Some of their notable products:

Galaxy S2 – iPhone 4/ 4S Korean Phone Case Cute Smart Rabbit

My college overflows with overseas Koreans, and I cannot count how many times I have seen cases like these. However, I own a Galaxy Nexus, which is also a Korean-made phone, I would love to see Korea Hallyu offer cases for Galaxy Nexus and other Korean-manufactured phones, because no one else sells cute cases, and I have been forced to get custom skins from Zagg instead.

THEFACESHOP Power Protection BB Cream (SPF37PA ++)

BB Cream is the secret weapon of South Korean idols– it’s the be-all-end-all, sunscreen, skin whitener, moisturizer, foundation. I chose the most expensive BB Cream, because honestly, since BB Cream is the be-all-end-all, you need to get the best stuff, and the best stuff tends to be the most expensive.

Korean Circle Lens Dali Rose Brown 

Circle lenses! The reason why Korean idols look so doe-like and innocent with impossibly large anime eyes. However, like with BB Cream, be very careful with who and where you buy it from, because you will only ever have two pairs of eyes, and in the United States, it is technically illegal to sell circle lenses without a valid prescription. If you wear contact lenses or glasses for practical reasons rather than just for fashion, please verify your prescription before you buy circle lenses. I am actually due for an eye exam soon; so perhaps grey circle lenses will be in my future. Exciting.. there will finally be some color in my bottomless black hole eyes..

Stainless Steel Vacuum Korean Chopsticks 10 Set

I absolutely love metal chopsticks! They are so sleek and modern-looking (I think this is my inner hipster emerging). Korea Hallyu also sells Korean spoon and chopstick sets with beautiful designs, but I hope they will add a set to the catalogue devoid of any inlay because plain steel is the most classic.

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To be honest, their catalogue is a bit sparse now, but hopefully they will begin to flesh it out, as they receive requests from shoppers, and if they head towards the direction of fred flare, I am sure they will find a niche of shoppers looking for unique, cute products. I am also pretty impressed they are offering free shipping to USA, Asia, Europe. It is actually a good business strategy, since most of their patrons will be young, and what they afford will not really be big-ticket items. For example, Amazon offers free shipping over $25 because most of their shoppers are middle-class, while J-Crew only starts free shipping over $100 because most of their shoppers are on the higher end.

Please read on to receive the discount!

Before checkout, apply the promotional code “theinnocentlam” for a discount of 10%, which can only be used on the first order. Cool, huh? A big thank you to the folks over at koreahallyu.com! Please support them and help them grow! ^^~

I personally would like to say how I love start-ups like this, because Asia is on the rise and its culture will gain dominance and stores like this are extremely smart for seizing the opportunity earlier. If I could do a start-up, it would be Asian pencil cases but sadly, Ms. Cool Pencil Cases was already all over that. However, I think commercial bubble tea in the West has yet been untapped.. hmm..

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*All photos taken from koreahallyu.com.

I don’t have much to say, because I am absolutely blown away.

BIGBANG is not a strong vocal group and will never be, if we hold TVXQ as our vocal standard for male groups. But I find I don’t care. Particularly, G-Dragon’s singing starting at 0.44s is just so heartbreakingly perfect and well-paced with the midtempo bass. Sometimes I can’t stop myself from melting.

The song itself– it builds on Korean ballad idioms, but it moves away from it, a bit like SM The Ballad did with “Hot Times“, as it is less concerned with sounding so sad and emotive, having excessive held high notes. What we get is a song that is melancholy, but at the same time, uplifting. “Blue” is something to curl up to on a rainy day with a cup of hot tea and a biscotti or two.

I lied slightly, I am a bit bothered by the voice qualities, for example, sandwiching TOP between the smooth chorus and BIGBANG’s token smooth singer, Taeyang. However, I’ve always had a problem with the cohesiveness of BIGBANG’s sound, so this is nothing new. I am also bothered by the token white girl, which they also had in the MV for “Tonight.” I know they are trying for an international flavor, but the video could have been handled just fine without a token white girl, who is just like a thin layer of frosting on top of an already very substantial cake of interesting sets, and an interesting song. Heck, if you have an interesting song, all you need is a video of yourself singing it, and that is about all the music video you need. If YG insists on putting a token international girl in the videos, then I better stop seeing these waif couture models, and maybe, I don’t know, a really sexy italiana? An African-American? Pouty dark-haired French?

Despite those small bothers, I can say for certain this song can be certified as one of the best things that has happened to kpop in the last two years, probably even better than SHINee’s Korean “Lucifer“. Listening to BIGBANG, I am immediately reminded of EXO, the new group of SM that is in the stage of pre-debut with its never-ending teasers, who also pre-released a midtempo ballad, “What is Love?” Everyone kept commenting how similar it sounds to TVXQ’s “Before U Go“, which actually were both produced and written by Yoo Young-jin, one of the perennial favorites in SM’s arsenal of songwriters. But listening to BIGBANG’s “Blue”, which G-Dragon wrote and produced, I can honestly say that I have never heard anything like this before from G-Dragon. Of course, their previous comeback hints at the electro thump, but this sound, it’s completely fresh.

It is fresh– something that is rarely said in kpop nowadays. As we clear away the conventional EXOs and BAPs and missAs, I’m glad that we still have BIGBANG to look forward to.

Piano lessons have started up again. I am playing a Rachmaninov prelude, and my instructor summarily dismissed my badly-played interpretation and told me flat-out that I did not have the thick, sonorous tone that Rachmaninov so requires. To do so, she said I needed flat fingers. Very flat fingers– the tone I was producing sounded like Chopin. To have completely curved fingers, I would sound like Mozart, she said.

