"My employers (top half of FTSE 100) recently informed staff that we are no longer allowed to use the phrase brain storm because it might have negative connotations associated with fits. We must now take idea showers. I think that says it all really."
- Anonymous
Friday, November 5, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
NGOs
... are my latest essay topic. This one's going really well. I've got a gooooood plan. ^^ And 350 words written. On schedule.
So I thought I'd come and exercise my typing fingers some, while I ponder how to thread my way through all my pretty sources... Have enough that I've had to make a plan so I remember to put them in, which is always nice. Last time I was so desperate for something to reference that I was checking under my coffee cup.
How's you? :P
Edited to add: a nice picture, because something has to match the nice blue sky. It's not Suju. It was almost Suju... But it's not.
So I thought I'd come and exercise my typing fingers some, while I ponder how to thread my way through all my pretty sources... Have enough that I've had to make a plan so I remember to put them in, which is always nice. Last time I was so desperate for something to reference that I was checking under my coffee cup.
How's you? :P
Edited to add: a nice picture, because something has to match the nice blue sky. It's not Suju. It was almost Suju... But it's not.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Painful Smart-Talk #3
I copied this down in my lecture today.
"... sometimes at the same time and sometimes separated by decades of temporal difference."Lecturer, I like you, but this is just nuts!
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Korean pop idol meets Monty Python
Yesung is gonna be in Spamalot! Ahhhh! My favourite singer is in SPAMALOT! *beams* How perfect is this? I think it's pretty perfect. ^^
Ooh, I found a big picture. ^^
It's like Jesse Cook randomly writing a Wheel of Time book: two absolutely awesome things, brought together. Super Junior and Monty Python! I love the world right now! :D
Ooh, I found a big picture. ^^
It's like Jesse Cook randomly writing a Wheel of Time book: two absolutely awesome things, brought together. Super Junior and Monty Python! I love the world right now! :D
Monday, August 16, 2010
Relief
So I got my mark back for that demonic essay... B+. That's after taking 4 marks off for lateness, otherwise it would have been 23/25 (A+). Go me. xD I did have to laugh when I read the comments though. "You have a clear understanding of hybridity." Ummmmm.... Well, I do have good examples of hybridity, and I rambled on about Suju quite happily.
Yay yay yay for friendly markers, for Dad and his extra-extra-long-distance pep talk, and for Del who did the same, only she was very smooth and practiced whereas Dad was fumbling just like me.
❤ ❤ ❤ I love my people.
Yay yay yay for friendly markers, for Dad and his extra-extra-long-distance pep talk, and for Del who did the same, only she was very smooth and practiced whereas Dad was fumbling just like me.
❤ ❤ ❤ I love my people.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Park Sae Byul & Super Junior K.R.Y.: "Maybe In Love"
Amazing. I don't even know what to say, just... Amazing.
"Gidariiinda miiiiiinah!"
Heya! :-) Have escaped from the hole I oh-so-skilfully managed to dig for myself, and am house-sitting at Mum's for the weekend. My Super Junior CD finally arrived! I ordered it a month ago from Hong Kong (it was on sale, so no more expensive than buying a local CD would have been) and it's now playing really loud on Mum's stereo system. Yay for an empty house and deaf neighbours! I never could've got away with it at home.
Gonna add some more to my Suju post down below. See you in a couple of weeks' time!
Gonna add some more to my Suju post down below. See you in a couple of weeks' time!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Painful Smart-Talk #2
He was making sense until halfway through this rather lengthy sentence:
Eh?
"While fragmentation is occurring in the Western-dominated sector of the world, in East Asia, primarily China, but also in parts of South-east Asia, the cosmopolitan is in a weak position with respect to nationalist and regionalist discourses, the establishment of larger geographical units, an intensive focus on development and a new Asian modernism, the extinction or integration, by assimilation, segmentation, rather than autonimization of indigenous minorities."
Eh?
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The ironies of life
Turns out that one part of my demonic essay is going better than expected: I have now written a full third of what I need, almost all of it relating to Super Junior. They are the perfect material for discussions of hybridity, cultural consumption and globalisation: financially successful, multi-cultural kinda (that's another whole essay there - the polarisation of Chinese and Korean identities), multi-lingual, with (African-)American song and dance styles, obvious and deliberately cultivated pan-Asian support, a largely untapped but frickin' huge international fanbase, elaborate fan rituals, merchandise, twitter accounts... Gah.
It's a pity I need to range a bit wider, because it's all there. Clothing, definitely:
a) Eunhyuk has an NY cap, a British jockey's helmet and hip hop-style chains
b) Leeteuk talked about a 'James Dean' look for their latest music video
c) Yesung wears crucifix earrings
d) there are printed tees all over the place
e) best of all, at a concert a couple of years ago they wore costumes including Fred Flintstone, Harry Potter, a Chinese emperor, Robin Hood, Jack Sparrow, Dracula, a pilot, Bruce Lee and Zorro. It's screaming globalised pop culture!
