"Just Hatched"

So back when I was working on my acceptance to the TaLK program, which would let me venture to South Korea, I meet a girl in my professor's office. She was also applying at the time to go to Korea through the same program. I remember standing there and seeing a pin on her bag, instantly recognizing the face on the pin to be Daesung of Big Bang, I questioned "Did I had found someone who knew what Kpop was beyond Gangnam style or if she only knew of a few sorts of the Kpop world, as do most stony brook students because of the immense Korean population here?" I piped up and said "nice pin." She upon exiting the professor's office just blew up in a huge rather concise conversation about not only Big Bang and Daesung, but Kpop as a whole. I was taken aback. Never have I ever met another person who was non-Asian who not only enjoyed Kpop as much as myself, but understood it's deeper fabrications and workings of it as a business.

Accepted! 한국에서 가세요!

Destination Korea!

 I was just notified at 4:30am this morning that the Korean government has extended the offer to me to teach English under their TaLK program! Finding this out at such an hour, i was vehemently breathing trying to stifle my screams of overwhelming excitement, to not wake up my roommate and the rest of the dorm building. So I postponed my excitement screams and victory dance till morning. Which I have to say, I did sleep very soundly. Worry free and high on life.

What the Author has been Up To: The Inside Scope

I must say from my deepest regrets that I have not been able to spend any time on my blog for the last two months. I come to check up on it from time to time and always see the numbers steadily climbing. It makes me happy to see that it still has it's potentials. Now that the school year is coming to it's close, there is a lot that I plan to do with this site. I wanted to revamp my blog to make it look cleaner and function better. However, because I'm not a web designer wiz this might be a far fetched idea for a girl who is also really busy with preparing her plans to go to Korea!

The Kpop Image

So just about a month and a half ago I made my first twitter account. And already I find myself making surprising connections with some of my followers, who in turn I also follow back. But I am noticing this trend among them all, let me add that they are also all K-pop fans such as myself, that they are being too harsh on themselves for not looking like Hyorin, Dara, or one of the girls from SNSD. And this is not something that is subjected to just the girls, guys are also feeling the pressures in this day and age to look and dress like the K-pop idols from SHINee, B2ST, or from a variety of drama studs who flaunt their fashion and amazing good looks. Because I have that  "lean on me/ motherly" character, I feel like I should in my own sake of morality, reach out to these girls (and guys) who I know are probably just a few years younger than me, and help them to realize that K-pop celebrities, just as any celebrity caught in a culture that sells beauty as an image, is an illusion. But who am I to say anything?

Dara (Kiss MV)

Hyorin

I too am caught in this illusion trap. I actually get my sense of style from what I see in Korean dramas and strive to look and be as fashionable as those actresses, such as Han Ga In in 나빤 남자 (Bad Guy). So I have no real right to tell my twitter followers or even my friends that "its an illusion and you should just except yourself this way." I am contradictory to my own advice. But one thing that does separate me from most other girls is I do have a sense of love for myself. I like to dress up nice not because of an insecurity, well not entirely, but because I have a love for myself that makes me want to take care of me. Think about it. If someone is depressed, they will initially spend less time taking care of themselves. Maybe skip out on meals, bathing, and yes... their clothes will turn into a mesh of frumpiness, a wardrobe taken from the laundry hamper. Why? Because they most likely gave up on themselves. 

Supporting the EYK Family

If there is one thing I love about the internet, its amazing bloggers and video vlog artists like Simon and Martina who are the hosts of Eat Your Kimchi at Eatyourkimchi.com. Yesterday morning when I got online I saw a post from the two Canadians, now living in Korea, that they were in need of help. They announced that they will be continuing their website and will be building a EatYourKimchi  business in Seoul, about 15 minutes from where they are currently living. However, they needed to buy a townhouse studio to make it work, and as for foreigners living in Korea, making a business there is way expensive on top of the expenses to purchase a living space in what is one of the top busiest cities in the world. So they gave a shout out to their viewers stating that if only half of their 200,000 subscribers were to donate even $1 it would be more than enough for them to get the townhouse studio.

