5. Who Are You?

Despite the totally impossibility of the premise of this drama (a cold/awkward man is possessed by girl’s goofy dead father at certain times), the drama is obviously unique, as well as quite well done. It focuses a lot on family relationships of all types, and the characters actually develop over time. There’s of course drama about stolen paintings and inheritance, but it’s very secondary to the connections between the characters. There are obviously a lot of (thank the lord, not cheesy) sad parts, but the overall feeling of the drama is very warm and happy. And Yoon Kyesang gets a gold star for pulling off two totally different characters flawlessly.

4. 9 End 2 Outs

I think this drama is hit-or-miss for many people. It isn’t fast paced or full of drama. In fact I will be the first to admit that it downright drags at times. But I think that’s what I like about it: it moves at a realistic pace. Lifelong friends don’t suddenly become lovers, the hurt from breakups doesn’t suddenly heal, and sometimes, it takes a while to come to understand yourself and your loved ones. This is definitely a romantic comedy, but I think it sends across a good message that getting older is not necessarily a bad thing, and it’s something that can give perspective. Which, I think, is a sorely needed message in kdramas.

3. Dalja’s Spring

I have such a thing for May-December romances. There are some other decent ones out there, but this one remains my very favorite. The premise of the plot is not too original: successful 30-something woman hires boyfriend to get back at ex, then things get real. But there is such a unique charm to this drama. I’ve never loved all the characters of a drama before, but I feel for everyone in this one, even the supposed “bad guys.” There is not one perfect person, but there is no one totally bad one either. You sympathize with Dalja’s career troubles, and her desire to find a “prince,” while rooting her on to see the one guy for her right in front of her face. I could go on about this drama forever.

2. Shining Inheritance/Brilliant Legacy

Why is this drama so good? I literally watched this entire drama in one sitting. I was completely hooked. It’s a modern day Cinderella story, but I like that the “prince” needs to become a good man first. All of the main actors work so well with each other, most of all the main two. Their emotions are nearly tangible, and it was hard not to get completely sucked in. Perhaps the thing I like most about this drama is the (more or less) realistic portrayal of life with a sibling with a disability. I have a younger brother with a disability as well, so I could relate to the complex mix of emotions Go Eunsung felt towards hers.

1. I’m Sorry I Love You

This the tearjerker to end all tearjerkers. You will cry for hours after finishing this thing. It’s very different from the usual romantic melodrama, mostly because of how deep it is. It’s not about two people falling in love after they overcome their horrific pasts and learn to blah blah blah. They are both totally broken people, and you can’t help but feel absolutely sorry for them. The two characters do learn a lot from each other and come to change over the short time that they know each other. A man who feels he was thrown away and seeks revenge finds a new path. A girl whose entire existence is to silently serve her unrequited love begins to live for herself. There is no stereotypical happy ending. There can’t be. But the tragedy of the characters makes you look at life so differently.

#5. Lee Jung Hyun

She is the only female to make it to the top five! I don’t know why I love her so much; it’s sort of like my mysterious worship of Lady Gaga, although LJH has been doing her thang much longer. She’s not the best singer (her songs are usually her half-yelling/half-singing) or dancer, but she does what she wants in a creative, fierce way. I love how her lyrics push the boundaries for female singers in Korea: her lyrics and videos are often very sexual, and often have an angry feeling to them, different from the sugary stuff other female pop artists often sing. She’s definitely not everyone’s cup of tea, but I think that her unique abrasiveness is what I like about her.

Lee Jun Hyun – Tell Me

#4. Khalil Fong

He is one of several R&B/hiphop artists on this list. Not only did he self-teach himself piano and guitar, he writes his own songs, and his voice is heavenly. He has a sweet tenor tone that really expresses the rhythm and blues influences in his music. And in addition, he’s such a cute little dork as well, it’s hard not to be smitten by him. I wasn’t very impressed by his first album, but by the second I was completely hooked. While his more upbeat songs are definitely great, I love his slower, ballad-esque ones, because they really show off his talent.

Khalil Fong – Ai wo Ba

#3. Epik High

I originally had them at #2, but I moved them down a spot because a) I find Tablo annoying and b) my previous #3 is releasing a new single, which made me super happy. Yes, I’m fickle like that. But, I don’t think there would be many people that would disagree with me about the awesomeness of EH. The lyrics, the music, Mithra’s delicious rapping… As much as Tablo’s egotism gets on my nerves, I definitely respect his ability to write meaningful rap lyrics (something sorely missing in the mainstream US scene, to say the least) and say what needs to be said despite societal pressures to simply comply or pretend the issue doesn’t exist.