I mean, these guys have been in Cosmopolitan. They've been interviewed by MTV. They're on a Chinese stamp. Their most famous song was performed by 3000 prison inmates in the Philippines. Their ex-member, who's Chinese, shot his second-last music video in New Zealand (as an image of paradise - yay Han Geng! ^^). And then there's fan-subbing!
*deep breath*
The problem would be how to reference all that. The official-sounding sources would be in Korean, and the unofficial ones are forum threads, polls, youtube comments and illegally translated game shows. Is anthropology relaxed enough to accept those?
Back to it. ^^
It's a pity I need to range a bit wider, because it's all there. Clothing, definitely:
a) Eunhyuk has an NY cap, a British jockey's helmet and hip hop-style chains
b) Leeteuk talked about a 'James Dean' look for their latest music video
c) Yesung wears crucifix earrings
d) there are printed tees all over the place
e) best of all, at a concert a couple of years ago they wore costumes including Fred Flintstone, Harry Potter, a Chinese emperor, Robin Hood, Jack Sparrow, Dracula, a pilot, Bruce Lee and Zorro. It's screaming globalised pop culture!
I mean, these guys have been in Cosmopolitan. They've been interviewed by MTV. They're on a Chinese stamp. Their most famous song was performed by 3000 prison inmates in the Philippines. Their ex-member, who's Chinese, shot his second-last music video in New Zealand (as an image of paradise - yay Han Geng! ^^). And then there's fan-subbing!
*deep breath*
The problem would be how to reference all that. The official-sounding sources would be in Korean, and the unofficial ones are forum threads, polls, youtube comments and illegally translated game shows. Is anthropology relaxed enough to accept those?
Back to it. ^^
Monday, August 9, 2010
You're being repetitive, Ginny
My conscientiousness is at an all-time low. It's 1:19 am, and I am attempting to write an essay on the usefulness of the idea of cultural hybridity with reference to material and performative attributes of cultural change as they relate to globalisation. Yes. I've already used the '-_-' face, haven't I? Just below? Well, this is that feeling again. Metaphors everywhere! 'Creolizing' vs 'hybrid' vs 'diffusion' vs 'acculturation' vs 'straddling'..!
The worst thing is that I've done this on purpose. I've left it and left it, knowing there would be this time, after midnight, when I would be staring with glazed eyes at an empty Word document. Self-destructive much? xD The thing is... The thing is that if I try, I can always do it. It gets boring! Aiya, that's a ridiculous statement - I've got myself all turned round and back to front. But I still think it's true. I keep procrastinating, and I keep getting really good marks - it's disappointing, almost. Challenge me!!! Argh!
Where's my motivation? I should be doing this because I enjoy it, because I enjoy learning. But a huge part of my academic success up til now has been that I've wanted to make others happy. I wanted to make my teachers happy. I wanted to make them proud. Now... Now, I don't really have a teacher. Instead, we have men and women who come at talk at us for an hour or two, smile and leave. Lecturers, not teachers. It's so much more impersonal... and I'm so not ambitious! As a free agent, I just spin and spin in circles! I need direction! *uncontrollable laughter* Aiya... I need someone. Is this what growing up means? Doing it all on your own? ...
Maybe that last sentence deserves an eye roll. This feels very whiny. But when I picture what I'll have when I've finished this essay... It seems like there's not really much to look forward to. A piece of writing I may or may not like, and may or may not ever look at again. An A, or a B at worst. Now don't get me wrong, I like doing well - it does make me happy, and proud. The best comment is when the marker enjoyed reading it. ^^ Making people happy!!! I want to make people happy! How is correctly differentiating diffusion and hybridity gonna do that? It's just painful, Dad.
Ah, but on the bright side, music sounds so good right now! :) When you're feeling lonely, the immediacy of someone's else's voice is heaven. Ah... I'm really tired. I'm giggling randomly and my eyes are wet. I also can't write fluidly - have you noticed that? It feels very abrupt. There's a lot of writing, though; already about five times what I've managed to type for my essay. Rambling... Ramble ramble... I used to be able to ramble and sound intelligent. Where did that skill go?
The worst thing is that I've done this on purpose. I've left it and left it, knowing there would be this time, after midnight, when I would be staring with glazed eyes at an empty Word document. Self-destructive much? xD The thing is... The thing is that if I try, I can always do it. It gets boring! Aiya, that's a ridiculous statement - I've got myself all turned round and back to front. But I still think it's true. I keep procrastinating, and I keep getting really good marks - it's disappointing, almost. Challenge me!!! Argh!
