Friday, December 9, 2011

Happy AIcemBA!!

Ohisashiburi Minna-san!! I'm so sorry I haven't updated in almost a month! (I haven't posted on my Examinations blog for a few weeks as well, but I'll do that later today.) Things were pretty crazy starting around Thanksgiving. Thankfully they've calmed down a bit lately, so I finally have time (and the motivation) to write a post! Anyways, first off, Happy December!! (I'll explain the title later!) I hope that whatever holiday you celebrate will be wonderful this month and that you're ready for the New Year!

One of JYJ's Lotte Duty Free free wallpapers for December!

First off, I hope those in America enjoyed their Thanksgiving break and holiday!! Thanksgiving for me was a little hectic this year, with plans changing last minute...once again. It was good to see some of my family though! I actually spent pretty much all day Wednesday cooking. I ended up making two pumpkin pies, two cheesecakes and my Aunt's recipe of twice baked potatoes. I really enjoyed cooking all day, although I just love cooking anyways. Especially when it's for a large group of family (or friends)! Also, my Mom was pretty happy because all she had to do was pack things Thanksgiving morning before we headed over to my Grandma Brown & Aunt Mary's place. Although, since I didn't help her, she forgot quite a few things. She's so EVIL sometimes! Anyways, it was fun, although I was pretty exhausted by the time it hit 2pm, and by then I was very close to  being in a food coma.

The Cheesecakes and 1 of the Pumpkin Pies I made for Thanksgiving!

Continuing on, I went Black Friday shopping again. It was at least the 7th year I've gone, but now that I think about it, maybe it was the 10th. Anyways, it's something my Mom and I usually do every year and make a big thing out of it. This year the stores kind of screwed us over. In previous years we've been able to come home around 10pm and go through the ads and make a plan on where we want to go and what we want to get at each store. Then we'll usually head to bed around midnight or 1am, get one or two hours of sleep, and then head back out to be in line for the store to open at 3/4am. This year though, a lot of stores opened at midnight, with some opening at 9 or 10pm Thanksgiving night. This year, by the time we quickly went through the ads, it was time to leave and head to Target to stand in line. It was crazy, and a lot busier this year. It changed the whole day, and I'm not sure if they really got the results they wanted. Before, people were able to get a bit of sleep before hand, so people would show up around 3 or 4am and then spend the rest of the day shopping. This year, each line was a lot longer and busier, but because of the time change, people were done shopping pretty much before 5am. It really emptied out pretty quick. We ended up being home around 3am and just heading to bed. I saw an interview with some store manager person, and he was talking about the time changes. He said they made the times earlier because customers had mentioned that they wanted the sales to come earlier. My response: "I'm pretty sure by earlier they meant as in days or weeks, not hours." Anyways, I spent about $120 and didn't really find any Christmas presents or anything besides DVDs. I ended up with a pretty good load thought for that price. A small list to show the great deals I found were particularly for the TV Shows on DVD. Beside the 10is movies I got, I also got X-men, X2 and X3 for $5 on Blue Ray (Yay for PS3), and the first 4 seasons of Psych as well as the first season of True Blood! I was pretty happy with my spoils, but it's a little sad that I was only really into the movie sales again.

One of the True Blood Season 1 ads!

The only other really big even that happened since Thanksgiving, was the weekend I spent up at my Dad's house. I love going up there, and this time I went up to house and dog-sit. I was a little sad that Dad and Diane weren't there for most of it, but they weren't on vacation as long as I thought they would be, so it was nice to hang out with them a bit. Plus, Jack (the Puppy Monster) was pretty excited. I'm pretty sure he thinks the only reason I came up was to play with him. If he wasn't sleeping on me, he was trying to get me to play with him. Such a freaking Puppy Monster, but he's so cute! Anyways, I always love going up to their house. I don't really have phone service and they don't really have much for Internet service, but it's nice to be able to escape from everything for a bit and relax. Plus it's absolutely gorgeous up their. Especially since it snowed the day I went up, everything was covered in white and really pretty. It was freezing though, but they have a fire place, so it was nice to keep that roaring away! I always love the smell of fireplaces. Especially when there's some good smelling wood in there!

Jack a.k.a. Puppy Monster!

Before I get started on fandom related things, Christmas is coming up! I'm pretty excited to head home later today to get the tree and Christmas decorations. I'm just hoping that I can find them easily in the doom that is my Mom's basement. I'm super excited for Christmas though, it always puts me in a good mood. Plus, I have a good excuse to do a lot of baking and cooking for people (which I love to do)! I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping, I just have one more present left to buy and then the ones I make. I'm also going to get Christmas/Holiday cards soon, so hopefully I'll be sending those out by Wednesday next week! So, if you would like me to send you a card, just contact me in any way (comment, twitter, fb, email, etc.)! I'll probably upload pictures as I decorate and finish on my twitter, so you can check that out if you want! Hopefully as Christmas comes, I won't fail as much in posting. I'm thinking I'll have at least one more post around Christmas. Possibly one more before New Year's, we'll see!

Santa Claus, Is Com~ing to To~wn!

Now on to fandom related things! First off, I'm not really a Kiss Me, (U-kiss fandom), but I really enjoy their new song. A lot of Korean bands have been moving over to the Japanese market lately, so there's been a lot of Japanese singles sung by Korean bands. Most of them have been Japanese versions of songs that were originally in Korean. Some of them have sounded odd, but I'm pretty excited with U-kiss's Japanese debut song. Not only is it a song that wasn't one of their previous Korean hits, but really good and addicting. The choreography for the dance is also done really well. The song is called Tick Tack and has a lot of clock like movements. The song is really addicting, but I also really enjoy the dance. The only problem I have is that I keep wanting to call it Tick Tock. Do clocks in Korea go Tick Tack (is that how they sound out the noise since things like that differ between countries and languages)? I don't think the Japanese sound for clocks is Tick Tack, but I could be wrong. When I was in Japan I didn't really learn a lot of onomatopoeias. Anyways, check out the MV here. I think it's the best Japanese debut single to come out of a Korean band so far!

