches in real coffee (we confirmed with the wait staff that this is where anne curtis and aga muhlach shot one of the scenes from the movie when love begins)

so, in boracay, all we did were - eat, sleep, walked along the beach, swim in the waters - that's it. for 3 days. we just relaxed. no pressure to follow an itinerary or do any water sports. just pure laziness and conversations with my girl friends. it was the perfect vacation for all of us. we loved it. and we plan to come back next year.

white sand

i'm off to boracay with my best pals for a post-xmas / pre-new year trip!

will be back on the 31st!

all i want for xmas

various Fluxus artists recently released the MV for their version of "All I Want For Christmas Is You".. Check it out! This MV includes the vocals of Clazziquai, Winterplay, U&Me Blue, W&Whale, ByeByeSea, Park Ki-young and Yi Seung-yol!


Enjoy the song and merry christmas!

give love this xmas and everyday

it's such a nice feeling having get togethers with our relatives and close friends. esp during xmas. not only do we get to buy (and receive gifts) from people close to our hearts, it's also a chance for us to meet and chat and reminisce about old times and talk about our future plans. it makes you appreciate that there's plenty of love in your life and how wonderful it is to be alive. i thank my friends and my family for always being there and for making not just xmas but everyday great day because we have them in our lives.

may everyone have a truly blessed christmas and a wonderful and prosperous new year!

back to normal

yay! finally, the jollibee across the street is open again!

and the street lights are also fixed!

all that's left is the car to come back from the repair shop!

LSS: heartbeat

despite the huge controversy over 2PM leader, Park Jaebeom's early departure from the group, 2PM came back alive and kicking! they released their first album, aptly entitled 1:59PM (signifying that without Jay, they're not 2PM..awww) last Oct and their title track, Heartbeat has been no. 1 in various K-music charts consistently over the past few weeks!

Heartbeat MV

Of course, being a fan of 2PM, i downloaded their album. the first 2 tracks were the ones i listened to, Crazy About You and Tired of Waiting, but it was Heartbeat that they decided to perform for their comeback. And they were right on target! When I first heard the song, it was just so-so to me. I thought Taec and Chansung's weird rap at the start were awkward but then so many people are raving about their comeback performance that I watched their comeback special performance of Intro+Heartbeat... and I was blown away!!! They were the "beastly" idols during the Again & Again phase but now in Heartbeat, they just grew up to a more mature and manlier idols.. All 6 guys are wearing spiffy suits, a little makeup (they're supposed to look like zombies or half-dead people).. and their amazing Zombie dance and overall choreography is just fantastic!

I don't need to understand Korean to know what the song is all about.. well.. it's because the chorus is in english (hehe..).. "Listen to my heartbeat.. it's beating for you.. listen to my heartbeat... it's waiting for you.." so the song kinda says that without the girl, they can't live (hence the zombie-like dance). Oh, and the heatbeat thing that Taecyon does at the start (with his thumping chest and heart-throbbing hands) are so cool.

And how about the long dance break in the middle? I love it! I keep watching every single performance and i usually fast forward to the part where they do the whole dance routine with the pyramid.. and the best part is the finale!!! Every performance has a different finale.. each of the boys have their own "deaths", For Junsu, Junho, Wooyoung and Taecyon, they individually do back flips, cartwheels, somersaults then "dye".

Wooyoung

Junho

Junsu

Chansung

Taecyon's different, he rips his shirt off, showing his ripped abs, to the delight of all the fan girls.

Nichkun can't do the backflips (coz i heard he hurt his back) so in one performance, after they do the pyramid, Nichkun stands up, pushes them all down, grabs Taecyon and "takes his heart" and dumps him on the floor. Cool huh?

In the next performance, Taec got his revenge when they did the same thing except that when Nichkun was about to grab Taecyon, he woke up, pushed Nichkun down and grabbed his heart instead!

Since it's December now and it's year-end awards season, the boys have been performing Heartbeat with Again & Again.. so instead of one of them elaborately dying, they usually end the song with all of them doing their individual deaths simultaneously (did that make sense?).. fall down.. the background music of a heart flatlining... then the heart beats again and the intro for Again & Again starts.