Where's my motivation? I should be doing this because I enjoy it, because I enjoy learning. But a huge part of my academic success up til now has been that I've wanted to make others happy. I wanted to make my teachers happy. I wanted to make them proud. Now... Now, I don't really have a teacher. Instead, we have men and women who come at talk at us for an hour or two, smile and leave. Lecturers, not teachers. It's so much more impersonal... and I'm so not ambitious! As a free agent, I just spin and spin in circles! I need direction! *uncontrollable laughter* Aiya... I need someone. Is this what growing up means? Doing it all on your own? ...
Maybe that last sentence deserves an eye roll. This feels very whiny. But when I picture what I'll have when I've finished this essay... It seems like there's not really much to look forward to. A piece of writing I may or may not like, and may or may not ever look at again. An A, or a B at worst. Now don't get me wrong, I like doing well - it does make me happy, and proud. The best comment is when the marker enjoyed reading it. ^^ Making people happy!!! I want to make people happy! How is correctly differentiating diffusion and hybridity gonna do that? It's just painful, Dad.
Ah, but on the bright side, music sounds so good right now! :) When you're feeling lonely, the immediacy of someone's else's voice is heaven. Ah... I'm really tired. I'm giggling randomly and my eyes are wet. I also can't write fluidly - have you noticed that? It feels very abrupt. There's a lot of writing, though; already about five times what I've managed to type for my essay. Rambling... Ramble ramble... I used to be able to ramble and sound intelligent. Where did that skill go?
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Painful Smart-Talk #1
"Communicative processes that happen within a virtual interaction are the vehicle for conveying collective identity to its users."
Now I ask you: what was that sentence about? I had it in context and still had to read it three times. *beats author with pillow* Abstract, abstract, abstract! You want to be understood, right? Then cut down on the redundant words! 'Communicative' and 'interaction' mean the same thing. You can say 'conveys' in one word: you don't need five. Argh. -_- And 'a virtual interaction' doesn't even make sense!
Dear author: I want to read this article! I want to know what you're talking about! So why, why, why do you have to make it so hard?
End rant.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
My 21st
I'm 21, I'm 21! Hi Dad. I am happy. ^^
Going to the movies tonight, and then an Italian restaurant: do you remember the Etrusco, upstairs opposite the Rialto? You took Jess and I there once, a long time ago. They're not too expensive, and it's so pretty... Pasta pasta pasta.
Love you!
Going to the movies tonight, and then an Italian restaurant: do you remember the Etrusco, upstairs opposite the Rialto? You took Jess and I there once, a long time ago. They're not too expensive, and it's so pretty... Pasta pasta pasta.
Love you!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Super Junior ❤
Hi Dad! ❤ You can skip this post. Me being girlish. Miss you!
K. SUPER JUNIOR. Can I embed youtube videos here? Aha!
*satisfied grin* And now some pictures, so I can ramble all fan-like for as long as I please (you see, I'm a little addicted to these guys). They're a band - a boy band, I admit - from South Korea. There are currently 10 of them, kinda (between 10 and 15 anyway, depending on how you count). ^^ They're poppy and upbeat, extremely entertaining, and so so sooooo... I wanna say 'addictive' again, but I can't. They're like candy. Delicious, happy-making, eye-catching sweet yummy stuff. There's a whole 'idol' culture in Korea that churns out talented, good-looking, well-behaved singer/dancers by the score, and these guys are (in my view) the best of the best. They can do everything. Everything! ❤ Without further ado...
1. YESUNG
Should have started with Leeteuk, as he's the leader - but Yesung's my favourite. He's a dork and a singer, one of the three main vocals in the group... Ack, it's late and I have to be up early tomorrow morning! And when it comes to Suju, 'late' really means *late* - in the past (read: two days ago) I stayed up watching variety shows on youtube til almost dawn. xD Candy, right? That was my simile? Well, they're really, really good candy. Turkish delight fudge-like candy. Or maybe coffee-flavoured... Anyway. For the last *checks time* hour and a half, I've been saying to myself 'just one more song, and then I'll go brush my teeth' (the crucial point being that while brushing my teeth, I have no music) - and now it's late enough that my stomping around and door-closing might annoy the landlord. I almost care... Seriously, just like candy! ^^
... Continued. I am now awake again.
I realised I missed out some vital statistics: the Suju members are between 22 and 27 years old (or 20 and 27, again with the debateable counting), and have many and varied talents: music composition, choreography, song writing, TV show hosting, stand-up comedy, acting in dramas and musicals, playing the violin/guitar/drums/piano and making very cute 'puppy sneezing' sounds. They're most well-known for the song 'Sorry, Sorry' which came out in 2009 and stormed to the top of the charts all over Asia (it's still there now). In the Philippines, 3000-odd orange-jumpsuited prisoners did the song's famous dance en masse and posted it on Youtube.