 One of my favorite dance moves from Tick Tack!

I have found myself dragged into another fandom. I watched season 1 of the Korean Variety show Sesame Player and it featured MBLAQ. Well I stumbled across season 2 a couple weeks ago, only this season they featured Infinite. I had listened to a few of their songs before a liked them, but watching this variety show, I got hooked. They quickly became one of my favorite Korean bands (behind Super Junior and TVXQ/JYJ)! I really do enjoy their sense of humor and cohesiveness as a group. They also have really good choreography that's usually pretty in synch. Also, in BTD (Before the Dawn) they have this really cool scorpion dance. I find myself really getting drawn into their choreography and songs the more I listen and learn about them. Also, they aren't too young so I don't feel like a pedophile in saying I like them. Plus the leader is born in 89 and before me, so I'm not older than all of them! Anyways, check them out! Here is where you can find their YouTube channel. I'll like you to their debut song Come Back, BTD, and their latest promotion songs for their first album Be Mine and Paradise. Just a heads up though, I'm linking to a live version of Paradise not the MV because I really like the dance and the MV doesn't show it. Also, if you just want to check out the scorpion dance, here's a compilation made by a fan!

Scorpion dance move from the BTD MV!

Okay, so switching gears a bit, we're moving from music to manga. So the new Chapter of Skip Beat! came out a bit ago! Chapter 183 picks up after Yashiro-san's phone hangs up on Kyoko. She keeps trying to call him back, only to realize that he probably touched his phone with his bare hands. Kyoko, wanting to get more information ends up calling President Rory!! Yay!! Not only do we get to see Yashiro again after a while, but Rory too! Rory is pretty serious in this chapter though (no crazy antics). Kyoko talks to him and explains that she's worried about Ren. In the end, Rory tells her that he won't tell her any details about what's going on because it's not his place, but that Ren's going through an inner battle. He convinces her that she just has to be there for him and not really do anything in particular. We also find out that Rory put Kyoko with Ren on this assignment not only to help Ren get through his issues, but to try to get him to be a "man" and make a move on Kyoko. His ulterior motives are to Ren put Kyoko's trust in men again and regain what she had lost (due to Sho)! About two thirds of the way through, we see back on set for the movie. A couple of the actresses are afraid of Ren and hiding behind Murasame-san. He tries to calm the girl by saying that "he's just a human," but then he makes eye contact with Ren and he freaks out himself. We then cut to Kyoko freaking out because she was sleeping and it's now Noon. She's trying to hurry to the studio to catch up with Ren, but she's also trying to stay in character and walk slow acting like she doesn't care. Anyways, the chapter ends with Kyoko coming onto set with a lot of people bleeding and hurt. The last frame has Ren holding Murasame-san in what looks like a choke hold, possibly over a ledge of some sort. I'm not sure if it's part of the movie or if Ren just kind of snapped again. I'm hoping the first. So the next chapter comes out January 4th, so we will have to wait a bit. Although, with the holidays I think the time will go by a lot faster!

Kyoko's reaction to finding out she slept until noon!

Another small update about Skip Beat! the drama, SM released a preview teaser thing on their site. You can watch it here! I'm pretty excited to watch this and see how they are going to play the different things. I'm also really interested to see how they are going to do Kyoko's little demons and angels. Anyways, it'll start airing here in the next couple weeks, so they'll probably be spazzing happening within the next few posts about that! Oh, and going back to the teaser, you can also hear a bit of the song Super Junior - M sings for the drama! I'm also excited to hear the song Donghae wrote (his first in Chinese) for the drama and his role! Overall, I'm just pretty excited about all the new Skip Beat! happenings!

Donghae gif from the Skip Beat! promo video.

Well, switching gears back to music fandoms, I'll start with Super Junior (since they were mentioned with the Skip Beat! rants)! There's actually been quite a few happenings with SuJu that I want to rant about. First off, the SS3 DVD has been released for pre-order! It comes out on the 21st! I'm super excited, but at the same time a little confused by SM. I think it would've been a better idea to release it a little earlier, so that people can get it for Christmas, both in Korea and abroad. Anyways, it's exciting because it's only going to be like $30, which is so nice. I love Japan, but why are their DVDs and CDs so expensive? The SS3 in Japan DVD is like $80 before shipping. And speaking of Super Show things, it's time for Super Show 4's first world tour stop. The boys are in Osaka, Japan (and I'm really jealous because I really want to go to Osaka again) and the concerts will happen in the next couple days. I just hope that they release the dates for if they are going to come to the US. If not, I would seriously consider flying to a different country to see them. Especially before Teuk starts his military duties. Continuing on with the association, Donghae's solo song from SS4 (with Eunhyuk) will be released as a digital single. Him and Eunhyuk are forming their own unit and going to promote the song next weekend on two of the music shows. If I remember correctly, it'll be Inkigayo and either Music Bank or Music Core (I always get them mixed up).

Eunhyuk (yellow) and Donghae (red) during SS4.

