Time to Play Catch Up…

Okay, so not really. I caught up with everything I missed in my two weeks of being away within the first few days. But I need something to write about because British Day-Time TV could win an award for being the dullest in the world. Egyptian TV was more interesting and half of it was in Arabic!!!

Well, yesterday was alright. UKTV Style had an Extreme Makeover Home Edition marathon like they do every bank holiday Monday.

This is an amalgamation of whatever I want to say.

 

SHINee’s New MV (Well, mainly just about SHINee)

I’m… confused. It seems like I have ultimately jumped on the SHINee bandwagon, as it were. I think they are the first K-Pop debut I was around to watch with minor interest but I wasn’t impressed with their songs. Then something happened… and I really can’t remember what… but suddenly I started listening to their mini-album to all sorts of insane degrees.

I wasn’t amazingly excited for You’re Like Oxygen/Love Like Oxygen/What Is The Actual Title? but it won me over.

I don’t watch these things and spazz. For example [ZOMG, XYZ looked soooooo hawt at 01:08.3697! DIEZ! XP]…….. because that’s just embarrassing. Even if it is just the internet and no-one can see your expression, or lack thereof, or knows if you’re serious. But I do sindulge in blogs that think along these lines, with more literacy skills of course.

I’m a sucker for a good dance video. If you hadn’t noticed SHINee are almost like robots in that respect. Seriously, they’re some of the best out there and I really wouldn’t say that if I didn’t mean it. They also manage to make some vaguely weird moves look completely credible and also wear incredibly tight trousers look non-emo-like. In Britain it would appear that’s impossible unless you’re a girl.

Considering my age I should be a flailer (Is that even a word?). SHINee appeal to noona fans a lot, which is to be expected considering the suck-uppyness of their last single, but the only one I’m a “noona” to is Taemin and that’s only by around ten months. (I’m fifteen, sixteen next month.) But even then, by all definitions I’m a teenager. . . Doesn’t that count for anything?! But noooo I’m too mature to flail. Not even mentally.

I’d be absolutely terrible at a concert full of fangirls. They’d probably look at me with deathray-like glares because I’m not screaming my favourites name and fainting when I think he looked at me even though it was probably the girl three rows back and to the left who has a neon-sign declaring her ever lasting love for him. I just don’t think that way. And am too self-concious to say anything. Even to bloody type it.

Well… this is a fine example of getting completely off the point.

Something Like Oxygen is one of those songs that you listen to and think – MJ’s back! And I don’t mean Michael Jordan! – It’s also a tune you can so easily get stuck in your head, even if you don’t want it to. It’s very happy and poppy and I love that. I get sold really easily on songs that remind me of the 90s and unlike Replay I liked this immediately.

It seems that in Asia they have a gift for taking obscure European songs and then turning them in fantastic hit songs in their own country. For reference Super Junior’s Don’t Don contains a couple examples of this. I can’t remember who did the original or what it was called, I’ve heard it once and I want to hear it again, so if anyone can help…

I must say I love the rainbow set, it’s like light being shone through glass and spectrumifying it I also love the bit when they pull a Westlife and switch costumes. and the chairs. and the dance. and the fact that my short-term memory is so bad I’ve had to watch the video five times in just as many paragraphs.

I would watch the TV performance that’s been circulating, but I just can’t watch live performances on YouTube a lot of the time. The quality and sound usually isn’t good enough for me to stick through it and try to hear over the inumerable fangirls. But I’ve seen pictures, and it’s SHINee and their lives are pretty much always awesome anyway.

Which brings me to…

Mnet 20′s Choice – Noona (Remix) + Cinderella Under My Umbrella

This is basically six minutes of me looking a mix between 0-o and ^ ^. Okay, so I don’t listen to the remix of Replay very much. In my opinion it doesn’t quite match the brilliance of the original and I usually have a problem with remixes so I’m always cautious when I’m listening to them. Yes they’re miming but that could never be detrimental to the dancing. Which is especially good here.

When “Seo In Young” rises from the stage, because of the close-up nature of the filming, it’s obvious it’s not actually her, but I can imagine that most of the audience were fooled. Scarily stoic is the best way I can think of describing the expression on the mask. I do love the way they perform to “her”, but I do watch things like this and go ‘I hope no-one accidentally hits her’ . Pesimistic, yes, but Taemin gets a little close a couple of times.

I was just hit by a very odd thought. The trousers remind me a little too much of David Bowie in Labyrinth (one of my favourite ever movies)… 0-0

When I first saw “Seo In Young” get shot, I couldn’t help it, I cracked up. I don’t know why I found it so funny – I just did. Did I mention that I love the chair she’s sitting on?