Check It out Here:

Help! K-pop Addict Exposure Syndrom?

So the new semester has started here at my University in Long Island. And It's great to see all the returning students come back into the swing of things greeting each other in ample excitement, because for us 3 months of not seeing one another is just too long. We love each other. And while new faces pop up within our residence dorms we upper grads take special interest in getting them feeling like this is their new home.

But with new comers always comes a certain measurement of uncomfortableness, unfamiliarity. Because right now you don't know how each person is going to judge or make opinions based on the things they perceive mixed with their own experience or inexperience. So how would a recently graduated high school boy from the Bronx, whose just been admitted to college, come to a sense of understanding me? A white American K-pop and Korean cultural enthusiast, who makes aims to move to Korea to teach English?  How could I even make someone who is straight out of Korea understand me?

Parody God

So as you know I am Gangnam Style crazy and love this video and song so much. I mean I have the song as my current ring tone! OPPA GANGNAM STLYE!!!! <(^0^<)

And what I thought was more hilarious than the epic itself was the following videos that spun off from it's amazing originality. Tons of video uploads featured on Youtube that tried to poke more fun at the song. Problem though... How do you make fun of a song or video that is already poking fun at itself? (As also said by Simon & Martina @ Eatyourkimchi.com) Not to knock the makers of these videos but when in comparison, PSY is the master at his own creation. No one else has been able to match up.

Except one man.

David So.

Happy Anniversary Big Bang

In South Korea, today would be August 19th. This day Marks the 6 year Anniversary of one of the most popular boy bands in all of Asia. BIG BANG!

It's been six years already and these guys have gone through so much and have over come some trying times in their careers from legal copy right issues, such as GD's "Heart breaker" having the same back drop beat as Flo Rider's "Right Round" or the run in with playboy corporation for using the bunny icon which was being used to promote TOP's and GD's collaboration, to even overcoming a tragic car accident involving Daesung, who was so personally destroyed emotionally that he spent weeks locked up in his room. Along with other hardships that I cannot actually say, but believe me they're there.

Running Man's Haha Marring Byul!

WHAAA?!

This morning allkpop released an article on their website noting that the variety show star was said to announce his engagement to Byul publicly later on the 15th of this month at the MBC Dream Center. The rumored date of getting hitched is November 30th.

Now I love Korean entertainment, but I am not one of those people who knows every cringing detail of the star's lives. Especially their personal lives because that's... well... personal. But this came to me as a big shock. I didn't even know Haha was dating someone. And wow, Byul of all the possibilities. Nice catch Haha, nice catch.

The allkpop website noted that the two stars have only been dating for 6 months but known each other for years. As I read some of the comments of visitors on the site I was quite saddened by what some people had to say. "Shot Gun Wedding" and "Trolling us because of flirtatious attitude." Let's clarify some things here people.

Do you Have Gangnam Style?

About two weeks ago YG's PSY released a new song called Gangnam style. I have to admit, I been on the YG website quite a bit and have seen the artist's profile there, but never really found myself checking out his bio too extensively. Casually I have looked at his photos as they display a comedic man filled with a unique jester like style. A funny man. However, now with the new release out, I went back and did some digging up on PSY. I like to know what my artists are about. And I like this man. And... I love his song.

Skull & HaHa New Release

Today Ha Ha, or Ha Dong Hoon from Running Man, released a new song with Korean reggae artist Skull. The new single named "Busan Vacance" features Ha Ha with dreads singing a tune that has a Caribbean feel to it. I took to liking this song within seconds after viewing it for the first time. It's playful, bouncy, and visually fun as the screen is painted with scribbles of words and pictures. Did I mention that it also features my other favorite Running Man member? Lee Kwang Soo!

Running Man for now Stops Running

Well It's only been day one since one of my favorite shows, "Running Man" has been postponed due to the Olympics. For those who are unfamiliar with the show, It's one of Korea's popular variety shows, In which a main cast have to complete challenges, play games, and complete certain tasks or missions. Usually in running man the missions are done in a "every man for himself" with a new guest(s) each week. Guests range from old time actors to contemporary artists such as Big Bang.