I came from a teacher who drew little curved fingers on my music continually, reminding me to curve my fingers. So when my latest instructor mentioned this, I was a little surprised, for I had never consciously controlled the curvature of my fingers to produce sound. They retained their lazy-curving qualities and I rambled through most of my repertoire like that. Yet, when I pay attention, I notice my unconscious flatness as I grind through thunderingly large chords in my Lutoslawski, the extremely soft sections of my prelude. Not only do flat fingers produce a thicker, fuller sound, they also allow for finer control during extremely soft sections, soft enough to use flat fingers but not quite enough to use the una corda pedal.

Yet, the only trouble is making every note sing as clearly even though the tone is thick. Just because the tone is supposed to be sonorous, it does not mean notes cannot be differentiated from each other and melodic lines can sink into harmony. Oh no, I can feel my tortured artist tantrum rising.

The first word I thought of to describe the performance: bland. I cannot credibly say there was one moment I could say was beautiful; he went through all the vocal motions, but there so many clipped syllables at the end of phrases and his vocal inflection was flat. I did not hear anything that made me think, wow, what a good singer. (Did you?!)

“Goodbye City” is about going home again, but it did not sound like a homecoming song; I got the feeling of a bad Saturday night cabaret.

What particularly bothered me was the beginning. I am not quite sure how Taemin should have done it differently– depends on how you like to sing– but it is supposed to a segue from a sad mood to a surprisingly happy mood– what I felt was diffidence. Taemin had almost the same tone in the beginning as the middle of the song. When Taemin broke out into a dance break at 1.00s-1.30s, I was thinking rather cynically that the dance break was simply to avoid singing for thirty seconds and to draw attention away from his questionable singing. To me, having so many dance cronies detracted from Taemin’s performance– plainly revealing that the dancing was a crutch. Taemin would have done much better if he focused on his singing instead of dancing. Yesung, Jonghyun, and Kyuhyun never had any strictly choreographed routines while they were on Immortal Song, and so yes, my eyebrows are furrowed for Taemin.

Taemin is due for one more episode of Immortal Song, probably so he can start preparing with the rest of SHINee for their comeback. When we first heard that Taemin was going to be on Immortal Song, some Shawols hopefully commented that maybe he will release singing chops that we have never seen before and just blow us away. Judging by the way things are going, that was just too optimistic. Taemin has not embarrassed himself like some of us feared, but honestly, this just needs to be over, so overly-supportive Shawols can stop kidding themselves on how great a singer Taemin is. Taemin is on the way, but for chrissakes, he is nowhere near the golden fountain.

I am still waiting S.M. to finally chuck over Ryeowook and Onew to Immortal Song sometime.

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read review on Taemin’s first performance 

Sho on the left; Tsuruga on the right

Skip Beat! is a brilliant manga. I hate it, yet I read every release anyway, even though I know I will be plunged into an abyss of hating the mangaka for leaving things as a cliffhanger, again. In this way, Skip Beat! is a dastardly brilliant endeavor.

The main problem I have with Skip Beat! is Tsuruga Ren. It is quite obvious that Kyoko, the main female character, will end up with him– the battered, conflicted, tall and dark handsome man. How could she not? He is the character that garners the most sympathy, and Kyoko is starting to show signs of falling in love with him, though she tries to deny these feelings. Plus, the mangaka has drawn Sho shorter than Ren, which indicates Sho’s relative inferiority.

Yet, despite this, I still root for Shotaro Fuwa, and to a lesser extent, Reino.

Why?

bejeesus, Tsuruga! Stop leading Kyoko on!

Tsuruga is a coward. At least Sho knows what he wants, i.e., to occupy Kyoko’s thoughts. He may not be able to translate this into feelings of love because Sho is, after all, a jerk, but he has clear intentions. Tsuruga loves Kyoko, but he always gets all ‘manly’ and ‘self-denying’ and cannot piece together a coherent way to approach Kyoko. What an idiot. Plus, he manages to create all of these perverse situations and still does not make any moves. It is like a person who is playing hard-to-get, after awhile, the game gets boring, and the chaser will stop. After so many questionable situations and nothing happening, my frustration against Tsuruga is building up. This is another reason why the anime is better than the manga; the pacing is much faster, so Kyoko’s relationship with Tsuruga develops at a normal pace rather than a snail’s.

I also find Kyoko and Tsuruga’s childhood relationship to be completely irritating and such an exploitation of cliche. Of course they must have this especial connection all throughout their lives, of course, and of course, Kyoko is completely unaware that Tsuruga is, in fact, her childhood-fairy-friend “Corn.” Like zomg. When this crap explodes, it is really going to detonate a bajillion nuclear bombs. But when will it explode? When?

This reminds me of Mei-chan no shitsuji, where I have the same emotions about the male lead character– so self-denying, so gentlemanly, so clearly in love, and yet he does nothing (plus he’s like a bajillion years older than the female). So I root for the underdog, his younger brother.

I suppose this is a reflection of my personality; I have no patience for those who keep lying even though they have realized something quite important. At this point, after 170+ chapters, I highly suspect the mangaka just wants to keep rolling in the money, just like the mangaka of Perfect Girl Evolution.

I’m curious, who do you root for in Skip Beat!?

two-member TVXQ; Homin

It has been almost three months since I listened to TVXQ’s Japanese album, TONE. What is shocking is that I still regularly listen to it– unlike SHINee’s Japanese album, which I discarded after two weeks (this coming from a hardcore SHINee fangirl).

The thing I like best about current TVXQ is an obvious reason: we get to hear and see Yunho and Changmin a lot more. All original members of TVXQ are extremely talented, so to me it felt rather crowded sometimes with five of them on one track– the super-talentedness is burning my eyes! Too much to handle! Who is singing this? Who is dancing that? With just Homin, I feel like I can stay on top of their super-talentedness and appreciate Changmin and Yunho much more fully. When there was five-member TVXQ, even as a fan of Changmin, you would have to keep tabs on all the other members, but with only Yunho, it is somewhat liberating only to focus on one other person instead of the collective actions of four others.