Before heading on to my last rant, there is another small Super Junior update I would like to talk about. On December 4th, Leeteuk and Eunhyuk temporarily said goodbye to their DJ spots on Sukira (Super Junior's Kiss the Radio). They've been the DJs for over 5 years, so it's really sad. I've only been listening to Sukira since I was in Japan (over a year), but it's sad that I won't be able to listen to my two biases every morning. Instead of getting other people to replace them (there were rumors it would be Infinite), the producers I guess decided to keep it as Sukira, so Ryeowook and Sungmin are the new DJs. EunTeuk said that it was better for them to quit since both of their schedules are getting hectic and full lately. As much as it's saddening, I think that it's good for them to cut back a little bit. I hate it when they look so exhausted and like they haven't had any sleep in years. It's a different Sukira with RyeoSung, but they are both such cutie pies, especially Ryeowook. When he gets so hyper I just want to grab him and shake him (I don't know why it's shaking him & a little violent). Anyways, they are super cute and it'll be fun to watch them develop some DJ skills. EunTeuk have said that they are planning on coming back, so I'm sure we'll see them DJing again!

New Sukira DJs! Such cutie pies!

Okay, so on to my last rant, this time switching continents to Japan! There actually isn't too much news about Arashi. Just new dramas and starring in each other's shows and specials. Anyways, to finally explain the title, it's Aiba's Month among Arashians (what I call Arashi fans)! His birthday is the 24th, but Arashi fans tend to dedicate the entire month to the member. Aiba is my second bias, so all the Aiba things being released are pretty exciting! Anyways, one of the fansub groups I follow (AST) has dubbed December AIcemBA! So, that's why the title is Happy AIcemBA! In other small fangirlisms, this means that next month is my Arashi bias' month! Yes, that's right, we see Sakurai Sho's birthday next month (as well as Jaejoong's, my new JYJ/TVXQ bias [Sorry, Sorry Yunho])!

The rare serious side of Aiba-chan. He's so pretty!

Okay, so sorry it was long, but a lot has happened since I last updated! If you made it this far, congratulations! I hope I didn't bore you too much! Anyways, I'll leave with a gif as always! This time I'll leave you with Aiba-chan, our dear birthday boy! This is a popular gif from Himitsu no Arashi-chan (one of their variety shows) where he falls off his chair from laughing!


Ja ne~
Stasi

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

6 Years + Love Song + New Beginnings

Hello dear readers! I am back, and in a more timely manner! So I only have a few items to talk about today, but a couple them could turn out pretty long. Anyways, I hope you are enjoying the month of November so far! It's been getting a more colder lately, so please take care of yourselves and don't catch colds if you're in an area getting colder!

A picture I took last Tuesday while walking home during the snow storm!

Okay, so first off, I would like to share my life changing decisions. As I am kind of tired of being an Accounting major and only chose it since I was good at it, I have made the decision to change to an Asian Studies major. I know that I only have one or two years left, but honestly, I feel so much interested and engaged in classes that I enjoy. I'm good at Accounting, not so much the other business classes. I just feel like I could do a lot better. What's really nice, is when I was talking to Bea about it, she brought up a very good point. I guess one of her art teachers was talking about being happy in your major and your career in life. I agree, and think that people should try to find jobs that they both like and can enjoy. For me, I enjoy learning about different cultures, especially Asian ones. I also have enjoyed learning Japanese and trying to figure out Korean on my own! I am really excited and feel so much happier and less stressed now that I feel like I can get on the right path. Since UNC just established an Asian Studies Major, there really aren't that many class options. Seeing as the only Asian languages that are offered here are Japanese and Chinese, I feel a little constricted. I would eventually like to learn Chinese, but I would rather learn Korean or even Vietnamese or Thai first. So, taking that into consideration, I am going to try to transfer to University of Colorado - Boulder. They have a lot more extensive program, and even off I think three years of Korean. I'm just hoping that I'll be able to transfer smoothly. Plus it'll be nice to still be in Colorado, and in an area I somewhat know (my grandfather lives outside of Boulder). As for plans after I graduate, I am planning on teaching English in Korea or Japan for a few years. Honestly, I just want to get out of the US. I really felt so much happier and healthier when I was living in Japan despite missing all my friends and family. Although, I didn't miss them as much as I thought I would. I guess I just felt at home there, which is more than I can say for Greeley. It's familiar, but it's never really given me the feeling like I belong. I feel like I'm just here for a bit. I hope that makes sense. Thinking about it, I honestly wouldn't disappointed in my life if I spent the rest of my time teaching English abroad. The funny part is when I was talking to my Mom about it, she mentioned that when I was little I wanted to be a teacher for a few years, and she thought that was what I was going to be. When I mentioned it to my Dad, he told me straight out: "I never really understood where you got the idea to be an Accountant." So I think that my family pretty much agrees with my decision, which makes me feel like I made the right choice even more. At least, I hope they're okay with it. Anyways, I just wanted to share some of the thoughts that have been going through my head lately, and that I finally feel like I'm headed to a goal in life that I can reach and be happy in. I think it would still be fun to work on variety shows, but I'm  not really sure how that would pan out. I think at most I could work on ones that deal with people learning English or having English segments or something. We'll see. You never can know what happens.

The Game of Life! XD

Okay, sorry for that huge chunk of text, but I didn't really want to separate it and have it seem like I was switching topics. If you made it through, congratulations! I hope everything made sense. Anyways, time to move on! Before moving on, I would like to give a small update about NaNoWriMo. So far everything is going pretty well. I didn't really want to write yesterday, but I was so tired I didn't want to do anything. At least I worked a lot on it this weekend and have goals to get to 15,000 words by midnight tonight! Right now I'm just under 14,000, so about an hour and I'll meet my goal! I can't remember what all I mentioned earlier about my novel, but I've decided to write and adventure type story, well, at least that's what it is right now. Basically, I'm using my experience studying abroad in Japan to write a story about a girl that moves to Japan right after college to teach English and find a new life! I hope it turns out well, but we'll see if I ever share it with anyone.