MAMA

Golden Disk Awards (this is where Taec rips his shirt)



However, even with the huge success of 2PM currently, fans (including me) think that there's something missing in their performance... of course I'm talking about Jaebum! It's funny how they're already 6 in the group (and looks crowded in the stage) but I feel like it's not enough. They're giving they're all but I think their performance lacks the star power and aura from Jay. I don't know if Jay will be back... JYP is hinting that if he wants to come back, he'll still be part of 2PM.. but the question is.. does Jay still want to come back? He's now back in Seatlle and looks like he's having a great time there with his bboy crew. Maybe it's enough for him. Maybe next year people will forget about him. Maybe next year the 6 boys will stop mentioning him in all their acceptance speeches. Maybe he'll just be one of those idols who left and never came back. Or maybe he can be like HyunA (quitting Wonder Girls now making it big with 4Minute)... i dont know.. but I think he's a waste of huge talent.. and he needs to come back!

PS - 2pm boys may look beastly, but if you've seen them in variety shows, they're just too dorky and you realise how young they all are.. that these "men" are really still boys (ages 19-21)... Without Jay, my current fave is Taec and Wooyoung.

Here's Wooyoung in some of his infamous ssanti dances! hahaha! enjoy!

xmas vacay

i just got back from a business trip in singapore! and i'm now officially on a well-deserved xmas vacation! yay! i'll be out of the office for the rest of the month and will be back next year! still got lots of xmas shopping to do (oh no.. time is running out) and i still have to shop for my boracay trip after xmas!!! it's going to be a fun christmas!

the blue bloods

two years ago, right after the "vampire" boom in the publishing industry (due to the huge success of twilight), i tried searching for similar authors and look what what i found!

Book 1: Blue Bloods
Publication Date: March 27, 2007

Within New York City’s most elite families, there lurks a secret society of celebrated Americans whose ancestors sailed on the Mayflower. They are the powerful and the wealthy—and in fact, they are not human. They are the Blue Bloods, an ancient group of vampires.

Schuyler Van Alen has never fit in at Duchesne, her prestigious New York City private school. She prefers baggy, vintage clothes instead of the Prada and pearls worn by her classmates, and she lives with her reclusive grandmother in a dilapidated mansion. Schuyler is a loner—and happy that way.

But when she turns fifteen, Schuyler’s life changes dramatically. She has a mosaic of blue veins on her arms, and craves raw meat. The death of a popular girl from Duchesne is surrounded by a mystery that haunts her. And strangest off all, Jack Force, the most popular boy in school, is showing a sudden interest in her.

Schuyler wants to find out the secrets the Blue Bloods are keeping. But is she herself in danger?

Steeped in vampire lore and set against the glittery backdrop of New York City, Blue Bloods will be devoured by fans of Melissa de la Cruz.

Book 2: Masquerade

Publication Date: May 1, 2007

Schuyler Van Alen wants an explanation for the mysterious deaths of young Blue Bloods. Her search brings her to Venice, Italy, in the hopes of finding the one person who can help. Meanwhile, back in New York, preparations are feverishly underway for the famous Four Hundred Ball, an exclusive gala hosted by the city’s wealthy, powerful, and unhuman—a true Blue Blood affair. But it’s at the after-party masquerade that the true danger lurks. Hidden behind the masks is a revelation that will change the course of a young vampire’s destiny.

Rich with glamour, attitude, and vampire lore, this second installment in the Blue Bloods saga will leave readers thirsty for more.

Book 3: Revelations

Publication Date: October 31, 2008

Have you ever wondered what secrets lurk behind the closed doors of New York City’s wealthiest families? They’re powerful, they’re famous… they’re undead.

Schuyler Van Alen’s blood legacy has just been called into question—is the young vampire in fact a Blue Blood, or is it the sinister Silver Blood that runs through her veins? As controversy swirls, Schuyler is left stranded in the Force household, trapped under the same roof as her cunning nemesis, Mimi Force, and her forbidden crush, Jack Force.

When an ancient place of power is breached by Silver Bloods in Rio de Janeiro, however, the Blue Bloods will need Schuyler on their side. The stakes are high; the battle is bloody; and through it all, Schuyler is torn between love and passion, duty and freedom. And in the end, one vampire’s secret identity will be exposed in a revelation that shocks everyone.