That and TVXQ’s current electro-R&B-pop genre really suits me. JYJ has gravitated towards R&B-pop with not much electronic, sadly. Homin also work well as a duo, musically. They both have similar sounding voices– slighty gritty, nasal, and low, though Changmin sings in a slightly higher register; they complement each other well. That, and Japanese sound engineers are amazing.

Perhaps I am getting tired of the traditional 4+ member groups of kpop nowadays. It’s just becoming so tried and true and tiring– most notably in EXO’s debut promotions, which seem like they have no end. It seems like all of kpop is debuting groups that collectively have great talents but as individual talents, they are usually worthless. Sometimes it is nice to be able to focus on one or two genuinely talented individuals– people that would probably have been solo artists if not for the kpop industry’s predilection towards groups.

Would I bother with Minho and Taemin if they weren’t in SHINee? Probably not.

I guess a lot of this blog’s readers would expect me totally pan Taemin, but my reaction was on the blah side. I did not have a strong ick reaction nor did I have a strong “noona’s-proud-of-you-Taebaby!” reaction.

Taemin is getting better at singing, everyone! I was pleasantly surprised that he has gotten over rookie mistakes like singing off-key (cough).

But he is still getting there.

Taemin’s tone is too thick for me, as I have mentioned before. I actually found something written by a professional singing coach on these “throaty” tones:

The throaty voice is characterized by too much pharyngeal resonance and/or excessive pharyngeal tension. This technique can produce a hollow sound within the voice. I like to describe the sound produced by “throaty singers”, which seems to have become popular in recent years amongst certain pop, Gospel and R&B singers, as something that you might hear from Kermit the Frog, Pee Wee Herman or the cartoon martian that Bugs Bunny encounters in space.

Some singers employ this technique of tone production because they are under the impression that it makes their voices sound ‘bigger’ and deeper. They tend to use it whenever they want to ‘belt’ out a note or add a ‘growl’, falsely darkening the timbre of their vowels and tone. Other singers produce a throaty tone in a misguided attempt to open the throat and increase resonating space.

I could not have put that better. My lame attempt at a metaphor on formspring was: when Super Junior’s Kyuhyun sings, I feel like he could take a deep breath and exhale and subsequently knock me over, while Taemin could not make one hair on my head move a centimeter. Taemin tries so hard to have a singer’s ‘voice’ but it is still coming through his throat and not properly supported by breathing from diaphragm. That is why the first minute seemed like Taemin was mumble-singing; I could not make out many syllables clearly, ironically defeating the purpose of sad ballad. In the end, Taemin’s voice, though ‘thick’, is still hollow and unsubstantial.

Jonghyun sounds a bit throaty, but that is how he sounds naturally, broad and airy, but Taemin’s natural voice does not sound that throaty or thick, especially when you listen to early Taemin debut singing. The same goes with Minho; the professional coach actually mentioned “Kermit the Frog” as an example of “throaty singers”. Well, I am glad I am not the only one who hears the frog in singers like Minho.

Just one last thing– this may just be a personal quibble, but I find Taemin terrible at conveying emotion while singing. He has this one poker-angel-face that he knows looks good with but he never really goes beyond that. I never really feel Taemin loses himself in the music, having just a bit of raw edge in his smooth singing. He plays it safe, and I suppose it is because Taemin is very much aware he is still getting there.

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read review on Taemin’s second performance

I love pre-Civil War drawings! I mean, stick anything with Civil War on it and I love it automatically. I'm looking at you Homer Winslow!

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson by Mark Twain, and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott were all extremely quick reads; they were not exactly thrillers, but the character development were all masterfully executed so there was continual curiosity to see how so-and-so turn out. Does Tom ever make it back to his master and his family? Does Pudd’nhead Wilson ever shed his terrible nickname “Pudd’nhead” and successfully become a lawyer? Will the little girls ever grow up to be grand old ladies? Yet, despite this investment in the characters, what happens to them is rather expected. If you have read a great many novels, you will probably begin to predict, with alarming accuracy, the outcomes of these respective Americana novels. Nor are the novels’ characters particularly original. For example, though, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was central to rallying sentiment behind the abolitionist movement, in today’s standards, the roles that the African Americans are portrayed in are condescendingly stereotypical, the “mammy”, and the “unerringly faithful manservant”. In Little Women, the main female characters are so good and look up to their mother and father as saints– all of this is interspersed with random Alcott preaching a pious style of life– it’s a bit sickening at times to be so opaquely preached at. Overall, in these three novels, the main characters’ only redeeming qualities are that they are good. They are not antiheros or villains, they are good people to which interesting things happen, and they develop in response to these interesting things in a “good” way. More than anything, these novels serve to reaffirm our beliefs in the goodness of the human mind and heart.

verdict: if you are in search of quick reads of American flavor, go for it! Twain is always good for extra laughs. For those who particularly enjoy romance, I recommend Little Women. In the last 20%, your heart will be broken (mine was broken severely; I had to read a lot of fanfiction before I could get up the courage to read the rest of the novel).

Anyways, I was just enjoying some 2NE1 swag when a related video caught my eye: BEAST ft. Lang Lang & Trouble Maker – Fiction. At this point, I think my eyes were bulging.

I watched it once. Okay, I watched 20 seconds, paused it, and then started screaming, “WHY?! WHY DID YOU DO THIS, LANG LANG! WHY!” Then I watched the rest of it around 30 minutes later after I calmed down (funny Kyuhyun videos can make anyone feel better).

My main beef: BEAST simply isn’t good enough to share the stage with Lang Lang.

Lang Lang; photograph by The New Yorker

Before you get all crusty, I’m not saying that pop is inferior to classical music. To be honest, I don’t like Lang Lang much as a pianist–I think he hammers away at the piano too much and lets himself get carried away by his emotions. I don’t like BEAST too much either, to me, they still look like rookies (despite debuting in 2009), analogous to SHINee at their Juliette stage.