Moving on, Skip Beat! chapter 182 came out on the fifth! The first part of the chapter was okay, a lot of inner monologue from Kyoko. The ending though, was EPIC! We see a return of Yashiro-san (Ren's Mangaer)!! He's one of my favorite characters, so it was fun to see him again after so long! Anyways, so the chapter is about Kyoko analyzing what happened with Ren the night before, a.k.a. last chapter. She comes to the decision that he wasn't in character last night, and that he was having some sort of issue. He seems okay now and is giving Kyoko clues to not really bring it up and stop worrying. He tells Kyoko to go rest since her eyes are red from staying up all night thinking and worrying. On the way to the room to rest Kyoko calls Yashiro-san. Of course I almost fangirlled since Yashiro-san is one of my favorite characters along with Takarada Rori! Anyways, she wants to ask Yashiro-san about Ren, but a problem arises. In his rush to answer the phone right after getting out of the shower, he answered the phone bare-handed. In case you haven't read, or don't remember, Yashiro-san's bare hands kill electronics in I think 30 seconds. Of course, he goes to answer Kyoko and his phone dies. The chapter ends with Yashiro-san looking in horror at his dead phone. It was hilarious, but frustrating at the same time. At least the next chapter comes out on the 19th, so I only have to wait a little less than two weeks for the new chapter!

Yashiro-san's reaction to finding the phone dead and realizing he answered with bare hands!

Okay, before I get into my two main biases, let me just start with something else! Wonder Girls have released their second album! It's titled Wonder World and the promotion song is Be My Baby. I am completely addicted to this song! It's so good. I used some of my leftover Soribada money to download the CD. The song is so good, and I really enjoy the dance and the MV. If you haven't heard or seen the song and MV, click HERE! It'll most likely get stuck in your head and you'll want to hurt me, but it's good. I'm really happy to see them back with such a good song. I honestly haven't been too impressed with their couple latest releases since Nobody. Nothing against Sones, but I kind of want them to blow SNSD out of the water! Anyway, please check out the MV! It's good, I swear!

From the MV! The focus is on my favorite member, YeEun or Yenny! XD

Moving on, Arashi's new single "迷宮ラブソング" (Meikyu Love Song) came out! It's so good! I love this song! The MV is so much fun too! It's such a fun and cute MV! I busted out laughing a few times, plus it shows them in all their adorkable glory! As for the other songs, there were three other songs on the regular edition single. They are "together, forever," "うたかた," and "wanna be..." and one extra song on the limited edition, "消えぬ想い." Honestly, I prefer the three on the regular edition better. I particularly like "うたかた" a lot. It's such a peppy song and they have some great harmonies in it! I also really like "wanna be..." It has a little of a rock feeling to it, but it works well I think. "消えぬ想い" is also good, but I think it's my least favorite of all the new songs. I'll post a link to the PV here, but I'm not sure how long it'll be up. If you aren't able to find it through google and want to watch it, let me know and I'll try to send it to you! Anyways, I really enjoy their latest singe (Number 32!!) and highly encourage you to check it out!

Cat Ohno! Yes, he's turning 31 years old this month! XD

Okay, last, but definitely not least, Super Junior ranting will commence. Okay, so this might be a weird section, just warning you. On November 6th, Super Junior celebrated their 6th year anniversary! As I mentioned in my last post, I can't believe that six years have passed this quickly, and for me I've been their fan since 2008, so three years for me. Anyways, I just wanted to post a little blurb dedicated to them. I know they most likely won't ever come across it and read it, let alone be able to understand it, but I just wanted to share because you never know! Anyways, you don't have to read this and can just skip it if you want!

Dear Super Junior:
First off, congratulations on 6 years together. You've broken the curse of 5 years! I want to express to you that I will support you forever, no matter what. I will always be your fan, your support, your Ever-Lasting Friend. There is so much I want to convey to you, but I'm not quite sure how. I am so thankful for so many things. You have given me so much and enriched my life greatly. I wouldn't be the same person I am today if it weren't for you. Your presence in my life has brought me tears, laughter, happiness, hope, and so much more. I've able to meet wonderful people from all over the world through being your fan. My prospective has opened on so many things thanks to you. There is so much more feeling I wish that I could write and convey to you, but I can't quite figure out how to put in into words. I'm sad that we aren't all together anymore, but I believe that one day all 13+2 will stand together, on one stage. I know that as you all get older you'll be temporarily leaving to complete your mandatory service to your country. I just want you to know that I will always support you, no matter what happens. I will always wait, no matter how long!
Your Ever-Lasting Friend, Stasi

I love these boys so much!

Okay, so I hoped you enjoyed this blog post and thank you for once again reading through all my rantings! As always, I'll leave you with a gif! This time, I'll leave you with the only Super Junior member I haven't posted a solo gif of, Hankyung! 

Hankyung from Super Junior-M's Super Girl MV! XD

Ja ne~
Stasi

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

2 Months & Counting...

Hello!! So, once again I am coming to you after a couple weeks, or maybe more like a week...but anyways, Hello again! I can't believe it's already November! This means that Thanksgiving & Black Friday are soon, as well as Christmas and 2012! I hope you're all ready for the end of 2011!! Anyways, lets get started since I have quite a few topics/rants today!