Then the real Seo In Young appears, looking rather badass. A sort of gangster/police/toodamnsexy mix. She writhes on up to the stage and boom! In the words of the SHINee boys;

“REEEEEEEEEEEEEMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIX”

Rihanna’s Umbrella and Chris Brown’s Cinderella kick up, wonderfully renamed ‘Cinderella Under My Umbrella‘.

Huston, we have a problem. I really so like Seo In Young but she’s a little bit fail here. I get the feeling she’d sound really good singing this if her English were loads better, she sounds like she trying to hard. The boys are better but overall it’s not really very brilliant at all.

I wish it was… it’s a brilliant idea. Try again, yeah?

 

Big Bang – Stand Up, “Haru Haru”MV + “OH MY FRIEND”MV

You have no idea how much it killed me to be away when all this Big Bang stuff was happening. When they pushed the album back I was so ticked off! But that was all solved when I came back because it was well worth the wait. The mini-album is…….. sheer brilliance. Every track is made of awesome for various different reasons and some of them are rather odd considering BB’s usual style. But that’s a good thing.

I’m not even going to try and choose a favourite. That’s too hard, but I will say that LADY is such an addictive song… I mean it. I had a instinct that I’d like it when I saw the title (don’t ask me how) but when heard the opening I wasn’t so sure. Shows how wrong initial impressions are.

Haru Haru has two MVs. One has more story, the other has more Big Bang. This is Part Two

It’s a very Big Bang song. Along the same lines as Lies. It’s just impossible to describe really but I can try… Lots of emo-ing and eye-liner, girl dying of what we can presume is cancer, “love triangle”. Basically it’s twenty episodes of a Korean drama in just under five minutes.

OH MY FRIEND is definitely not what you’d expect and some people are a little bit iffy on it. I, personally, love it to death. There was a period of about three years when I only listened to music like this. I don’t know how I survived that time, because now I’m eclectic as hell. Admittedly I was too keen on the chorus at first but trust me, it grows on you. The video is a mix of severe WTH and ROCK! Watch, marvel, love.

When I listen to any Big Bang song I usually come to some sort of conclusion as to which member ‘owns’ the song in my opinion. I haven’t quite figured it out for Haru Haru yet, but for OH MY FRIEND I could listen to DaeSung‘s lines over and over again. (But the raps are awesome too!)

 

 

This is rather long and I’m not sure I really have anything else to say about anything… No-one cares though. Bye

1 comment August 26, 2008

Handball…?

Can I just take a moment to say I’m really tired, have a headache and really weak. So my typing’s gone out of the window and my thoughts aren’t flowing that well. This probably won’t be my best post and I’ll most likely end up deleting it and putting up a new one tomorrow.

Didn’t have the best first impression of this single due to the covers… In which the outfits are fugly. Not in a ‘Oh it’s Hello!Project we can let it slide’ but actually ‘My God Tsunku what have you done!?!?’  even though he probably doesn’t really have a hand in styling the girls. Tartan’s okay. In smaller measures and plus it doesn’t even match the theme, style of music and they don’t wear the outfits in the PV.

Which then brings me to the PV.

In terms of costume Maimi got the shortest end of the stick. Chisa has Namek shoulders though. I think the winner is either Airi, Saki or Erika. They look the least poofy and have some style to them. Airi‘s in pink, Saki in yellow and Erika gets black and white which shouldn’t work with the song/set but she looks rather elegant in it and with the itty-bitty hat and the curtain of hair – She looks so pretty.

After dancing like monkeys this dance is very tame. And very traditionally styled. For the first time in quite a while I find myself actually motivated to stand up and learn some parts of it. The only bit I don’t like it the leg/knee flappy bit at the end of the chorus, but that’s okay ’cause it’s followed by a very flamenco looking move.

I loveloveadore the set… if it didn’t have the neon lights in it. I’m fine with them in the solo shots but not so much in the dance shots because they don’t quite fit with the rest of it.

THE SONG.

Not even three minutes long, Edo no Temari Uta II was not thrilling to me when I heard the preview. In fact I couldn’t have cared less about it, Even more in fact, I couldn’t have cared less about C-ute. That was probably just before I watched the battle concert cause now I love C-ute and EnTUII. Isn’t it funny?

Everyone gets solo lines. In general I don’t like slower songs, let alone slower H!P songs, but this is certainly an exception. Most likely due to the chorus which is ever so slightly awesome.

Well that’s my commentary. I’m off to find out whether the world and his brother feel the same.

Add a comment July 24, 2008