Book 4: The Van Alen Legacy

Publication Date: October 6, 2009

With the stunning revelation surrounding Bliss’s true identity comes the growing threat of the sinister Silver Bloods. Once left to live the glamorous life in New York City, the Blue Bloods now find themselves in an epic battle for survival. Not to worry; love is still in the air for the young vampires of the Upper East Side. Or is it? Schuyler has made her choice. She has forsaken Jack for Oliver, choosing human over vampire. But old loves die hard...And even coldhearted Mimi seems to suffer from the ties that bind.

Young vampires unite in this highly anticipated fourth installment of the New York Timesbest-selling series.

---

Some reasons why I love this series:

1.) This series is written by Filipina Melissa dela Cruz. 

According to her website,  Melissa de la Cruz is the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of many critically acclaimed and award-winning novels for teens including The Au Pairs series, the Blue Bloods series, the Ashleys series, the Angels on Sunset Boulevard series and the semi-autobiographical novel Fresh off the Boat.

Her books for adults include the novel Cat’s Meow, the anthology Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys and the tongue-in-chic handbooks How to Become Famous in Two Weeks or Less andThe Fashionista Files: Adventures in Four-inch heels and Faux-Pas.

She has worked as a fashion and beauty editor and has written for many publications includingThe New York Times, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Allure, The San Francisco Chronicle, McSweeney’s, Teen Vogue, CosmoGirl! and Seventeen. She has also appeared as an expert on fashion, trends and fame for CNN, E! and FoxNews.

Melissa grew up in Manila and moved to San Francisco with her family, where she graduated high school salutatorian from The Convent of the Sacred Heart. She majored in art history and English at Columbia University (and minored in nightclubs and shopping!).

She now divides her time between New York and Los Angeles, where she lives in the Hollywood Hills with her husband and daughter.

2.) This is way better than the Twilight series.

Characters 

In Twilight, the lead heroine (and she doesn't seem like it) Bella, is spineless, dependent and uninteresting loner/high school student. She doesn't have ambitions and a bitch to her human friends. I actually don't understand how two hot guys (albeit weird - werewolf and vampire) are fighting over her. I don't see anything nice about her. In Blue Bloods, Schuyler is everything that Bella isn't. She's a fighter, independent, fiercely loyal to her "few" friends. She has her own mind and she's adventurous. Add that she's so pretty, you understand why her best friend Oliver and the most popular guy in school, Jack, are fighting (silently) over her.

How about the four guys? Jacob vs Oliver and Edward vs Jack. Here, the 4 four guys are about the equal. Jacob and Oliver are from the same stereotype - best friends to Bella/Oliver. Both of them will do anything for them. While Jacob is a werewolf and can protect Bella from vampires, Oliver is plain human but very rich and smart and always finds a way to help and protect Sky from fellow bad Blue/Silver Bloods. Edward vs Jack - now this is harder. I've always been Team Edward, he's so perfect and beautiful and he can do anything. He's even willing to die when he thought Bella died (how emo!). On the other hand, Jack is like that hot, popular guy you always see in movies and tv shows - he's so dreamy and unattainable (esp since he already has an equally beautiful and perfect girlfriend/sister Mimi). Jack is a bit more restrained than Edward, while Edward is powerful enough to get what he wants, Jack is morally and dutifully bound to Mimi, but his undeniable attraction and love for Sky is making him violate the code (which is going to be hard to do since he might be punished and will be facing major consequences for his actions).

Other characters - The human friends in Twilight are just fillers and though Bella interacts with the Cullens and the author tries to give a background about them, I feel like they're not deep enough for the readers to understand them. Blue Bloods is written in a way that you read the personal feelings or thoughts of even the other (but major) characters - Mimi, Bliss, Oliver (sometimes the chapters are written from their pov). While Mimi at the start was a bit like Queen Bee Blair Waldorf and the "other woman" between Jack and Sky, you would realize in the 2nd and 3rd book that she's not as manipulative, vain and evil as she looked like. While i love Jack/Sky, i can't help feel sad about Mimi and want to root for her- good thing i heard that in the 4th book, she might have some love connection with Kingsley. There are also a lot of other characters, like Bliss' sister Jordan, her ex-bf Dylan and the older Blue Bloods.