Suju have also formed four sub-groups: 1) Super Junior K.R.Y., a trio making the most of their damn amazing voices, 2) Super Junior H (Happy), six guys singing the bounciest, most sugar-coated pyjama pop you could ever wish for, 3) Super Junior T (Trot), with a switch in genre to old-fashioned Korean music more popular with "the previous generation", and 4) Super Junior M (Mandarin), which added two extra members and focused on the Chinese market.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Onwards! Now I wanna continue my rant about Yesung. Just one more thing. If on watching that (points up the page) you found yourself going 'Ahhh, too many people! My brain cannot handle facial recognition on such a scale!', first I say: neither could mine. xD And this next video (the title track) is even harder.
At least in No Other they've got distinguishable colour schemes! Aiya. o.o To demystify:
From left to right, with singing and entertaining as assumed talents: Heechul (actor, DJ), Sungmin (actor, martial artist), Leeteuk (leader, DJ, TV presenter), Donghae (dancer, composer and Prince Charming), Kyuhyun (good at everything), Yesung (musical actor, presenter), Eunhyuk (dancer, DJ, lyricist), Ryeowook (composer), and Shindong (comedian, dancer and choreographer).
You probably haven't noticed, but that's only nine. The others are Siwon (actor, model, UNICEF ambassador), Kangin (presenter and DJ, currently fulfilling military obligations), Kibum (actor, currently acting rather than singing), Zhou Mi (songwriter, presenter and part of SJ-M), Henry (violinist, SJ-M), and Hangeng, who remains a part of the group in spirit but is in the process of terminating his contract. Hangeng's Chinese citizenship created many legal issues during his stay with Suju because of ridiculous entertainment laws in Korea. He's got a solo album out now. ^^
Waaaaah! Is it time to talk about Yesung? Why yes it is.
1. YESUNG - for real this time.
Why do I like this guy so much? Because he's got an absolutely gorgeous voice, he's sweet, and he's a complete dork. Seriously.
Exhibit one:
"It Has To Be You" live (low quality, but it shows him off!)
"The Trap of the Red Gate" for historical musical epic NamHanSanSung
"Your Eyes" (with Kyuhyun, who I know is amazing: more on him later) :P
(links go to youtube)
Exhibit two:
... that was right after imitating the puppy sneezing. ^^
First impressions: honestly, Yesung was the Suju member I liked the least. I hardly noticed him in the music video just above, except to think that he looked arrogant.... Though actually, the only ones I really picked up then were Siwon (because he's so good-looking, damnit), Donghae (his voice), Leeteuk (the only one with blonde hair!) and Kyuhyun (because he's tall...?). Anyway, back on topic. :) In Exploration of the Human Body, a frickin' funny variety show they shot a couple of years ago, he was always such a show-off. Too loud, I thought: too insecure. Way too annoying. xD
But now, oh, now... Well, my hyperness speaks for itself, doesn't it? He's gorgeous. He tries and he tries - which means he fails sometimes, and it's always hilarious. He's so emphatic, so passionate, and very weird. I love weird! Some variety shows make a big deal of his being '4-dimensional', which I think means odd - he's always 'that person'. I love that person. I love odd. Ergo, Yesung ❤❤❤! He's also very good to his mum. :P Definitely my bias.
Now, to bring in some comparison:
2. KYUHYUN
Kyu is a maths whiz, a gaming geek and a talented actor with very good Chinese pronunciation and an incredibly strong, clear voice. He's also a little bit evil. Kyu and Yesung are two of the three lead vocals in Super Junior (with Ryeowook, whose voice is higher). Fan forums are split over which of the two is the better singer: Kyu usually wins by a little bit. The consensus is that Yesung has more emotional power, though - and for me, Kyu's voice is beautiful, amazing, incredibly impressive, but not my favourite. Huskiness for the win! ^^
This is, in keeping with the undeniable girliness of this post, a very girly song: 'A Whole New World' from Aladdin, with Charice Pempengco. Even if that seems too sugary, don't skip it. His voice is too good to miss. This was his first performance after recovering from a car accident that punctured his lungs and nearly claimed his life - see Kyu talking about it here.
A little more:
1. Solo song from Baking King soundtrack
2. Love's Family: Kyuhyun and Sungmin spend a day at an orphanage. After seeing this, he gets so much more appealing. :P
3. LEETEUK
The leader, the oldest, the angel without wings: "Teukie Teukie Leeteuk!" He's the willpower behind Super Junior: what holds them together. He works his butt off.
As an entertainer, Leeteuk's best-known for two things: talking - as in talking, talking and talking some more, in true show-hosting fashion - and laughing. His laugh is amazing. I'll stick it in the youtube clip below. :) Teukie's a DJ at Super Junior's Kiss the Radio (Sukira) in Korea, along with Eunhyuk. He's also a regular on Strong Heart, a celebrity variety show (I *love* that about Korea), as a member of Teuk Academy with Eunhyuk and Shindong. They're comedians; they prepare a skit each time, and ambush the stars with embarassing pictures of them when they were little. Without any doubt, though, the best thing about Leeteuk is his love for Suju. He's dedicated to the members, heart and soul.