Nonetheless, I do believe in things such as experience. Lang Lang (currently 29), has spent almost three decades–he started playing piano at age 2–let me repeat that again, three decades, studying and performing music. BEAST, perhaps 5-8 years at most, and even then, their study of music is not in-depth as they also need to learn dance and variety show skills.

How can I say this? Lang Lang accompanying BEAST was like me making Arcadi Volodos to accompany me on Pagainini’s Variations. If Lang Lang had accompanied Madonna, Beyonce, or even BoA, I would have just shrugged it off, because these ladies have the industry experience and success that proves them equal to a pianist prodigy. BEAST? I don’t think they are quite there yet. Moreover, Lang Lang wasn’t even doing proper accompanist, he was just ranging through a list of arpeggios and scales and useless glitter that any first-year conservatory student can play in their sleep.

What I can say is that damn, Cube has deep pockets nowadays. Concert pianists like Lang Lang cost $150,000 a night on average (Maurizio Pollini is rumored to pull in 100k a night). I guess they reached out to him because Lang Lang is the only Asian pianist crazy enough to accept and famous enough to headline the billing.

All for what? For Lang Lang to play a butchered version of Moonlight Sonata and La Campanella while we see a bloody sexed-up HyunA? What also bothered me is that Lang Lang was clearly the opening act, and then put aside as an accompanist. My favorite comment:

I become extremely irritated when things like this happen, where classical music is cheapened– just reduced to a spectacle. Where Lang Lang is a soloist, but no one is really paying attention to him. Between BEAST and Lang Lang, I can say with certainty that Lang Lang is the bigger ‘pop star’, being reduced to accompanist and opening act is insulting, to both Lang Lang and those who appreciate good music, whether they like classical music or not.

Lang Lang at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Lang Lang has performed for officials from all over the world (like Michelle and Barack Obama), has held sold-out concerts all over the world, has performed for Beijing Olympics. I give BEAST a 0.001% chance of ever performing at an Olympics, 5% chance of having a complete world tour (six continents), 0.00001% chance of ever performing for the First Family of the United States. I know, I know, Mr. Lang is to be applauded for trying to cross the bridge between the fresh young pop music and the crotchedy old classical music. But not in this fashion.

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21 January 2012 update: actually, wrangling Lang Lang to play for BEAST might have been easier than I originally thought. They are both under Universal Music Group (BEAST’s international promotions), and Lang Lang records for Deutsche Grammophon (a label that Universal Music Group owns). Cube has got some serious connections (by that, I mean, a connection to DG).

26 January 2012 update: I previously quoted that Lang Lang typically charges $70,000 a night. It’s actually much higher than that; $150,000 is more accurate. Cube must have gotten a discount. $150,000, how many trainees a year can you train with that money? Correct answer: a ton.

Therefore, I am cooking for myself– except those times where I break down and order in because I’m just too lazy to slice cucumbers or something. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, you really only need one piece of cookware to survive: a metal pot with an airtight lid (no holes). Here’s how to use it to cook perfect, fluffy rice:

Time Required: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy (but the first few times you should watch carefully until you get used to it and make sure you don’t burn the rice)

1. Rinse the rice.

Doing so gets rid of the starch and other undesirables like dust and bran. In the US, rice is required to be ‘fortified’ with powdered vitamins which will actually be removed if you rinse. Despite this, I rinse every time, because I don’t really trust the rice people– I’d like my rice to be as clean as possible. Asians typically rinse every time as well.

How many times should you rinse? I rinse 3-4 times, or until the water is at least 70% transparent. When you rinse, use your hands to stir up the rice.

2. Add in 1.5 cups of water for every 1 cup of rice.

To be honest, I don’t sit there measuring rice and water. I’ll tell you what my father taught me– put the water and rice in together, and guesstimate. Then, using one hand, palm down, lay your hand on top of the rice. The water level should rise up around the second joint of your middle finger (your knuckles being the third joint). If it is above, there is too much water, pour some out. If it does not cover up to the second joint, add some more water.

3. With the pot uncovered, bring the rice to a boil. 

I recommend medium heat.

4. Once the rice is boiling, turn the heat down by one level. 

You can put the lid on, but tilted, so steam can still escape.

5.  When you see holes or craters in the rice, put the lid on tight. Turn heat to low.

You’ll see what I mean by ‘craters’. There will literally be holes in between rice kernels that makes it look really weird.

6. Keep cooking for around 15-20 minutes.

This depends on the type of rice, how much rice you are cooking, etc. Around the 15 minute mark, you can always stick in a spoon and sample some rice and then decide what to do from then on. That’s what I usually do. If it’s still soggy, give it another 5 minutes. If it’s a bit chewy, the rice is done and you can turn off the heat and serve!

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If you have any questions, please let me know! I didn’t include photos because all my photo attempts were pretty fail.

After briefly thinking this, I then became very fixated on his body movements while playing the piano. I saw a lot of what I do in his playing– the gentle and graceful, almost affected, lift of the hands at the end of a delicate passage; the epileptic moment when a large ending chord is played; the hand conducting to yourself when it is free; the downward movement of the neck at downbeats, and many more.

If you would like, watch the following video (Grieg’s Piano Concerto) to acquire a general idea of how Mr. Andsnes moves:

Why do pianists, or musicians in general, beyond the general motor requirements, move while playing?

“Several features may interact in the musician’s body movements – the motoric elements of the physical execution of any piece of music, plus physical manifestations of affective states, and intentional changes to the music for particular musical effects. As well as conscious changes to mood and the music, unconscious states may also become apparent though the performer’s movements.”