Plot / Story

Twilight focused on two things: teenage romance (with love triangle between Bella/Jacob/Edward) and the long outstanding feud between werewolf/vampires (and throw in some humans). I felt that the story was a bit shallow. Because Edward killed Victoria's boyfriend in the first book, the next 2 books talked about how she will avenge her boyfriend's death by killing Bella (yawn!). For a bunch of 100 something year old vampires, that's a bit high school-ish isnt it? I loved Twilight and Eclipse, but New Moon was soo boring. Half of the time when Bella was emoting and feeling depressed and suicidal, i wanted to go inside the book and slap her until she wakes up from her foolish I-can't-live-without-Edward crap. The 4th book was more about vampires vs humans (I read until half but was so disgusted and disappointed i stopped and havent bothered finishing the book).

On the other hand, Blue Bloods tackles more than just teenage romance. No werewolves this time, instead, it's vampires (Blue Bloods) vs vampires (Silver Bloods). The theory is that they were all angels before but when Lucifer (who was also an angel) left Heaven, the other angels (like Gabriel and Michael) came down and they all became vampires living in Earth. Since this is a young adult fiction, of course there's several Gossip Girl types of storylines (teenage angst, girlfights, love triangle - with no sex) but mainly it's an adventure/mystery story (who is killing the other vampires? is Lucifer back? will Gabriel ever wake up?), with the ultimate question: who will win? good or evil?

I've read the first 3 books and I already have a copy of the 4th book (still havent read though). I read somewhere that this series was intended to only be a trilogy but then Melissa had so many interesting plots and twists to tell that she ended up writing Part 1 into 4 books. And she plans on continuing to the next part of the series as another trilogy. So if you guys are bored with Twilight, read this series instead!

stage greeting, preview of "Nodame"

Today Ueno Juri, Tamaki Hiroshi and the rest of the main cast of "Nodame Cantabile: The Final Score – Part I" gathered in Tokyo, wearing the exact same outfits as in the movie, for the stage greeting and preview screening event.


Ueno led the cast into the theater, passing right next to the 4000 screaming fans who have been eagerly waiting to see the continuation of Fuji TV’s highly successful youth dorama series. This movie is the first of the 2 movies that are going to mark the end of this series about music and the love between a sensitive pianist (Ueno) and an elite musician (Tamaki).

"It’s not that easy to create such a large-scale movie packed with so much energy. I’m really excited." Ueno greeted the audience. As you know, the filming of the Nodame movies took place in 4 different European countries. Ueno was asked to share her thoughts about filming abroad and as usual she had a unique story on hand. "It was difficult in the beginning, but now I’m okay with eating pizza and pasta every day. I got used to it."

Ueno really has the same naiveté as her role in Nodame and Tamaki simply had to poke fun at her again. "Did you really just talk about food?" His thoughts about filming abroad: "I’m very happy that I got to conduct in Europe’s famous hall."

"Nodame Cantabile: The Final Score – Part I" will open on the 19th while Part II is slated for a release on April 17 next year.


kawaii-joyuu

ahhh!!! so excited!!! gyaboo!!! if you haven't watched the live action series, watch it now!!!!

sweet, sweet yozoh

If I had a good singing voice.. I think I would prefer to have Yozoh's voice rather than divas like Mariah. Yozoh's voice is so soft and soothing.

Full Albums:

Yozoh (with Sogumo Acacia Band) - My Name is Yozoh

Download

Vol. 1 - Traveler

Release Date: Oct 21, 2008

Download

Digital Singles:

37.2 Pink (ft Primary)

Release Date: March 11, 2008

Nostalgia (ft. Eric) with Broom Classic

Release Date: June 17, 2008

Download

Morning Star

Release Date: Oct 7, 2008

Morning Star (Album Version)

Cooky

Release Date: April 10, 2009

Honey Honey Baby

Yozoh and JP - Color of City

Release Date:  May 15, 2009

Like

Vono

Release Date: Nov 10, 2009

Sweet Step

She also participates in OSTs of Kdramas (ex. Coffee Prince) with fellow Pastel musicians and other indie groups. I will also feature similar artists that I like soon, but for now, enjoy the sweet melodies of Yozoh!