Introductions:
[Leeteuk and Yesung singing live at a Super Junior concert]
[Leeteuk hosting the Super Junior Show - Episode 18: Going to Sleep (subtitled, 2005)]
The embedded video is from Sukira a couple of years ago. Teukie (right) and Eunhyuk (left) are introducing a song by Beyonce, among other things. Their mangled English is hilarious. ^^
"REARRY?" Ah, I love it. Leeteuk starts laughing at 0:50 - the deeper 'huh huh huh' just after is Eunhyuk. Here's Teukie's laugh made more obvious, and Kangin's and Yesung's too because they made my stomach hurt.
4. EUNHYUK
The best dancer in Super Junior by popular acclaim. He used to be known as 'Anchovy' because he was so skinny, but since recording the group's fourth album Bonamana he's buffed up. Now he's a lionfish, or something. xD Eunhyuk's the lead rapper in Suju and writes his own lyrics. When Kangin, one of Super Junior's oldest members, left to begin his military service (compulsory for all able-bodied males in South Korea), Donghae and Eunhyuk created the song "A Short Journey" together: Donghae as composer, Eunhyuk as lyricist. It appears on Bonamana, as a farewell gift and a promise that Kangin has a place to come back to.
About the clip above: the idea is that after 10 seconds, fly swatters will come flying out and whack you in the calves. To avoid this, you have to time your jump absolutely perfectly. Eunhyuk uses dance moves. Impressive, no? Nobody else was anywhere near this good!
5. SUNGMIN
For Sungmin, I have lots of videos. He's definitely the all-rounder of Super Junior, talented in all sorts of different ways. There's an extremely cute, sweet and romantic side of him: see here, or here and here with guitar (and/or English), and there's the wacky skills collection: staff, magic, bending over backwards (and walking like that o.o), pizza tossing, dancing, and burping babies (see Love's Family link up in Kyu's description).
I want you to click on all of those.
For the main one, I'd been flicking back and forth between a martial arts cut and this clip of him singing live. Sungmin is rated fourth for vocal ability in Suju (behind K.R.Y.) but I'd never heard him sound like that before. He's amazing.
Watch, watch! The candles thing is especially cool. ^^
[one-piece]
More happy-making, bubbly goodness: Yesung (in yellow), Ryeowook (in pink) and Eunhyuk (in blue) performing "Candy" by 90s Korean superstars H.O.T. I love the fuzzy mitten things! ^^ (A note to the sceptical: they're playing, not performing to the height of their skills. It's a bit like covering Wham.)
K. SUPER JUNIOR. Can I embed youtube videos here? Aha!
*satisfied grin* And now some pictures, so I can ramble all fan-like for as long as I please (you see, I'm a little addicted to these guys). They're a band - a boy band, I admit - from South Korea. There are currently 10 of them, kinda (between 10 and 15 anyway, depending on how you count). ^^ They're poppy and upbeat, extremely entertaining, and so so sooooo... I wanna say 'addictive' again, but I can't. They're like candy. Delicious, happy-making, eye-catching sweet yummy stuff. There's a whole 'idol' culture in Korea that churns out talented, good-looking, well-behaved singer/dancers by the score, and these guys are (in my view) the best of the best. They can do everything. Everything! ❤ Without further ado...
1. YESUNG
Should have started with Leeteuk, as he's the leader - but Yesung's my favourite. He's a dork and a singer, one of the three main vocals in the group... Ack, it's late and I have to be up early tomorrow morning! And when it comes to Suju, 'late' really means *late* - in the past (read: two days ago) I stayed up watching variety shows on youtube til almost dawn. xD Candy, right? That was my simile? Well, they're really, really good candy. Turkish delight fudge-like candy. Or maybe coffee-flavoured... Anyway. For the last *checks time* hour and a half, I've been saying to myself 'just one more song, and then I'll go brush my teeth' (the crucial point being that while brushing my teeth, I have no music) - and now it's late enough that my stomping around and door-closing might annoy the landlord. I almost care... Seriously, just like candy! ^^
... Continued. I am now awake again.
I realised I missed out some vital statistics: the Suju members are between 22 and 27 years old (or 20 and 27, again with the debateable counting), and have many and varied talents: music composition, choreography, song writing, TV show hosting, stand-up comedy, acting in dramas and musicals, playing the violin/guitar/drums/piano and making very cute 'puppy sneezing' sounds. They're most well-known for the song 'Sorry, Sorry' which came out in 2009 and stormed to the top of the charts all over Asia (it's still there now). In the Philippines, 3000-odd orange-jumpsuited prisoners did the song's famous dance en masse and posted it on Youtube.
