Random Fact #6

I hate it when people use pet names for their "soulmate" on FB and what not.

I mean come on, really? Like seriously? "Hunny take care! I wuv you too Bunny! My wittle Hubby! Munchkin! Sweetie poopie! My bitch!" *rolls eyes* They're pet names. Special little names you give to your special someone. Its not special if you (and every other couple) out there start plastering what you call your man/woman on my news feed. I honestly don't want to know what name you call each other during sex. I know you guys are dating. Its already there in your stupid status which is available also in my news feed every time you update it. What I don't need is for you to flaunt unnecessary virtual PDA. It's gross enough that I have to physically tolerate it in reality. And its downright embarrassing when you do break up later on and then have it written down in the memories of your 700+ "friends" list that you've been calling said girlfriend "snookums" and later on calling them whores when they break up with you. Geez.

Stupid Youtube autoplay bar

This morning I woke up and first thing I did was go on Youtube. Why? Because I live vicariously through the videos posted there by the people of this Earth.

And what's cool about Youtube is of course all the weird ass comments below the videos and the fact that I can also contribute to the mass of weird comments. However the pleasure I get from doing this was suddenly spoiled today. Why?

Because THERE'S A FUCKING STUPID AUTOPLAY BAR AT THE BOTTOM OF THE FUCKING PAGE WHICH AUTOMATICALLY DIRECTS ME TO THE NEXT VIDEO WHEN I'M TRYING TO READ (OR WRITE) THE FUCKING COMMENTS!! AND I CAN'T FUCKING GET RID OF IT!!!!

Stupid Youtube. At least install a fucking disable button on it. I'm not soo fucking lazy that I can't click back to the main page to see whatever video that I want to see in my subscriptions.

Rant on Music Purists: Korean v American Music

I don't normally rant that often. Well, not here anyway. I find more satisfaction speaking my thoughts out and including swear words whenever I rant. But today I've decided to make an exception.

I basically get annoyed at purists and their holier-than-thou attitude when talking about music. It seems that unless a certain genre is done a certain way, then anything else besides that is a simply unacceptable and lame. I seem to come across it more often than not whenever I read comments on music websites *sigh* Why can't we agree to disagree that there is more than one specific genre of music out there and it CAN be mixed or varied or changed depending on the taste of the artist or the audience?

Example in case would be Big Bang and their concept of hip-hop/pop/techno/whatever you wish to categorize them and how it differs from that of the American/English music scene.

It annoys me to a certain extent when people randomly point out that 50 cent is thug and Big Bang is not. Cos yes, they are not 50 cent/Lil Wayne/insert name of any American rapper here. They didn't get shot a gazillion times in their body. They didn't live on the streets. There was no history of discrimination. They don't carry guns and they are not scared that they might get shot by a passing car (I'm aware that I'm generalizing here) So how do you expect them to behave and act the way their American counterparts act?

If purists can't stand the music, don't listen to it. Change the channel. There are a gazillion artists out there. If you can compare them and critic them saying that isn't the way their supposed to act/sing, then you can go find and artist who fits your taste and your needs. Support them and buy their album. Show them that you like their music and that there is a market for them (But I swear, once some of these artists get famous, these purists would turn their backs on the artist they like and label them as sell outs just cos they're now being liked by the masses...*sigh* they can never be pleased) I mean, constructive criticism is good if its focused on the artists themselves and their music. Bad lyrics are bad in whatever language it is. Lame beats are lame in whatever genre it is. Say it and end it there. Don't act all high and mighty saying that the way they act/sing/compose/write is wrong and not "true" hip hop.

My take on it is that it isn't really fair to compare them (or any other korean or foriegn rappers/hip hop acts) with English/American rappers. The similarities are there but the music industry, the history, the society, the language, the culture, their influences and their experiences are vastly different from the English/American side. You can’t expect them to be gangsters/thugs/street/whatever exactly the way the English/Americans are when the concept itself doesn’t even have its roots in Korean culture or society. I'm sure 50 cent would rather shoot himself than bow to Kanye West and call him "Sunbaenim" (an honourific given by younger Koreans to those who are senior then them in the same business) or vice versa whilst Big Bang would probably be the first to bow and do that whenever they meet any senior artist regardless of who it was in the Korean music industry. Hip hop in Korean is basically a borrowed/transplanted concept and can be changed, varied and butchered however much they want it to be to suit theirs/audience/society’s taste.

Phew. That was a long one. Constructive comments/opinions would be appreciated.

What holiday?

My holidays will officially start in 3 hours time.

I should be happy.

But...

I'm probably gonna spend the time reading cases and doing assignments to be presented or handed in the minute I come back to school.

Do the lecturers not UNDERSTAND what HOLIDAYS mean??!!

My blogging spree

You're probably wondering why I have been bloggin like mad these past few days (I think I did like 4 posts in a day when I usually do 4 posts in a month...) and no its not because my muse has decided to stay with me nor is it because of any fancy new years resolution. I do have some, but none of them are "good" per say therefore I will not tell you in case little kids read my blog (There is a limit to how much I can say and I'm already guilty of constantly talking about sex and using swear words as it is anyway...) The reason being is because I can't download anything. Period. Like nothing. I mean, there were some stuff (small apps) but only because I had to keep retrying it like a gazillion times.