The article states that movement is caused by physically playing the music, the feeling which the musician is trying to achieve, intentional decisions on how to move, and personal feelings at that time. The author makes a separation between the unconscious and conscious movements.

Mostly, pianists discourage conscious movement, but the argument for intentionally movement goes thus:

“…the idea that the performer can add a level of movement to the performance that is not of direct necessity to the production of the musical whole, but assists the perceiver’s understanding of the performance. In other words, there may be a ‘surface’ level of movement that can be explicitly taught, but is not intrinsic to the intention of the performance, although there will clearly be a congruence between the surface and intrinsic elements as it will be the performer’s explicit intention to use these gestures to make the performance intention clearer.”

Movement may actually enhance the audience’s understanding of the music. It certainly explains why Lang Lang is able to have such a captive audience after all his theatrics. Yet, I would say such theatrics are unnecessary, because for every Lang Lang, there is a statuesque Martha Argerich who get along their points just fine without having to move much. Especially for amateur pianists like me, it is easy to get caught in the movement and being showy instead of playing the piece correctly.

I play with the belief that you should not move more than necessary. Therefore, all of my movements are spontaneous and unconscious. However, ironically, I belong to the camp of ‘excessive movement’. In addition to the moves I mentioned above, I will sometimes look up at the ceiling, to the side, my body will do this circular movement going towards and away from the piano, sometimes I will get extremely close to the keyboard so my face is about horizontal, my hands will stay suspended for long seconds after launch.. the list is endless. Often, I will only realize how silly I may look after I complete the action– play the cadence, a few seconds later: wait, I should put my hands down now!

I am afraid of looking deranged and weird, trying to act like a big-shot concert pianist with a lot of fancy flourishes. Naturally, I talked to my piano instructor about this, and she told me that body movement is fine as long as it does not hinder my playing. She has even coached me on adding body movement, which makes for totally awkward moments because since my movements are largely unconscious, doing them consciously makes me feel, well, self-conscious! At times, my instructor holds my ponytail to keep my neck from moving on downbeats and giving the notes accents. Otherwise, she has largely refrained from talking about my body movement.

I’m very interested to hear your thoughts on body movement, as a musician or as a spectator. For example, I cannot stand to look at people who nod their head at every downbeat, and I think one of the great things about an orchestra is that you can watch all of the bassists playing at the same time. Do you feel musicians with more movement are more expressive? Do you move around a lot? Is it conscious?

SHINee's Minho.

Colleges usually try to match you with someone who has similar sleeping habits, but alas sometimes life doesn’t work out so well. Following are some guidelines to being a good room buddy, in regards to sleep.

Discuss.

Make it clear upfront to what you want, and listen to what your roommate wants, so there are no sources of tension right from the beginning. If your sleeping schedules wildly differ, set some guidelines. For example, “I sleep at around midnight. If you Skype your significant other after that, could you please do it in the common room instead?”

Also make sure to discuss guest policies. How long can a ‘guest’ sleep over? Does gender matter? If one roommate is uncomfortable with the guest, then the guest has no choice and cannot stay in the room.

SHINee's Minho. aw poor kid. so tired. I heard he wasn't great shakes in school, either

When your roommate is lying in bed, completely quiet, that is your cue to be as quiet as possible too.

Don’t assume that because it’s 8AM or that their alarm went off and they shut it off that they are actually awake. Some people turn off alarms in their sleep, or (gasp!) they want to go back to sleep. Likewise, if your roommate listens to music to fall asleep, they still can hear you– noise-cancelling headphones are extremely cumbersome to wear to bed. It is also safe to assume that most people do not wear earplugs to bed, either.

Moreover, even if someone is fiddling around in bed with their smartphone, book, tablet, etc., as the roommate, you still cannot be bumping and thumping around noisily. Once someone is lying horizontally in the bed, not speaking, it is a clear signal that they do not want any loud distractions. For example, I usually use my Galaxy Nexus to read some manga before I go to sleep, somewhat like a relaxant, and so I would likewise like a quiet atmosphere as well.

One more thing– say you have gotten used to your roommate’s schedule, and you know when they should be getting up every day to go to class. However, one day your roommate doesn’t wake up on time. Unless your roommate tells you expressly you can wake them up or mentions in passing about a big event happening at a specific time that they could miss if they don’t wake up, do not wake them up. You never know– class cancelled, they decided to take a personal day, etc. Just unplug your hair dryer and use it in the bathroom. Take phone calls in the hallway. Make an effort to be as quiet as possible.

Leave a light on if you go to sleep before your roommate.

It doesn’t have to be the brightest light; you can get a night-light for a few dollars. Be considerate of your roommate, so when they come in the room, they won’t trip over things, or even worse, turn on the light that illuminates the whole room, possibly waking you up.

Give your roommate a heads up if anything changes.

“By the way, I’m going to a party, so I’ll be back at 3. In the morning.”

“I’m staying at a friend’s for the weekend. I’ll be back in two days.”

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People come from many different backgrounds in college, and what some may consider to be common sense is a bit foreign to others; so the best tip to follow is to be considerate and open to suggestions. Sleep is extremely important for your education to sink in and be of use, so don’t be afraid to bring things up. Plus, I hear sleep can make you more beautiful. Now, who doesn’t want to be intelligent and dashing?

They watched SNSD’s “Gee“, Super Junior’s “Bonamona“, and 2NE1′s “I AM THE BEST“. Right from the get-go, this video attracted haters, and I have got to say, some of it was sort of justified.

Some comments made by the kids that especially struck me:

#1: I can’t understand this. Why do people listen to it if they can’t understand it?

It’s like watching subtitled movies, eating Mexican food, listening to Bach. You may not understand the language, you may not know how to cook Mexican, you may have no idea what the heck a semidemiquaver is, but you can enjoy it nonetheless.

#2: What is up with my generation?! How can people listen to such horrible music?!