Suju have also formed four sub-groups: 1) Super Junior K.R.Y., a trio making the most of their damn amazing voices, 2) Super Junior H (Happy), six guys singing the bounciest, most sugar-coated pyjama pop you could ever wish for, 3) Super Junior T (Trot), with a switch in genre to old-fashioned Korean music more popular with "the previous generation", and 4) Super Junior M (Mandarin), which added two extra members and focused on the Chinese market.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Onwards! Now I wanna continue my rant about Yesung. Just one more thing. If on watching that (points up the page) you found yourself going 'Ahhh, too many people! My brain cannot handle facial recognition on such a scale!', first I say: neither could mine. xD And this next video (the title track) is even harder.
At least in No Other they've got distinguishable colour schemes! Aiya. o.o To demystify:
From left to right, with singing and entertaining as assumed talents: Heechul (actor, DJ), Sungmin (actor, martial artist), Leeteuk (leader, DJ, TV presenter), Donghae (dancer, composer and Prince Charming), Kyuhyun (good at everything), Yesung (musical actor, presenter), Eunhyuk (dancer, DJ, lyricist), Ryeowook (composer), and Shindong (comedian, dancer and choreographer).
You probably haven't noticed, but that's only nine. The others are Siwon (actor, model, UNICEF ambassador), Kangin (presenter and DJ, currently fulfilling military obligations), Kibum (actor, currently acting rather than singing), Zhou Mi (songwriter, presenter and part of SJ-M), Henry (violinist, SJ-M), and Hangeng, who remains a part of the group in spirit but is in the process of terminating his contract. Hangeng's Chinese citizenship created many legal issues during his stay with Suju because of ridiculous entertainment laws in Korea. He's got a solo album out now. ^^
Waaaaah! Is it time to talk about Yesung? Why yes it is.
1. YESUNG - for real this time.
Why do I like this guy so much? Because he's got an absolutely gorgeous voice, he's sweet, and he's a complete dork. Seriously.
Exhibit one:
"It Has To Be You" live (low quality, but it shows him off!)
"The Trap of the Red Gate" for historical musical epic NamHanSanSung
"Your Eyes" (with Kyuhyun, who I know is amazing: more on him later) :P
(links go to youtube)
Exhibit two:
... that was right after imitating the puppy sneezing. ^^
First impressions: honestly, Yesung was the Suju member I liked the least. I hardly noticed him in the music video just above, except to think that he looked arrogant.... Though actually, the only ones I really picked up then were Siwon (because he's so good-looking, damnit), Donghae (his voice), Leeteuk (the only one with blonde hair!) and Kyuhyun (because he's tall...?). Anyway, back on topic. :) In Exploration of the Human Body, a frickin' funny variety show they shot a couple of years ago, he was always such a show-off. Too loud, I thought: too insecure. Way too annoying. xD
But now, oh, now... Well, my hyperness speaks for itself, doesn't it? He's gorgeous. He tries and he tries - which means he fails sometimes, and it's always hilarious. He's so emphatic, so passionate, and very weird. I love weird! Some variety shows make a big deal of his being '4-dimensional', which I think means odd - he's always 'that person'. I love that person. I love odd. Ergo, Yesung ❤❤❤! He's also very good to his mum. :P Definitely my bias.
Now, to bring in some comparison:
2. KYUHYUN
Kyu is a maths whiz, a gaming geek and a talented actor with very good Chinese pronunciation and an incredibly strong, clear voice. He's also a little bit evil. Kyu and Yesung are two of the three lead vocals in Super Junior (with Ryeowook, whose voice is higher). Fan forums are split over which of the two is the better singer: Kyu usually wins by a little bit. The consensus is that Yesung has more emotional power, though - and for me, Kyu's voice is beautiful, amazing, incredibly impressive, but not my favourite. Huskiness for the win! ^^
This is, in keeping with the undeniable girliness of this post, a very girly song: 'A Whole New World' from Aladdin, with Charice Pempengco. Even if that seems too sugary, don't skip it. His voice is too good to miss. This was his first performance after recovering from a car accident that punctured his lungs and nearly claimed his life - see Kyu talking about it here.
A little more:
1. Solo song from Baking King soundtrack
2. Love's Family: Kyuhyun and Sungmin spend a day at an orphanage. After seeing this, he gets so much more appealing. :P
3. LEETEUK
The leader, the oldest, the angel without wings: "Teukie Teukie Leeteuk!" He's the willpower behind Super Junior: what holds them together. He works his butt off.
As an entertainer, Leeteuk's best-known for two things: talking - as in talking, talking and talking some more, in true show-hosting fashion - and laughing. His laugh is amazing. I'll stick it in the youtube clip below. :) Teukie's a DJ at Super Junior's Kiss the Radio (Sukira) in Korea, along with Eunhyuk. He's also a regular on Strong Heart, a celebrity variety show (I *love* that about Korea), as a member of Teuk Academy with Eunhyuk and Shindong. They're comedians; they prepare a skit each time, and ambush the stars with embarassing pictures of them when they were little. Without any doubt, though, the best thing about Leeteuk is his love for Suju. He's dedicated to the members, heart and soul.