My ISP has been having some dificulties (something about broken underwater cables) therefore my connection keeps getting cut. Its ok for certain things but for downloads, it sucks. I don't use torrents therefore I can't just continue my downloads if it gets cut. I have to start from the beginning. Its downright frustrating cos I need my dose of high quality (I don't bother with low quality stuff) Big Bang videos! I neeeeeeeeeed them! (Mostly all the end of the year perfs and also Seungri's solo stuff) Plus, I'm sick right now (sore throat, fever blah blah blah) and cranky thus, the only thing that would make me happy is watching Big Bang in full screen rap, sing, moan, dance, smile, laugh, prance around (preferbly in their birthday suits which will probably never happen but a girl can wish right?) etc.

So basically all I've been doing is twittering around on blogger and blogging my frustrations away, hence fulfilling the aptly named title of my blog i.e. i am blogging when I'm bored and frustrated.

Nan Lian Garden in Hong Kong Part I

Note: I wrote this ages ago but I couldn't post it cos Photobucket hates me. Therefore it'll come in two parts just cos uploading the pics takes soo long.

As much as I would like to spam you all with different photos of all the things I bought in Hong Kong...I can't. Cos I don't shop in foreign countries. Period. Well, I don't shop for the type of things you would expect anyway (-_-;;) I am afterall a student with a tight budget and therefore I must prioritize my spending habits.

Basically, I only shop what I need. Unless it's on my list of things to get, I'm usually good at refraining from buying stuff I don't need (just cos impulsive buying always, always gives me a guilt trip and then I have to start saving all over again!). But I do have my indulgences of course. Mainly paintings, books, CDs and DVDs just cos they're my form of investment. I intend to fill up my (future) house with all the paintings I've collected throughout the years, have my own library and also a room dedicated to house just my music collection. I guess you can call it my own private form of escapism from this dreary mess I call reality.

But I digress...again. *sigh*

The point of this post is to spam my blog with pretty, pretty pictures of the Nan Lian Garden in Hong Kong. I adore pretty, pretty gardens which are well groomed and taken care of (as exemplified by this post and also this post about the Meiji Garden in Japan). And when visiting places, I will usually head on down to the nearest gardens/parks I can find (usually in countries where the weather isn't too hot) and just hang around the gardens there for a day (or two depending on how long I'm in said country). Being there helps me to really sink in my surroundings and get a grip on the fact that I am in a different country/place and to just enjoy the feeling of being free and away from the familiarity of what my life is/was and well gardens are just...calming places. Its the place where I go to put things in perspective. To just sit down on a bench under a tree and zone out or to ponder about life in general, or to write your thoughts down, draw (which I don't do btw but I do happen upon a lot of people drawing/painting the scenery in these gardens) or just to people watch ^^

My favourite type of gardens are the historical gardens. I used to be obsessed about those grand European gardens (I had a thing for vast manicured lawns and mazes. I think its that whole being free feeling again Xp) and I also had a thing for Japanese and Balinese traditional gardens. Anyway, imagine my delight when I found out that there was a Tang dynasty (618AD to 906AD) style Chinese garden in Hong Kong ^^ Its located in the city which is why you can see the sky scrapers in the background but it still seemed somewhat isolated from the madness outside. There's also a nunnery, a temple, some gift shops, a museum and a restaurant hidden amongst the garden. They just kind of blend into the gardens somehow and oh, the fantastic thing about the restaurant is that it was hidden behind a waterfall! Dunno if I'll be posting the pic of it tho, cos well, the only thing you can see in the pic is just...water...falling.

Not that nice of a pic but the restaurant was behind the curtain of water here ^^

More pics will be up later.

DBSK at the Golden Disk Awards 08

Oooooh~ The boys performed the song "Are you a Good Girl?" (a million tacky 18+ answers just came up in my head to answer that question Xp) and also "Mirotic".



Credits: rainyoneme@Youtube

I loved the "Are you a Good Girl?" perf. I think this is the first time I've seen the boys perform with such attitude. There were different facial expressions by each member (instead of the more common and steady "Yes, we are so cool" expression) and a lot more interaction with each other, the audience and the camera. They usually tend to stick with the choreography and then just bow and thank the audience at the end (unlike the Big Bang members who have a penchant for chasing after the camera, shouting random English and Korean phrases to pump up the audience or just run into the audience, randomly pull up their shirts to expose their bodies and also play touchy-feely with their female back-up dancers *grins*). Me likes very much ^^

The only problem about this perf is that they changed the lyrics in Mirotic from "I got you under my skin..." to "I got you under my sky..." 0_o

The fuck??!!

The change in the lyrics means jack shit of course and its all thanks to the Korean Commission of Youth Protection in banning the line due to its "supposedly" sexual connotations. Read about it here.

Excuse me? Do the people working at the Commission understand English at all? "I got you under my skin" does not refer to sex. Junsu's adlib in the song when he says "You go down on me"? Now that would/may refer to sex and I would understand if that was the line that was being cut. But "I got you under my skin"? Unless, somehow, without my knowledge that English phrase has now been translated to mean "sex", its complete and utter crap for it to be banned (Although by having the line banned, they've actually now got some street cred in my books).

Damn you Commission of whatever, just when DBSK started oozing sex appeal, you go and bring in this sort of lame shit. I can't even watch the Mirotic perf without cringing. Geez, even the boys look like they'd rather have the words bleeped out then to change it to "sky". The hell does that phrase now mean anyway??!!

Btw, the boys probably upped the ante on their performances of their songs that night by adding some more wicked pelvic thrusts and a staircase hump in their choreography just as a "Fuck you!" to the ban. Wooot!

What is Stress?

Stress is when:

1. My mp3 player dies on me.

2. I have no money.

3. My internet connection is being a bitch; and thus leading to

4. My downloads getting cut.

*sigh*

Btw, congratulations to those who graduated today! =D