First off, last night was Halloween! As much as Halloween is my favorite holiday, unfortunately time got away from me and I wasn't able to finish my costume. I still have everything for it, so I might just wear it next year or to a con or something! It was a kind of a bummer since I ended up working for 12 hours that day. I didn't really see anybody else, and I wasn't home until late so I didn't see an trick or treaters either. Major Sad Day! I ended up doing my laundry and cleaning the closet the day before and found my beanie with cat ears I bought at NDK a few years ago. I wore it all day so at least I was dressed up a little bit! Two of my roommates and I did end up carving pumpkins though! We were trying to figure out when to do it, but last Wednesday ended up being a snow day, so we stayed home and did them then! Adrienne carved a ghost coming out of a crypt/coffin, Katie did Batman, and I did a Japanese Kabuki mask! It was the hardest design I've ever carved, but I think it turned out really cool! Unfortunately I carved it a little low on the pumpkin so it looked like he was staring at the ground. It's all good though! I also did decorate the yard, but the snow day happened a couple days afterwards and kind of ruined it. I'll be cleaning it up here in the next couple days.

Green: Adrienne's Pink: Mine Yellow: Katie's

As for other happenings recently, I attended Billy's bachelorette party and Billy and Curtis's wedding was on the 29th. The ceremony ended up happening at the same place as the reception instead of at a cemetery, but I think it turned out really nice! They both looked so happy. Well, actually, they both still look really happy! I'm just sad I forgot my camera. The bachelorette party was a lot of fun too! We played Dirty Minds, watched Rocky Horror Picture Show, chatted about random things, and went to Old Chicago's! It was a blast! The reception was a lot of fun too! Sam and her brother (Pikachu a.k.a. Alex) also came to the reception, so it was really nice to catch up. She's still up in Greeley, so I think we're going to try to get together sometime soon! Anyways, back to the happy couple, I'm so excited for them! It really turned out nice! I never really have thought much about my wedding, but going to theirs I am a little now. It's hard though since I have no idea who I'll actually end up marrying!


Oh, speaking of meeting with Sam, she convinced me to do NaNoWriMo this year. I've always been interested in it, and it starts today. I'll actually get started here when I'm done posting this. I'm not exactly sure how it'll end up since I've never attempted something like this, but hopefully I'll at least make the 50,000 words by the end of the month!


Okay, so for my fangirl rants! They all will be rather short though! First off, a small Skip Beat mention! The new chapter doesn't come out until the 5th, so I don't actually have any news about it! I can't wait though! I'm excited and hope it's not a shorter chapter! We'll see. Anyways, expect another update around then.


Also most like going to be in that post will be information and rantings about Super Junior's 6th anniversary. It's coming up quickly (on the 6th)! I can't believe that I've been in the fandom for three years now! Then again, Arashi is currently in their 12th year and I've been their fan for...eight years now. Wow, and I though three years was long! Also, Super Junior released their Super Show 3 Live Album! It's awesome! I'll link you to Soribada so you can listen to the songs if you would like! I love them and can't wait for the DVD to be released! Since I don't really have any other Super Junior updates, I'll get on to Arashi! They still haven't released the single Meikyu Love Song yet, but that should be coming up soon as well. They did release the short PV a bit ago, but most of the links have been taken down. I'm sure that'll be coming up soon in one of the next couple posts!


Well, I think that's all that for this post! Not much fangirling this time, but there were some exciting things to update you all on! Hopefully I'll be more timely with my next post! Today's gif will be Kibum since I haven't posted a solo gif of him yet! It's from the U MV! XD

 
Ja ne~
Stasi

Friday, October 21, 2011

October Love!

Ohisashiburi Minna! So, I was planning on writing my first blog post of October earlier, but nothing too exciting has been happening. I have a few things to rant about today though, so I hope I don't bore you too much! XD


First off, Halloween is only a couple of weeks away! I've been procrastinating on decorating the yard. Every time I have the motivation to do it the weather is uncooperative. Hopefully I'll get it up this weekend. Also Halloween related news, I have decided on my costume for this year! I am going to be a Jedi! Woooo! I'm pretty excited about it! I bought a blue lightsaber and the fabric to make the cape and outer layer tunic. I won't be too authentic, but hopefully I get it done on time. I just have to stop sleeping in and start waking up early to work on it all that I can. I think I can get it done. First I have to clean my room though. But anyways, I'll probably post a couple pictures (if I actually take any)!


Speaking of future October plans, it's almost time for Billy and Curtis's wedding! I can't wait! I'm really excited for them! I actually just got their wedding presents and we've been planning the Bachelor and Bachelorette parties! This Saturday are the parties, so I'll probably do an update (most likely) sometime this weekend or early next week relating the craziness that ensues. Tomorrow I'm making inappropriate cupcakes for the parties with Billy and Zeva, so that'll be fun too! Hopefully they turn out right! I'll most likely post pictures on my Twitter, but I might share them here. We'll see how they turn out! XD


Well, since things are progressing quickly, we are already to the fandom related rants of my posts! The new Skip Beat! chapter came out today! Woooo!! I really enjoyed this chapter. It's been a while since there's been a chapter that actually makes me laugh out loud more than once! It was a nice change, but there also was some good plot movement as well. I won't go too deep into what happened (for those that are reading it as well), but basically Kyoko is coming to realize that the issues that Ren is experiencing are not part of the characters' he's playing, but his own "demons." I can't wait for the next chapter, and it comes out on November 5th so we don't have to wait too long again!

Kyoko can't sleep, so she's creating and counting fairies!

As for other fandom updates, I'll start with Arashi! Sakurai Sho's new drama with Kitagawa Keiko has started! It's called Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de! I really enjoyed the first episode! The instructor was ridiculous, but in a funny way. It was interesting to see Sakurai-san as a butler, but I'm excited to see how things will progress throughout the season! I also love the theme song! I'm not sure when the single is going to be released (I'm too lazy to look it up right now), but the song is Meikyu Love Song and I really love the song. They've released the PV (promotional video) teaser, but most of the ones online have been deleted already, so I can't share it. It looks really good and I can't wait to see the PV in full! I also can't wait to listen to the other songs that will be released with the single. If you haven't heard, and want to check out the Meikyu Love Song, click it's name and you'll get to hear it in full.