Introductions:
[Leeteuk and Yesung singing live at a Super Junior concert]
[Leeteuk hosting the Super Junior Show - Episode 18: Going to Sleep (subtitled, 2005)]
The embedded video is from Sukira a couple of years ago. Teukie (right) and Eunhyuk (left) are introducing a song by Beyonce, among other things. Their mangled English is hilarious. ^^
"REARRY?" Ah, I love it. Leeteuk starts laughing at 0:50 - the deeper 'huh huh huh' just after is Eunhyuk. Here's Teukie's laugh made more obvious, and Kangin's and Yesung's too because they made my stomach hurt.
4. EUNHYUK
The best dancer in Super Junior by popular acclaim. He used to be known as 'Anchovy' because he was so skinny, but since recording the group's fourth album Bonamana he's buffed up. Now he's a lionfish, or something. xD Eunhyuk's the lead rapper in Suju and writes his own lyrics. When Kangin, one of Super Junior's oldest members, left to begin his military service (compulsory for all able-bodied males in South Korea), Donghae and Eunhyuk created the song "A Short Journey" together: Donghae as composer, Eunhyuk as lyricist. It appears on Bonamana, as a farewell gift and a promise that Kangin has a place to come back to.
About the clip above: the idea is that after 10 seconds, fly swatters will come flying out and whack you in the calves. To avoid this, you have to time your jump absolutely perfectly. Eunhyuk uses dance moves. Impressive, no? Nobody else was anywhere near this good!
5. SUNGMIN
For Sungmin, I have lots of videos. He's definitely the all-rounder of Super Junior, talented in all sorts of different ways. There's an extremely cute, sweet and romantic side of him: see here, or here and here with guitar (and/or English), and there's the wacky skills collection: staff, magic, bending over backwards (and walking like that o.o), pizza tossing, dancing, and burping babies (see Love's Family link up in Kyu's description).
I want you to click on all of those.
For the main one, I'd been flicking back and forth between a martial arts cut and this clip of him singing live. Sungmin is rated fourth for vocal ability in Suju (behind K.R.Y.) but I'd never heard him sound like that before. He's amazing.
Watch, watch! The candles thing is especially cool. ^^
[one-piece]
-----------------------
More happy-making, bubbly goodness: Yesung (in yellow), Ryeowook (in pink) and Eunhyuk (in blue) performing "Candy" by 90s Korean superstars H.O.T. I love the fuzzy mitten things! ^^ (A note to the sceptical: they're playing, not performing to the height of their skills. It's a bit like covering Wham.)
Sunday, May 23, 2010
On being taught, and why I'm at uni in the first place
I always end up trying to do too much. It's happened this semester - I'm taking five papers (three is full time; four is the normal maximum) and working part time. It's nuts. I knew it would be nuts, of course. I shrugged and resolved myself - all-nighters, bleary eyes and coffee overdoses here I come! And I came, and I was, and the coffee was good.
Only, my marks slipped. Not much: they're average now, or a little below. I don't like that, not one bit, but I'm living with it. I'm trying to remember why I did this to myself, and usually it isn't hard. I love learning, love it to pieces: love it in pieces, in the smallest, cloudiest, most obscure little factoids to be dredged from page 382 of that book with the very ugly cover. But perhaps even more than I love learning, I love being taught. I love listening. I love lecturers who go off on tangents, and lecturers who qualify what they tell us, going into much more detail than we need because they just can't help themselves (it's especially good when they know they're doing it and get all bashful). I love to experience that passion for knowledge.
I love, what I love most, is to forget the 'I'. When you're caught up in someone else's story, you see the world through different eyes. You see different colours, different shadows; the sky is a different blue, the birds sing a different song. This is amazing to me. It's a richer world, a world multiplied, magnified.
'
This way, you see, five papers are five more worlds. They're the worlds of my lecturers, who I will now describe in the barest of pen portraits: the charismatic French professor, lover of badgers, strawberries and sword-sticks; the grey-haired, grey-suited archaeologist with a passion for kumara pits and red cod; the gregarious and charming C.S. Lewis expert who goes to such great lengths to entertain us; the soft-spoken PhD with his purple cardigans and plaid; and the anthropologist, studiously warm and sincerely interested, with an oddly unnerving ability to categorise us all. They're all quite wonderful, really. Despite the inevitable boredom (and here I'll ponderously type out 'archaeological statistics', in the full knowledge that no matter how multi-syllabic, these words simply cannot convey the horror) - despite that (and 'depauperate'! Depauperate! WHY???*) it's incredibly good to be living this life.
Gotta go define 'society' - wish me luck. :-)
* With footnote, for to better communicate mine disdain: 'depauperate' only ever comes up in studies of Pacific archaeology (not even in the dictionary, I tell you!). It only has one context: decreasing biodiversity with increasing distance from the Asian continent. It is constantly used in this context, despite its complete redundancy, despite that fact that 'increasingly depauperate' is just a fancy way of saying 'decreasingly varied', or even just the good old 'less and less'. Depauperate. Hmmph.