This was just mainly one kid. He was so effusive and exaggerated about asserting what crap kpop is, and how he hates his generation. Fine, rag on the music being crap, but not on people of your generation! They like what they like, you hate what you hate. Fair?

#3: omg they’re just imitating Pussycat Dolls! … (think for a minute) Lady Gaga!

Eye-roll. I feel like nowadays when anybody ever does anything crazy, it is always compared to Lady Gaga or is imitating Lady Gaga. I remember reading some YouTube comments for Dev’s “In the Dark“– amazing track, by the way– and comment after comment was like, “She’s crazy. Like Lady Gaga!” Probably you can pull out any popular electropop nowadays and you will see some “Reminds me of Lady Gaga” out there. Though I think Lady Gaga is an inspiration, I think it is a little early for her to be influencing performers that have already been performing for much longer or around same time frame as she has. Plus, everyone wants to be different– that’s their selling point. What you don’t get with Gaga is what you do get with 2NE1, with Dev, etc. Rather than just seeing something nutty and labelling it as Gaga-esque, you need to consider if the nutty is in Gaga-style. I think most of us can agree that 2NE1-nutty is not Gaga-nutty.

#4: “What language are they singing in?” — “Chinese.” “Japanese.” (a billion years later) “Korean!”

I recognize the fact that none of them are East Asian and thus may not have much exposure to Korean. Chinese is increasingly taught in more schools in the United States, China is seen increasingly as an antagonistic rival to the US and garnering more media coverage, and Japanese has long enjoyed a cult status in Hollywood, like Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Girls, Quentin Tarantino’s movie “Kill Bill” and lots of popular dubbed anime like Naruto and Dragon Ball Z. To be honest, I did not learn what Korean BBQ was until my senior year of high school (!).

Nonetheless, I sort of hit my head on the keyboard when so many of the kids failed to identify that it was Korean.

–

Now reclining in my Throne as Queen of Pretension, I have to say, those older kids were being pretty pretentious. They were trying to make very strong judgments from mal-formed opinions.

However, I only said that the anger directed toward this video is “sort of” justified.

Because look, they’re kids.

still have a soft spot for Mr. Frodo ^^

Second, they’re American kids. Especially for the Caucasians who probably do not speak a second language at home, they will probably never need to know any other language other than English for their entire lives. As diverse as America is, our language is extremely insular, due to the fact that English is the lingua franca or common language of the modern world today. One can pretty much get by in the industrialized world just knowing English.

Of course, I am not saying that these traits should be encouraged– because airheads don’t contribute much to the economy, it is personally enriching to know other languages– but we should all recognize that as preteens, we were all once know-it-all airheads and allow a little more leeway for these children when criticizing things like this video. We should not be “Imma stab you with a fork” but rather, putting it in simple and gentle terms why they are mistaken in their views.

I also am skeptical that if they were raised in a more culturally-aware environment they would turn out to be great global children-citizens, because children will be children, and so children will be airheads about some things or the other. They might not say something like All Asians Look Alike again but they might say something else just as politically incorrect. No one is born with a politically-correct compass within them; it is something we learn as we grow.

Though the video was exasperating for those aforementioned comments, a good half of them said they would listen to kpop again, and they said it looked very “future-y”. Taken in good humor, it was genuinely funny and entertaining to watch. Also, don’t tell me that none of y’all haven’t ever had a moment where you’re watching kpop and thinking, “what in the world are they doing?!”

Jaejoong the alien. I still don't like this hairstyle of his.. !

I guess some people had beef with the fact that some kids looked down on Korean artists for not creating their own music. America prides itself on originality, and I believe it does hold true in much more cases compared to kpop. Gaga, Britney, Beyonce, Katy, they all hold much more singing and producing credits than do BoA, Hyori, Rain, Se7en. So even if  the American stars’ contributions were negligible, the US perpetuates a (facade of) self-production culture that South Korea does not perpetuate.

In the end, I renounce all claims to judge their opinions, for I can also remember my phase when I had a vendetta against Asian pop stars. My mother always used to read the entertainment sections in Chinese newspapers and while she read them I would prance around her, pointing at grainy pictures printed in the paper, saying that these Asian people had weird hair and their fashion sense belonged to aliens. Nowadays, I’m just like, “Hey look, Jaejoong is in the news.”

If you have taken a string instrument or piano for a while and with several teachers, you have probably experienced at least one telling you to cut your nails short or one actually handing you a pair of garden shears nail clippers and ordering you to cut them then and there (I was subject to the latter).

But why keep your nails short?

(1) Click-clackety noise: Probably the most obvious. I remember talking to other young piano students when I was young and asked them why their nails were so long, and they replied they actually like the click-clackety noise. I was sort of flabbergasted, because even then, I thought there was nothing more annoying than a steady march of falling clacks while the passage is supposed to be smooth and legato. This is a bit like humming while playing the piano; it is distracting and not called for in the piece itself.

(2) Constrains technique / muscle strain: It is much easier to use the fingertips to play the piano rather than the playing using flat fingers with the pads of your fingertips, so you can avoid touching the keyboard with your fingernails. Try it yourself on your computer keyboard; is it easier to type while your fingertips are curved or while your fingers are flat? Also, with a flat hand, your wrists will most likely rest below the piano’s keyboard, which can result in wrist injury like carpal tunnel syndrome.

(3) Pain while playing: This is probably most evident if you are playing loud passages that require a lot of force applied to the keys like I described in the first paragraph. Your fingernails are longer than the tips of your fingers, so your fingernail keeps pushing down on the keys and eventually bend out because your fingertips which you are using to play the piano are shorter.

(4) Fingernails caught between the keys: heard on the pianist grapevine, apparently someone once caught their nail between the keys and broke their finger. Ouch. I would say this is a very small chance, though.

