Peter Pan

It's been tough these past few weeks. At times I feel like a raft out at sea, being tossed about, carelessly, by the rough winds and roaring waves. Waiting for that moment when the elements overwhelm, and everything ups and turns upon itself, a crash, destruction, and it all sinks under, to lie, buried beneath the surface of the sea. That, or a constant journey across the miles of endless blue. Just a piece of discarded driftwood. Old, rotten, forgotten, fragile. Just waiting for that first glimpse of land.

But it's not all bad. There are good moments too. Like when I retreat into my past, and try to reconnect with the kid within. Good days of old. The Peter Pan complex. Never wanting to grow up. But then again, we all do, and we must.

But every once in a while, when all looks dull and gray, it's never too late to pick up a piece of an easier, happier, less complicated childhood. And to just enjoy the moment.

Rolling down a hill

Stuck in the hub of a wheel,
rolling down a hill;
rolling, rolling, rolling,
till it comes to a still.

3 weeks ago

This will be just a short blogpost, just remembered I took some pictures the other day while I was visiting the BCCK area with Planky. We were there to visit the PC Fair, but left after less than an hour to try to scout out some nice photo ops. We didn't manage to take much pictures as it started to drizzle soon, though. But here are the best snaps from that day (and dinner!):

And that's it for this blogpost, cheers y'all! :)

Photo Apps

There seems to be plenty of photography apps available these days. I've been playing around with many of them, and here are some of the snapshots I've had edited with those apps. Bear in mind these are all taken with my mobile phone, so the quality won't be as great as the ones taken with my trusty Pentax.





Cheers!

Goosebumps

So it's been maybe about 7 or 8 months since I got serious about watching Korean dramas, and I've only recently started exploring the world of K-pop. I used to think they were all just made up of the stereotypical boybands and girl groups singing silly songs, and I didn't quite understand why the guys would wear more makeup (all that eyeliner!) than the girls. My knowledge of Korean songs were limited to the ones that were part of the drama soundtrack. They were good, but there wasn't any particular artiste who stood out, until back in January when I stumbled upon the songs of Yi Seung Yeol. That was a good day.

This is a better one.

A couple of months back (early February?), I watched a KBS drama special about this middle-aged Japanese woman who travels to Korea to join a singing competition. I was drawn to the male lead in this movie, this brooding, emo young man who has big dreams, and an even bigger voice. I soon forgot about him, but his voice stuck in my brain. About a couple of weeks ago, I finished watching this K-drama called You're Beautiful, and Jang Geun-Seok was impressive, but I thought the voice with true power and ooomph belonged to the actor who played the character of Jeremy. Now that was one unique voice. There's also been this song on KBS, I don't know if you might have seen it. I think I might have seen or heard the full song on Music Bank or somewhere and it must have struck something in my subconscious, because everytime the advertisement comes on, there's this few-seconds worth of a little clip with that little line from that song, and I would always pause and look up. Something in the voice caught my attention. Looking back, I'm not sure whether this mental trigger might have happened before I watched You're Beautiful. Whatever it is, something clicked, and everytime this little riff played on the telly, my mind would go back to that emo young man in the KBS drama special, and I would wonder about his identity (again, confusing, but I can't quite remember; I might have seen this music clip before I watched You're Beautiful). Maybe even had a little tiny hunch that the emo young man and singer of this little clip might be the same person. To spare you a merry-go-round of trying to understand the proper sequence of events, let me just say this: I did a little research on Google/Wikipedia, and guess what? What I thought were three unique voices, is in actual fact, one superbly special voice!!!! They're all the same guy! The same talented actor/singer/performer of a guy. Lee Hong Gi!

This guy has one of the best voices I've heard in a long time. He forces you to sit up and take notice. He refuses to let his talent just creep off into some vague corner and hide in the shadows. He wants the spotlight. He wants the attention. He wants you to know he's talented. And perhaps more importantly, he knows he's got it, that x-factor, and he isn't afraid to show it. He's smart, he certainly knows how to whip the crowd into a frenzy, just watch any of his performances and you'll see what I mean. Every move, every glance, every smile, he knows he's got you hooked. Theatrical to the max.

이홍기, thank you for not letting me down, and for exceeding my expectations. Your voice gives me goosebumps. Not in a horror-movie stalker-on-the-move kinda way. But in the happy, I-wanna-listen-to-your-voice-all-day-long way. And I don't even care if you do decide to wear eyeliner. Because if anyone can pull it off, you can. And you'll prolly look tootin' good with it. *fangirl mode activated*

P.S. In case you're wondering, that song playing on Music Bank that would make my ears go all perky is FT Island's 지독하게 Severely (did I mention he's the lead singer in a rock band?)

Update: Felt this blogpost was rather lacklustre without an image to pretty it up, so here's a screen capture of my mobile's new lock screen wallpaper. See how pretty it is? :)

Domo-kun

Domo-kun
You sweet goon
Snarl and send me
To the moon!

You're Beautiful

No, I wasn't talking about you.

It's the latest K-drama I've finished watching, and it's one of the best I've watched so far (although in all honesty, all the K-dramas I've watched to date have been pretty darn good).

I finished You're Beautiful (also known as He's Beautiful or 미남이시네요) in the early hours of this morning, and it's the first K-drama from the Hong sisters that I've watched. And the good news? There's so much more where this came from: there are approximately 6 or 7 more K-dramas written by the Hong sisters, and from what I've heard and read, they're all worth a watch! It helps that some of these dramas star actors that I like watching, so now it's just a problem of too many K-dramas to watch, too little time!

You're Beautiful is also the first K-drama I've watched with Jang Geun-Seok and Park Shin Hye as the mains. I'll admit that I was not very interested initially (this prolly has a lot to do with a local station dubbing the drama into a different language and Jang Geun-Seok's rather girly image), but I caught a little snippet of an episode (with original language) one random night, and I was really quite pleasantly surprised: the episode was funny, and Jang Geun-Seok turned out to be quite a manly kinda man, in this drama, at least. So I decided to give it a shot and searched the first episode out on Youtube, and man, has it been an eye-opener.

Jang Geun-Seok and Park Shin Hye are great in this drama, along with a very able and adorable supporting cast. I feel like the boys in this drama could pretty much give the guys from Boys Over Flowers a run for their moolah! And the story itself is really good: there have been moments where I have almost burst out laughing because the plot took me by surprise, and was not what I would expect of a 'typical' K-drama (you know what I mean, I'm sure). Very good writing, and I'm beginning to understand the fame of the Hong sisters. I also began to understand the popularity of Jang Geun-Seok, and why he was originally intended to play the role of Gu Jun Pyo in Boys Over Flowers. This guy, he can act, and he can sing too! Which leads me to another element that makes this drama so great, in my opinion: the soundtrack is not only amazing, it actually forms a vital part of the plot, i.e. the songs are relevant to the storyline, and not just background music like most other K-dramas. The music is so beautiful, some quite hauntingly bittersweet, but that's the way I like my ear-candy!

This is pretty much all I'm gonna say about this drama, no spoilers and all, but this is what I have to struggle with now: this 'discovery' of Jang Geun-Seok and the Hong sisters means a whole new world of K-dramas has opened up for my viewing pleasure, and now I'm stuck. I don't know which K-drama to watch next. I still have about 10 episodes of Chuno to watch, but at the same time the thought of all these other great dramas out there, just waiting for me to click 'play', is constantly playing at the back of my mind, taunting and teasing.

I just hope this doesn't drive me crazy.

But that might not be such a bad thing: if they lock me up in a mad house, I have more time on my hands, which means I get to watch more K-dramas!

Muahahahahaha! Cheers you all!