Yozoh with 2PM and Suju

going mainstream

a few years back, musicals and plays were just for the artsy fartsy crowd.. i'm not part of that crowd but i guess i'm one of the few people who loves watching theater plays.. back then, the only plays that were widely known to pinoys were any play that lea salonga is in.. miss saigon, baby, they're playing our song, etc.. now, more and more younger artists are crossing over to theatre (kc concepcion, karylle, sam concepcion to name a few) and this has been one of the reasons why pinoys have starting watching musicals.

another thing that making plays seem hip is that this year, the 2 big production houses, Atlantis Productions (http://www.atlantisproductionsinc.com) and Repertory Philippines (http://www.repertory-philippines.com), have staged several musicals/plays that are more modern and appeals to the younger audiences.

here's a rundown of the musicals/plays staged by Atlantis and Repertory for the previous years:
Atlantis Productions

of the above, i was able to catch Spelling Bee, Hairspray (Michael de Mesa), Avenue Q (Aiza Seguerra / Rachel Alejandro), Beauty and the Beast (KC Concepcion).

Repertory

I was able to catch I Love You Because, Sweeney Todd and Romance in D Minor.

Other plays staged by other productions that I watched in recent years are: High School Musical, Footloose,

West Side Story.

Next year's line-up seems very exciting.
Rent (Feb 2010)

Cats (July 2010)

Avenue Q rerun (March 2010)

Legally Blonde (starring Nikki Gil) (June 2010)

Xanadu (Sept 2010)

Duets, Romeo and Bernadette, Equus, Sleeping Beauty (2010)

Which plays do you like to watch next year?

LSS: abracadabra

as i mentioned in my previous post, i'm a huge huge fan of Brown Eyed Girls. when they released their new album, Sound G, they changed their music style to electrodance and changed their looks to a sexier, mature image. the second single off the album is called, Abracadabra. when i first heard the song, i thought the song was just blah, and kinda weird, esp with the "Do you love her" chant in the middle, but then it became so popular in korea and everyone was copying the "hips - sway dance" and Ga-in's sexy dance that i listened to the song again... and again.. and again..

now, i'm hooked. addicted. i downloaded 2 versions of the MV - the one with the semi-story

and the dance version.



and i downloaded the fraktal voodoo remix and alikstae remix (in my previous post)

then i downloaded some of their live performances.. turns out Ga-in changes her dance in every other performance.





here's a recent performance during the MAMA awards where KARA and BEG mashed-up their hits "Mister" and "Abracadabra" and performed the "butt dance" and "hips sway dance" together.



and as they say, imitation is the highest form of flattery, and the fact that lots of people are making parodies of this song just goes to show how much popular this is!

the most popular parody is 2AM and 2PM's Dirty Eyed Girls version.. okay, i'm a huge fan of 2PM (my current fangirl moment).. but watching this creeped me out! how can the beastly idols 2PM perform this dance... makes you think if they're gay, or so confident of their maleness or just plain dorky!

here's Lee Hyori dancing to Abracadabra during a recent episode of Family Outing

here's popular comedian/singer Boom's version:

here's young idol groups SHINee and FT Island's version:

and of course, ssanti dance king Jo Kwon of 2AM's version:

the spaghettiest

if you ask me which food is my favorite, 

my answer will be jollibee spaghetti, no doubt. 
i just love it. 
the taste, 
the color, 
the smell. 

it's my comfort food.
when i'm in a good mood and craving for something yummy to eat.
when i'm feeling low and i want to uplift my spirits.
i always head to jollibee for some spaghetti.
at lunch time when i want to go out.
at dinner when i'm on my way back home.
or in-between when i'm hungry.

what makes jollibee spaghetti so irresistible?
is it the big red ham and hotdog that i just have to eat it without the noodles?
or is it the noodles that's cooked so right, you just want to gobble them up?
is it the sauce that's so sweet and delicious, you wish you can have more?

i dont know 
and i dont care
as long as jollibee keeps making them
i'll keep on eating them.
definitely the spaghettiest!