Kageyama's (Sakurai Sho) tea time! XD

Last, but not least, my ELF fandom. First off, Super Junior has had  their goodbye stage last weekend. I can't believe that 5jib promotions are already over. I'm sad that we won't be able to watch them every weekend for a while, but it's also nice becuase they are able to have a little bit more free time (hopefully). I know that Leeteuk has been really busy. I'm happy that he's doing so many things, but I think the company and his own choices are spreading him too thin. On top of all the shows he MCs, Sukira with Eunhyuk, and Hello Baby Season 4, he has started with the actress Kang Sora on We Got Married. I just hope that he's able to take some good rest during their upcoming vacation. Especially since SS4 will be starting soon. I'm worried about all the boys though, it's just that Teuki is more obvious in his exhaustion.

These four boys terrorized Teuk and Sora! It was hilarious!

Also, the wonderful month of October has brought us both Henry's and Donghae's birthdays on the 11th and 15th respectively! I just wanted to wish our Mochi and Fishy Happy Birthday once again (I sent them messages on Twitter)! I hope that they had wonderful days and that their new ages bring them many wonderful things!

Henry "teaching" Donghae how to play the violin!

Well, I think that is all that I wanted to update on! As for this post's gif, I bring you the cuteness Sungmin!


Ja ne~
Stasi

Friday, September 30, 2011

Moving On

So once again, I am a huge slacker and am taking forever to update my blog. I'm sorry. But, at least I made it back to have an end of month post for September! So I made a list of what to go through on this post and it's pretty long. I'll just get into the thick of it! CAUTION: Long Rants Ahead!


So, first off, I thought I'd catch up on things I mentioned my last post (on the 8th). So the weekend after my last post was NDK! I had a lot of fun. There were a few small issues, but it wasn't the fault of the Con, but people there. I just tried to ignore it and enjoy what little time I had there! I was able to go to quite a few panels this year! Most of them were costuming/wig panels, but we also got to head to a few others. Also, I went to the AMV contest (like every year I've gone). It was good this year, but I was a little disappointed with the variety of animes selected. I don't know if it was the NDK judge's fault or just what the submissions were like. I did enjoy the ones that I saw though! I also got to finally see Derek and Travis. Oh how I've missed those two boys! Especially Derek! Things have been pretty different without him around. Hopefully we'll get more chances to hang out soon! Since, I have a lot more I could say, but I want to try to keep things short, I'll end my NDK stories here! I did buy a lot of artwork and a couple really cute plushies! If you want to know more just leave me a comment or send me a message and I can let you know more! I also need to upload the few pictures I took off my camera. Yes, I know, I fail.

Myself and 1 of my new plusies, NemuNeko (Sleeping Cat)!

Okay, so I'm going to try to keep this short, and a warning for those that have gotten this far, there will be a lot of fangirl rants later on! But you'll know more if you actually get that far! XD Anyways, continuing on... Before I get too much into the next few rants, I just wanted to to send out a little promo for my Examinations Blog! I'm currently doing a 5000 Question Survey (broken into parts) and would love to have more people check it out. There's a link on the side bar or you can just click above or here! Anyways, I'd love to have more people check it out and let me know what they think. Also, if you have any quizzes or surveys or psychological tests or anything you want to share, don't hesitate to send them to me! I'd love to take them, post my results and share them with my other readers!


So now that I got that out of my system, I also want to do a small rant here. I know this should probably be at the top, but I wanted to say something to all of you! Thank You!! I really do feel happy when I see that someone is reading my posts. I haven't really gotten many comments, but that's okay. I just hope that I'm not boring you too much with all my randomness and weird rantings! There is a reason that I'm bringing this up though! I was messing around in the statistics area of the new blogspot dashboard and found something interesting. As of this morning, I have had viewers/readers from the following countries: USA, Argentina, Philippines, UK, Malaysia, Singapore, Canada, Indonesia, Russia, and Brazil! I honestly thought that most of the people reading were in the US, but I feel happy and amazed that people from so many countries have come across my blog! Anyways, thanks to all my readers! I hope that I keep you entertained until I stop writing!

The readers chart from the statistics area!

So there's something else I want to post in my blog, but I think I'll wait a couple more days before I post it. It's the longest rant of all the ones I have planned, and I think I'd prefer to just do a  post about it and not really have it surrounded by other happenings. I will be posting within the next week (for the first October post), so keep your eyes peeled for that! Speaking of October, it starts tomorrow! I'm so excited! I love October! Fall is my favorite season and Halloween is my favorite holiday. Also, my good friends Billy and Curtis are getting married this month as well! I'm really excited for the weather to start changing (hopefully *knocks on wood*)! I also need to start figuring out what my Halloween costume will be. I'm currently floating between a few ideas, but I need to make a decision fast so I have enough time to make my costume before it arrives!


Okay, so before I start on my Asian Pop group fangirlisms, I am watching a LOT more American TV shows this season. It's crazy. I don't think I watched this many shows before I was watching more Japanese and Korean shows. But anyways, there are a lot of good shows this season, so I thought I'd share what ones I'm watching and let you know my quick thoughts! First off, I'll mention those that haven't premiered (or I haven't watched yet). ABC's Private Practice premiered last night, but I'm still only about halfway through Season 4, so I need to catch up first before I start the new season. Also, one of my favorite shows premieres October 12th! It's USA's Psych! I love this show! Shawn and Gus are hilarious and I can't wait for this show to start back up! Also premiering in October is ABC's new show Once Upon a Time. It starts on the 23rd and is created by the writers of Lost. I watched the first half of season one of Lost and enjoyed it, but I missed one episode and got lost after that (ignore the bad pun). I really enjoyed what I watched though. Anyways, it looks to be about fairy tales and looks really good from the previews. I'll definitely be watching the first couple episodes and then decide from there!