Only, my marks slipped. Not much: they're average now, or a little below. I don't like that, not one bit, but I'm living with it. I'm trying to remember why I did this to myself, and usually it isn't hard. I love learning, love it to pieces: love it in pieces, in the smallest, cloudiest, most obscure little factoids to be dredged from page 382 of that book with the very ugly cover. But perhaps even more than I love learning, I love being taught. I love listening. I love lecturers who go off on tangents, and lecturers who qualify what they tell us, going into much more detail than we need because they just can't help themselves (it's especially good when they know they're doing it and get all bashful). I love to experience that passion for knowledge.
I love, what I love most, is to forget the 'I'. When you're caught up in someone else's story, you see the world through different eyes. You see different colours, different shadows; the sky is a different blue, the birds sing a different song. This is amazing to me. It's a richer world, a world multiplied, magnified.
'
This way, you see, five papers are five more worlds. They're the worlds of my lecturers, who I will now describe in the barest of pen portraits: the charismatic French professor, lover of badgers, strawberries and sword-sticks; the grey-haired, grey-suited archaeologist with a passion for kumara pits and red cod; the gregarious and charming C.S. Lewis expert who goes to such great lengths to entertain us; the soft-spoken PhD with his purple cardigans and plaid; and the anthropologist, studiously warm and sincerely interested, with an oddly unnerving ability to categorise us all. They're all quite wonderful, really. Despite the inevitable boredom (and here I'll ponderously type out 'archaeological statistics', in the full knowledge that no matter how multi-syllabic, these words simply cannot convey the horror) - despite that (and 'depauperate'! Depauperate! WHY???*) it's incredibly good to be living this life.
Gotta go define 'society' - wish me luck. :-)
* With footnote, for to better communicate mine disdain: 'depauperate' only ever comes up in studies of Pacific archaeology (not even in the dictionary, I tell you!). It only has one context: decreasing biodiversity with increasing distance from the Asian continent. It is constantly used in this context, despite its complete redundancy, despite that fact that 'increasingly depauperate' is just a fancy way of saying 'decreasingly varied', or even just the good old 'less and less'. Depauperate. Hmmph.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Our beautiful flat
You know how Blogger inverts the order of uploaded pictures? Well, this is the view from our kitchen window - formerly last in the list. But hey! Pretty, green cityscape!
Our kitchen a month ago: since then, we've brightened it up just a bit and been given a new, much more reliable oven.
The lounge! Very big, and still a wee bit bare.
The gorgeous fireplace what did teach me so much about ashes and soot, and the door to the kitchen.
My room! This is taken from about the middle of the floor: it's rather big.
View from that there window in the pic-i-ture above.
The other side. Me have pwetty fireplace aussi.... and my fingers are dead from composing and typing up 'une petite histoire amusante' due tomorrow afternoon, so that's all for now. Love you, Dad. :-)
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Well, hello there
First off, three songs I've just discovered, and loved:
- Ludovico Einaudi's In Un'altra Vita (classical piano)
- Everybody Knows by Ryan Adams (alt-country)
- and Ah Mon Amour by Rachid Taha (world/arabic)
Then, a random note: how Western-centric is a 'world' tag, really? I mean, 'world' isn't descriptive of the music in any way that counts - Bruce Springsteen, Elton John or U2 are just as Earth-based as Rachid Taha. Still, perhaps fear of cultural bias was what spurred that silly tag in the first place. They're all doomed experiments in stereotyping, anyway!
Second random note: why do I want to write 'a euphemism' instead of 'an euphemism'? Because it's right, that's why (duh :-P) - but why? Why? Oh, that's why. And even though you don't want me to, I'll explain - just skip ahead. The 'eu' in 'euphemism' is pronounced 'you', so it has a consonant sound. *wondering headshake* Learning, new, always, etc.
- Ludovico Einaudi's In Un'altra Vita (classical piano)
- Everybody Knows by Ryan Adams (alt-country)
- and Ah Mon Amour by Rachid Taha (world/arabic)
Then, a random note: how Western-centric is a 'world' tag, really? I mean, 'world' isn't descriptive of the music in any way that counts - Bruce Springsteen, Elton John or U2 are just as Earth-based as Rachid Taha. Still, perhaps fear of cultural bias was what spurred that silly tag in the first place. They're all doomed experiments in stereotyping, anyway!
Second random note: why do I want to write 'a euphemism' instead of 'an euphemism'? Because it's right, that's why (duh :-P) - but why? Why? Oh, that's why. And even though you don't want me to, I'll explain - just skip ahead. The 'eu' in 'euphemism' is pronounced 'you', so it has a consonant sound. *wondering headshake* Learning, new, always, etc.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)