health check

due to the outbreak of swine flu, airports have added a control point when arriving in a country. the traveler should sign a health declaration form and disclose any symptoms she/he may have. normally, i always answer "no" so that there won't be any further questions/hassles upon arriving in another country. however, i have always wondered what would happen if i did check "yes" to one of the symptoms.

i had the chance to find out when i went to HK last week for training. I had been coughing like crazy for the past week (coz i didn't take medicine at all) and I thought there was no way I can get past the health officials with signing a clean health declaration form so I did the right thing and checked "cough". When it was my turn to had over the form, the officer saw that I wrote down I had a cough so he asked me to go with him to do some temperature test. He gave me a face mask and escorted me to the makeshift area downstairs. Even though I know that i'm not sick and i definitely do not have swine flu, I am still feeling a bit nervous because I have a terrible cough and is feeling cold from the plane and airport. The lady in the area took my temperature (through my ears) and to my relief, said, "Okay. No fever." She wrote my temperature (37.2 degrees Celsius) on the form, signed off and gave it to me. I walked back to the health officer, submitted the form and proceeded to the immigration area.

i'm a hoarder

To date, I have...
33 books and
4 magazines
that i bought as far as one year ago
but i've left unread and gathering dust on my bookshelf.

To date, I have ...
6 Jdrama
2 Kdrama
3 Tdrama
3 American series
that I have started but have not finished watching.
Either I've lost interest or not in the mood to watch them now.

To date, I have...
20 Jdrama
7 Kdrama
5 Tdrama
18 American series
that I have not started watching at all.
Either I'm not in the mood or delaying watching them lest I finish them too fast.

To date, I have...
more than 30 movies in
original,
pirated or
pc format
that I have not watched yet.
No excuses this time, I just never found the time.

I like buying them for the sheer pleasure of buying them.
I like hoarding them for the immense satisfaction of collecting them.
I like to pile the books on my shelf and watch it get filled with new and old books of various sizes and smell.
I like to buy magazines from different countries or for its pretty cover and stack them on my side table.
I like to download and buy tv series and complete the whole season before I watch them.
I like to buy DVDs of foreign movies and classic films from my favorite artists.

I don't know when and if I'll ever get the time to watch and read them all..
I probably could if I really want to.
But what's the rush? They're mine and I have all the time in the world.
At least if I was stuck in my room for an entire week with no one to talk to
I don't need to worry coz I'll never get bored.

I'm hoarder. And will always be a hoarder.

k-indie

During the past 2 years, my music taste has slowly moved to sweet and melodious indie and smooth and groovy electropop music. even though mainstream korean music is still dominated by cutesy girl groups and boy bands, i'm surprised that south korea has a rich underground rap/hiphop/electropop/indie music. i've never been a hardcore rap lover so i gravitated towards indie music.

the most successful indie group that has cross-overed to mainstream is Clazziquai. Composed of Alex, Horan and DJ Clazzi, they gained a following after two of their songs, "Be My Love" and "She is", were used as beginning and ending credits for the highly popular drama series, My Lovely Samsoon in 2005. To date, they have released 4th studio albums and 3 remix albums.

the other groups that i'm listening to have somewhat similar sounds and beats.. the female singer always sounds sweet while the male singer has a deep smooth voice.

Beansprouts - Play Me Your Song
Release date: Nov 3, 2009
Genre: Pop / Indie
01 랄랄라 하늘여행
02 에게만 들리는 노래
03 미래를 만나는 시간
04 L.O.V.E. is what you need
05 Play me your song
06 But without you
Download

RossyPP - Cozy Rossy Mini

Release Date: Oct 15, 2009
Genre: Pop / Indie

01 Sugar Honey
02 Falling In Love
03 검은 방
04 Fairy Dust
05 튤립

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Lucite Tokki - A Little Sparkle

Release Date: Oct 14, 2009

Genre: Indie

01 생일
02 바보 마녀의 하루
03 손꼭잡고
04 나에겐
05 Driving
06 B.I.S.H
07 하프물범 (Letter To Arctic)
08 잊혀진 이야기
09 Christmas Carol (제1탄 크리스마스 트리의 신비한 힘)
010 Christmas Next Day
011 손