Ignore the date and time! Psych now airs on Wednesdays!

As for shows that have already started airing, and I've seen I'll just do a quick run through. When I start the shows mentioned above, I'll be watching a total of 11 American shows this season! I don't think I've ever watched that many before. Anyways, I'll do this by days. I am watching three shows that air on Tuesday evenings. My favorite of the three is CW's new show starring Sarah Michelle Gellar (I love her) in Ringer. I am really addicted to Ringer. It is so freaking good. Plus, I'm really happy to see Sarah Michelle Gellar active again! She's one of my favorite actresses. It is really good. I really recommend this show to a lot of people. Anyways, I'll stop ranting about Ringer and move on. The other Tuesday shows that I'm watching are Fox's Glee and New Girl. This is the third season of Glee, but honestly, I'm only watching it for Harry Shum, Jr. He's such an amazing dancer! As for New Girl, I'm really enjoying this odd comedy. Zooey Deschanel is awesome (as always) and I'm really loving here character Jess! If you are into comedies, definitely check it out! Moving on, the only Wednesday show that I watch (until Psych starts) is the CW's America's Next Top Model (ANTM). We are on Cycle 17 (I can't believe I've watched 16 seasons before this) and Tyra has finally decided to do an allstars season! It's been interesting so far, and I've been loving the photo shoots! The last one had the models on stilts! So crazy! Thursdays leave me with new episodes of ABC's Grey's Anatomy and CBS's The Big Bang Theory (and eventually Private Practice). Both shows are two of my favorites! The Big Bang Theory is starting Season 5 while Grey's Anatomy is currently in Season 8! The only other day that airs shows I watch are Sundays! That leaves me with Discovery's Storm Chasers and CBS's The Amazing Race. Both are really good shows, but completely different. For those that don't know, Storm Chasers is a series that follows meteorologists and storm chasers during tornado season. The Amazing Race is a reality show where there are teams of two and it's a race around the world. What I really enjoy about Amazing Race is that they get to participate in cultural activities, that sometimes leave me feeling so jealous. So those are the shows that I'm watching this season. I've linked all them to their websites (if you didn't notice) in case you want to learn more! I hope I've helped you a bit with Fall TV line-up! Feel free to comment below and leave me any recommendations!


Well, keeping on with TV Shows, but jumping to Asian ones, I'll start off talking about the Korean Drama Protect the Boss. I honestly can't remember (and don't want to backlog) if I've mentioned it before, but I love this show. It's one of my favorite Korean dramas hands down, and definitely my favorite of the year. The main actors play really childish characters and there's so many funny moments. I've gotten several people hooked to it, so have seen up to episode 10 at least 4 times already! The last two episodes aired this week, so by the beginning of next week the English subs should be up so I can finish it. I'm sad it'll be ending, but at the same time I'm happy. Some American shows go on WAY too long. Also, with Asian TV shows, Skip Beat! the Taiwanese live action drama has released an airing date. I've heard two different dates (December 18th and 24th), but since they're both in December, I'm pretty sure that it'll start then. I'm sad because it's still a couple months away, but then again I've been waiting over a year for this, so a couple more months won't hurt! Plus, I know that it's already been filmed!


Keeping with the same thought train, the new chapter of Skip Beat! was released on the 20th! I can't believe we're already on Chapter 180! So this chapter started out with a flashback. We see Ren back when he was Kuon in an alley (presumably in the States) beating up some Americans. Suddenly...I think his name is Rick...runs up and tries to convince Ren to stop fighting. While thinking about his flashback, Kyoko appears and is confronts him about his reactions (more specifically the smile) during his fight with Murasame-san. I'm excited for this because we are learning more and more about Ren's back story. I can't wait until it's all revealed! Also, Ren is super cute in this chapter. Most of the chapter takes place in their hotel room, and Ren is like huddling under the blanket. The end of the chapter leaves us with Kyoko stepping out of an elevator (she went to the convenience store) and Ren in front of it draped in the blanket. As a side note, I was talking with Pri about Skip Beat! earlier, and she mentioned that we haven't seen Sho lately. I wonder what he's up too, but guessing off previous frames, he's probably sulking somewhere picturing Ren and Kyoko on dates! The next chapter comes out on October 20th, so we have a little bit of a wait. I don't mind though. It's more normal to have an update monthly, and it's way better than the two month streak we had a little bit ago.


Okay, so now I'll start the more serious fangirl things. I'll start off slowly though, which means the smaller rants! I'll also be starting with my Japanese fandom, Arashi! It has been released that Arashi will be singing the theme song for Sakurai Sho's new drama Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de. I don't think I've mentioned this before, but it's a new Japanese drama! It starts airing for the Winter Season (I believe) and stars not only my bias from Arashi, Sakurai Sho, but one of my favorite Japanese actresses, Kitagawa Keiko. If you've watched any Japanese dramas before, she was in Buzzer Beat (with Yamapi). She's also in the Japanese Movie adaptation of Paradise Kiss (which I really, really want to see). I just hope to finish the last drama Sakurai-san was in before this one starts (Tokujo Kabachi). Actually, now that I think about it, I'm pretty behind overall in Arashi dramas since My Girl.