For those serious about learning piano and those who are playing seriously hard pieces, keeping fingernails trimmed is necessary. My nails are actually quite long even when they are cut to the fingertips, so if I put on nail polish, it does not look like I have stubby fingers. Yet, I have refrained from using nail polish because it usually chips early at the tips (I guess I am too passionate), and I am sort of apprehensive of my piano instructor’s reaction when she sees my black pearly nails (emo Michelle alert! emo Michelle alert!). However, rest assured, nail polish is fine as long as you keep your nails cut to a suitable length.

All totally male.

Read the original post (with more pictures!) here at ChinaSMACK. I thought I’d share the mindboggling-ness– especially the man in the pink kimono. Goodness gracious!

Cousin, Ikuemi Ryou, as of 6 Jan. 2012, so far scanlated: 1 volume, 10 chapters

mm are those chocolates up there?

Concerning a rather chubby person who just graduated from high school and is now working a part-time job, with her full-time job being a ‘loafer’– off her parents, that is. Like all shoujo girls, she is rather naive in love, and she finally falls in love with this old bartender (I get the feeling he is around mid-thirties). She has an extremely pretty cousin, who is an ‘idol’– this cousin is what the title refers to, and this cousin has actually never appeared in the manga so far, but moves the story along at some points. This manga may have been dropped, because honestly, it is ‘slice-of-life’ and very boring when you compare it to other fiercely sexy joseis. However, for this reason, I really like it. It is boring, it shows someone who is not secretly gorgeous. It is not quite realistic, but in manga, you have to wait quite a while before you find a realistic one. Read

okay, so his costume is a bit weird

Mishounen Produce, Ichinose Kaoru, 3 volumes, 13 chapters

This would actually fit more under shoujo– light romance mangas targeted towards a young female audience. Mishounen Produce is one of the cliched shoujos, but thoroughly enjoyable because I am a manga-art-snob. The bishonen in this manga are drawn impeccably, reminding me of Perfect Girl Evolution‘s latest chapters where especially Kyohei is drawn to perfection. The plot centers around two childhood friends from the country, who go to an urban school, and get made fun of for their country habits. Therefore, the girl in the pair decides to ‘produce’ the boy, so they will not make fun of him anymore. She does so with great results, and the boy turns out to be a total ladykiller. But it is so obvious he only wants to be ladykiller towards one lady (I wonder who). Overall, Mishounen Produce is a fun, youthful romp through the shoujo wood of pleasure, that I think anyone in the target josei audience would appreciate. Read

Dokuhime, Mihara Mitsukazu, 3 volumes, 19 chapters

*I don’t quite remember the details, but this manga has a bit of sex mentioned, a few suggestive pictures, and is a tad violent, so I would avoid if you are under the age of 16.

artwork is a little heavy.

Poison Princesses are girls brought up since inception with poison, drinking milk with poison laced in it, surrounded by gardens of poisonous plants, etc. When they grow up, their own bodies are lethal weapons, and even kisses can render a man immobile, and yes, sex will result in death (of the male). They are sent out by their devious queen to topple various kingdoms. The latest story arc is rather gripping, let us just say I am secretly hoping for the Poison Princess to lose her ‘poison’ because after she was sent out from the kingdom, she has not been surrounded by poison. If she can gradually lose her poison, she can love! Love this totally hot bishonen! Of course. Read

totally cute boss.

Hotaru no Hikari, Hiura Satoru, 4 volumes, 31 chapters

The girl has a fashionable job at an interior design firm but she is secretly a total slob on the inside, does not care about relationships, and loves drinking beer (a lot of it!). One day, a man comes into her home; apparently the landlord’s son, who had thought the house was empty, and thus he thought he could live there. This older man also happens to be the girl’s finicky, precise boss. What do you know? They end up living together. The man is absolutely cute, so cute. I would not say the art is something to swoon over, but their interactions are funny and makes you yearn for something solidly romantic to actually happen between them. Read

—

One word to describe these two books: heartbreaking. Or perhaps two words to describe these two books: quietly devastating. Never Let Me Go opens with the narrator, Kathy, vaguely discussing her vocation as a ‘carer’ and having various flashbacks, and so The Remains of the Day begins, with Stevens discussing his duties as a ‘butler’ and reminiscing about the days he served the inestimably great Lord Darlington. They both undergo journeys in which perhaps the rosy picture presented in the beginning begins to reveal itself as faded and even, shameful. Yet to the end, this rosy picture is perpetuated, and it is only with a creeping sense of doom we grow to realize the sadness of both novels. The revelations that Mr. Ishiguro presents to us are not shocks, they are rather natural consequences, natural endings to the subtle climax. That is where I am all rather in awe of Mr. Ishiguro; he can creep up the ending without us ever knowing it– nothing exciting is particularly happening, but we still wish to follow along and the end reaches us before we are actually finished giving up our connection to the novel, before we prepare ourselves for an ending, a happy, hopeful ending. He does not leave us in a cliffhanger, exactly, but he leaves us with unsettlement. WiIth beautiful, beautiful prose, and almost languid construction of grammar, Mr. Ishiguro, disturbs our peace, he stirs some shameful, sick emotion.

Verdict: attempt to read one of these books to the very end, even if initially boring. For those who fear the lack of ‘exciting’ events and want more of a cushy read, try Never Let Me Go, it is more sentimental and a bit more relatable. For those who have an interest in the English society of great lords and great houses, The Remains of the Day is recommended. I usually never purchase books, but I did purchase The Remains of the Day and When We Were Orphans, so Mr. Ishiguro really is worth taking a look at sometime.

what a beard, Brahms!

I had a piano evaluation at the end of this semester, and the criticism I continually remember nowadays is that I did not use enough rubato for my Brahms duets (no. 4, no. 15).

Wait, what is rubato? Rubato, Italian for “stolen time”, is “the temporary disregarding of strict tempo to allow an expressive quickening or slackening.” And what does that mean? Instead of playing the piece with the strict beat of a march, the performer speeds up and slows down according to volition. That is rubato.