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Hada 하다 - After Hours
Release Date: Sept 29, 2009
Genre: Electropop
01 In Your Atmosphere
02 With Us
03 Lubovi (Love) (inst.)
04 Skyway (inst.)
05 With Us (English ver.)
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HybRefine ft Jo Eun Ji - Milkyway

Release Date: Sept 10, 2009

Genre: Indie / Electropop

01 Milkyway (Feat.Jo Eun Ji)

02 Milkyway (For Piano)

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HybRefine - Starlight Love (Repackaged Album)

Genre: Indie / Electropop

01 Starlight Love (Vocal ver)

02 We Still Rydeen (ft. TBNY, The Quiett)

03 It's Your Light (ft. Amaizing Soul)

04 Starlight Love (For MJJ Mix)

05 Rydeen

06 Sax, Lies and Video Tape

Romantisco - Robotisco

Release Date: Aug 12, 2009

Genre: Electropop

01 Robotisco

02 Maybe (ft J-Jam)

03 몽유병

04 Wonderland

05 Cancion De Amor

06 Robotisco (Alteze Mix)
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Humming Urban Stereo - Baby Love
Genre: Indie / Electropop
Insomnia
Baby Love
Hawaiian Couple


Hope you guys enjoy these songs!

lee hyori

Lee Hyori (이효리) is currently the highest paid female entertainer in South Korea. Why? Coz she's just amazing!

Profile
Born on May 10, 1979 in Cheongwon, Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea.

Music Career
She started her career as part of the Korean girl group Fin.K.L. (Fine Killing Liberty) back in 1998 and was considered the prettiest and most popular member of the group. She was discovered while taking pictures with her friends and was actually the last to join FinKL. Being the oldest of the group, she became the leader. FinKL won numerous music awards until its unofficial end in 2002 and has become one of the most popular and successful Korean groups of all time.

Here are some of Hyori's performances with FinKL (and some of my fave FinkL songs). Back then, all groups lip-sync.

Waiting for You


Now


Feel Your Love


When FinKL went on a hiatus in 2002, Hyori decided to launch a solo career and changed her image to a sexy starlet. She released her first album, Stylish...E in 2003 and nearly swept the 2003 Daesangs, the most prestigious South Korean music award, winning more than 7 of them, including 3 of the 4 Daesangs. Her popularity in her various activities eventually was dubbed as the "Hyori Syndrome" in South Korea, and the Korean Media nicknamed 2003 "The Year of Hyori" as she was rarely out of the news all year.

10 Minutes MV


Hey Girl MV


10 Minutes and Hey Girl live performance


Her second album, Dark Angel was released in 2006 with hit songs like "Get Ya" and "Shall We Dance".

Get Ya MV


Shall We Dance MV


Dark Angel and Get Ya live performance


In November 2006, it was revealed that Lee had signed a three-year contract with M-Net Entertainment for ₩2.2 billion, becoming the highest paid female singer in South Korea. Meanwhile, Lee prepared to appear in a new "mini-drama" during February 2007, despite the failure of her previous drama, Three Leaf Clover. She starred alongside Lee Dong Gun in "If In Love... Like Them" which ran for four episodes on MNet. She sang the 3 songs in the soundtrack.

Toc Toc Toc MV


She released her third album "It's Hyorish" in 2008.
U-G-Girl MV


Hey Mr. Big MV


Invincible Lee Hyori and U Go Girl live performance


Love her colorful but a bit skanky outfits for U Go Girl.. one fan mixed all of her live promotion outfits into one video.


Endorsements
Hyori is one of the most sought after commercial endorser in Korea and she's famous for her Samsung CFs.

AnyMotion CF with Eric Mun


AnyClub CF with Eric Mun and Kwon Sang Woo


AnyStar CF with Lee JunKi and Park Bom


Anycall CF with North Korean dancer


She has endorsed products ranging from shampoo, car, Chili paste, Soju and beauty products.
Sunchang Sauce CF


Soju CF part 1


Soju CF part 2


Vidal Sassoon CF


TV appearances
Not only is she known for her sexy image, Hyori is also dubbed as the "Nation's Fairy", due to her lively and bubbly image whenever she appears in variety shows. She is currently a mainstay in SBS "Family Outing" shown every Sunday.

Here are some cuts from Family Outing


More funny Hyori






Hyori and Kim Jong Kook