So moving on to Korean fandoms, Brown Eyed Girls made their comeback! They are one of my favorite girl groups out there! Not only are they older than most of current groups, but they are so strong. I really think that they are the Queens of the girl groups. Anyways,  the new song is awesome. It's kind of an onslaught to the senses though with their vocals and the instrumentation, but from the second listen onward I was hooked. This is one of the few songs I rock out to when I have to walk anywhere. These girls are so talented, plus this MV and song is sending a message. What's nice is that everyone can interpret the message differently, but at the same time everyone also understands that it's also sending a message to the censor board that pretty much reads as "Fudge You!" (I rarely cuss. Don't hate!) I really recommend you check out their new song if you like music. Oh, I forgot the most important part, it's titled "Sixth Sense." They've also done their comeback on the music shows, and boy are these girls amazing live as well! I'll give both links to the MV and LIVE here. Just as a side note, I'm going to stop embedding the videos here on my blog to help with the play counts. Please still check them out though!


Quickly, before I get to my main fandom, I wanted to share a little bit of TVXQ and JYJ news. TVXQ has released an album in Japan! I really love the song B.U.T. (Be-au-ty). It's a good one to walk too as well. I'll link you to the MV! Also, JYJ has released their album In Heaven. The songs on this CD are so good. I really love these songs so much. Plus, what makes it even more exciting is that these boys had a hand in each of these songs, with some of them being completely composed, lyricized, and arranged by the members. I am such a fan of this CD that I caved in and bought a copy. I'm not buying at least two of each version (like with Super Junior), but I did want to show them my support. I'm going to have an Asian artist poster on my walls that isn't Super Junior! But anyways, they've released two MVs with the CD. The first is In Heaven which is a ballad song that Jaejoong composed, arranged, and wrote the lyrics for. I just want to give a little background. The story in the MV is about a man (played by Junsu) and his girlfriend that dies. In reality, Jaejoong wrote the song after a friend of his committed suicide. The second MV is Get Out and one of my favorite songs off the CD. This song is also one of the ones on my walking playlist! The music and lyrics were written by Jaejoong and Yoochun. Jaejoong also helped in the arrangement of the song. Anyways, check them out. If I had to choose just one for you to check out though, I'd go with Get Out. It's one of my favorite songs, of pretty much all Korean music. Not many artists other than Super Junior have made that short list!


Okay, so finally to the big boys (hee hee), Super Junior! there is actually a lot of information that's come out with Super Junior since my last post, but I'll just keep it down to a few major happenings. First, Mr. Simple Version C, the repackage has been released! The title track is A-CHA. They have released the MV and performed it LIVE. There were three other songs that were added in the repackage as well. Oops! (featuring f(x)), A Day, and Andante. Andante is another one of my favorite ballads, and once again composed by Henry and Leeteuk. I also really like A Day (which features all of the members). Oops took me a bit to get used to, but the turning point was when I read the lyrics to the song. Leeteuk, Donghae, Heechul, Eunhyuk, and Shindong wrote the rap for the song and knowing what they are singing really makes the song a lot better. But, back to A-CHA! Once you listen to A-CHA, I am warning you that it will be stuck in your head. I though Rokkugo was bad, but A-CHA is at a whole new level! This song is very, very addicting! I recommend you check out both the MV (which I have some issues with) and the live to see some more of the dance! Honestly though, the MV bothered me a bit. The only saving grace it had was that the boys looked amazing in it. Anyways, that's a whole different rant. Just a reminder, if you didn't click them before, check out the MV and/or LIVE of A-CHA!


For a smaller and quicker rant, Heechul has finished his four week basic training. He started his service yesterday. I am glad to see him complete his training and to hear that he's back living in the dorm with our boys, even if he isn't promoting with them currently. I just hope that the fans and reporters stop harassing him and let him do his duty in peace. It was wrong for him to be accosted like that. It also bothered me a bit that they are showing more interest in him now that he's not promoting anything and trying to live as a soldier or citizen and not an idol.

Kim Heechul at training.

Leeteuk, our dear leader, has started Season 4 of Hello! Baby with Sistar. There are five episodes out so far, but I've only seen the first one. I tried watching it when it first came out, but I was so confused and got a little bored not being able to understand...pretty much anything. There has been only one episode released with good subs, so I'm still waiting for more. But, Leeteuk is so cute dealing with the baby Kyumin. He's so adorable! lately, many different things have made me think about having a family and more specifically a baby. One of the things to blame is this show and Leeteuk. Anyways, Leeteuk Appa (Dad in Korean), Fighting!


Okay, so there is one more small thing I want to mention/rant about before I leave you. Our Shindong's birthday was on the 28th of September. I sent him a small message on twitter that day, but I wanted to say a small message to him. I know that he most likely won't see it, but I still want to write it out and post it on that small chance!

To Shindong:
Happy Belated Birthday! I hope you had a wonderful day! I did see the celebratory message and picture you shared on Twitter. I just wanted to say thank you! You've made me so happy to call myself an ELF. You really are someone that has had a rough time being in Super Junior, but I and ELF love you. I know that I've said some things about your surgery, but I honestly don't really care. You will always be the same Shindong to me! Whether you lose 15 more pounds, or gain it all back, I will always support you! I wish that I was in Korea to send you things, or spoke Korean well enough to send you this message and hope that you see it and understand it, but I'm happy knowing that I can still do my small part from America to support you and the Super Junior family. Forgive me for rambling on. I just wanted to say Happy Birthday! and Thank You! You really have given me hope and laughter and can always brighten my day when I'm feeling down!

One of the photos Shindong tweeted. He's with the other Super Junior members!

Okay, so you didn't really have to read that, but I just wanted to get it out. Anyways, I'll leave you with the customary gif! This week's gif is the birthday boy Shindong!

Shindong from the A-CHA MV Teaser.

Ja ne~
Stasi