When I heard that criticism, I sort of burst out, “But I don’t like using rubato!” My piano instructor had this moody and understanding look on her face, and said, “I know, I know.”

For Romantic composers (pieces composed roughly between 1810–1900) like Brahms, rubato is encouraged. In fact, for some pieces, excessive and exaggerated rubato is encouraged.

I suppose there lies my hesitation to stray far from a set tempo. I always feel so silly slowing down or speeding up, creating exaggerated drama when there isn’t any drama in the first place. The composer never really writes “rubato” but yet it is sort of implied there should be rubato. But where? When? How long?

The lack of certainty kills me. The fear of sounding silly kills me too. I also have a terrible inner metronome, sometimes I will be unknowingly speeding everything up or slowing everything down, so I am scared that straying from a safe tempo will lead me even further off the cliff.

Yet, for next semester, I picked Rachmaninov’s Prelude no. 12 in G# minor, which is littered with rallentando, ritardando, meno mosso, accelerando, tenuto. Rachmaninov is undeniably a Romantic composer. Michelle is definitely on the edge of the rubato cliff.

=.= I have my work cut out for me.

I will master you, Mr. Rubato. I will. I know this is one 2012 resolution that I will fulfill. Though right now I am not sure if I am actually doing rubato or just slowing down because I do not know the next few sets of notes. (Let me just cry in the corner.)

(10) B.U.T (BE-AU-TY), Tohoshinki

02 B.U.T(BE-AU-TY) by khunglongcutduoi8x

I got introduced to this song via tumblr. As in, I saw some pretty gifs of Yunho and Changmin and I was like, got to watch! I actually never ended up watching the video, but I listened to the song, and then I think my mind sort of melted and proceeded to download all of Tone and then I proceeded to have music eargasms for the next month.

(09) Somebody to Love, Big Bang

Big Bang – Somebody to Love by BigBangWORLD

I remember thinking when I first heard this track, it was weak and forgettable, their voices autotuned so slickly they sounded like part of the background. Also, you have Justin Bieber’s much catchier Somebody to Love yelling for room in my small brain space. Yet, for some reason, Big Bang’s Somebody to Love is number 09, beating out SNSD’s The Boys and Super Junior’s Mr. Simple by miles. Seriously, there was a time after SMTown NYC that I listened to both The Boys and Mr. Simple non-stop.

(08) Maximum, Tohoshinki

09 MAXIMUM by khunglongcutduoi8x

It must be the effect of the Japanese. Totally blew by my head when I listened to their Korean “Why? Keep Your Head Down” album when it came out in January 2011. Then it totally hit me as a huge dance track in November 2011 and now after a month of listening, it has infiltrated a list that has been brewing for an entire year (!).

(07) One’s Way Back, Jonghyun

ONE’S WAY BACK, Jonghyun by theinnocentlam

So I panned him majorly when I reviewed him in Immortal Song. But part of the duty of a Jonghyun bias is to obsessively listen to all of his solos. Right.

(06) Superstar, Tohoshinki

11 Superstar by khunglongcutduoi8x

My, my, the third entry for Tohoshinki. Maybe I should really self-identify as a Shawol/Cassie, a Casswol, a Shasie? Changmin and Yunho have definitely grown on me this year. I will not lie, it is partially because they still hurt so obviously over the TVXQ split, especially when they are on variety shows and are ‘avoiding’ names. It is heartbreaking. Plus, they are such seasoned and accurate performers. Every ‘live’ I see them in is impeccable.

(05) A Million Roses, Jonghyun

ONE MILLION ROSES, Jonghyun by theinnocentlam

How can you say I am not a good Jonghyun bias fangirl? How?

(04) High High, GD&TOP

GD&TOP – HIGH HIGH by BigBangWORLD

Just an infectious track, coupled with an infectious music video. I think if any track out of this entire list could have gone to Western market, it would have been this one. Technically released on December 24th, 2010, but really, 2011 was like six days away!

(03) Why? Keep Your Head Down, TVXQ

WHY (Keep Your Head Down) – TVXQ by MIMIMI

The Korean, not Japanese version. The epic brass and heavy bass stomping are all up my alley. I just love the bass. One time my piano instructor asked me if I was left-handed because I always listen and play so well to the bass line (I am right-handed).

(02) Perfection, Super Junior M

darn you, Soundcloud! Here is the link to the music video instead.

So, my taste in music ain’t so great. Through this video I started to like Ryeowook because he looks pretty snazzy in eyeliner (while Kyuhyun still manages to look priestly).

(01) Tonight, Big Bang

Big Bang – Tonight by BigBangWORLD

I really, really liked G-Dragon’s weird fur hoodie in the music video. I did not like his smashing of guitars in live performances. Poor guitars that GD actually did not even play before he smashed them. I actually thought this was a weak track as well, everything sounded so autotuned that one part melted into the other (e.g., I always have trouble telling Seungri and Taeyang apart). But, I guess, setting this as your alarm and being too lazy to change it guarantees this as the most played track of the year.

—

In the end,

(a) I have terrible music taste
(b) I universally dislike kpop girl groups
(c) I am only into kpop for the electronic dance songs and pretty boy Jonghyun.

said pretty boy ^^;

A lot of high-profile comebacks this year: Beast with Fiction, Super Junior with Mr. Simple, SNSD with The Boys, 2NE1 with I Am The Best and Ugly, 2AM with Hands Up, Wonder Girls with Be My Baby, Brown Eyed Girls with Sixth Sense– yet with the exception of 2NE1 and B2ST, they were all pretty half-baked. They were big simply because their names were already big. 2011 was a year for building up to great things, it was a year for many debuts, but it was simply not a good year for great music.

Who do you think had the best release in 2011?