Epik High – 당신의 조각들 (feat. 지선)

#2. Shimizu Shota

This guy is Asian R&B done right. He doesn’t claim inspiration from “black music” (god, I hate that term) then shun those from which he gained inspiration. He went to a school where he learned how to sing gospel music, and has even sung at the Apollo Theater. He too, writes his own music, and while they are often about love, they aren’t stereotypical. Also, his voice, like Khalil’s, is a great tone for soul music, but has much more punch to it, probably from gospel vocal training. His more recent works are a bit more pop than his debut album, but he has kept the R&B influences alive quite well.

Shimizu Shota – UNHAPPY

Shimizu Shota – Utsushiki hibiyo

#1. Nakata Yasutaka

Something a little different from the other four, as he produces rather than performs. I love this guy. He is pretty much the only person in this entire universe I fangirl over besides Stephen Colbert. I first discovered him through capsule way back in the early 00s when they still had the cutesy picopop sound, and have followed his various productions since then, from his poor obscure contemode artists to MEG and Perfume. It has been awesome to see him grow in his music. I’ve also been very lucky to meet him and see him in DJ in person. He’s a still a very down-to-earth guy despite his growing fame, and sweet to party with and a great dresser. When you see him do his thing, you can really realize just how much his music means to him, and that’s something I really can appreciate. I’m always excited to see what he comes up with next!

Nakata Yasutaka – Liar Game

capsule – Sugarless Girl (Rmx Ver.)

My family got our first computer when I was around 8 or 9. Windows 95, 255mHz processor, 6GB HD. That was also the time I learned how to make my first website, out of pure HTML in Notepad. I didn’t even know what CSS was, and I didn’t even touch Frontpage (blech) until middle school. People complain about their 10Mb cable internet, when I used to get yelled at for running the phone bill up every month with our speedy 56k modem.

When I was 10, I got into fandom, specifically Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura. I would download all the pictures I could find, but they took up too much space, so I had a huge collection of floppy disks holding them. My family couldn’t afford a color printer, so I went to friend’s house (whose parents ran a computer business) and printed my pictures out there to hang on my wall. Fanfiction back then was amazing too. I would read entire spinoff series that were professionally written. Fanfiction now? I don’t even touch it.

But perhaps the most amazing part to me is how things have changed so much, but I was never really conscious of just how much. Almost 15 years years from the first time I touched a computer (those cute old Apples), I realize I don’t remember how things changed. When did I go from a floppy to a zip drive to a CD to a dual layer DVD? A hard drive from 6GB to 2TB? When did I first touch a laptop? First write a blog? And all of this has happened in my short life span, too. And it only seems like things change faster and faster.

Thinking about it, doesn’t it make you feel old – and a little amazed – too?

Basically, it’s about a boy named Shinagawa Daichi who’s been kind of mislabeled as a yankee (a kind of gangster youth) who has pretty much given up on school. Suddenly, a girl named Adachi, who is pretty ridiculous and fanatical about having a happy school life, shows up and starts to ~change him.~ It’s not as cliche as it sounds, as Adachi was once herself a yankee, and tends to get them in crazy predicaments. Not going to lie, I only originally only watched it for Narimiya Hiroki, but it’s been pretty entertaining so far. Not as great as the manga, but I think it’d be hard to go as over-the-top in a real life adaptation as they do in the manga. I’ve been watching this without subs, so I’m not sure if anyone’s subbing it besides viikii, but it’s worth a try!

Also on my radar is Hotaru no Hikari 2! I am so excite about this drama you don’t even know. The first is one of my top ten dramas, if not top five. This time, it’s about Amemiya and Takano’s romantic relationship and their thoughts about the next step: marriage. Sequels have a tendency to ruin things, but I’m hoping this isn’t the case, as Ayase Haruka and Fujiki Naohito has such great on-screen chemistry, and really know how to bring out the characters’ personalities. It’s slated to start running next month. Definitely looking forward to it.

I’m pretty free these days, so if anyone has some recommendations for some good, fairly current dramas or movies, I’m up for them. I watched a couple movies lately that I’ll probably review soon as well~

But in the midterm, I am free free free. I already redid the blog layout, and I have a few site ideas I’ll probably design and code later. Other than that, I’ve been playing Bejeweled and Poupeegirl like a crazy person and watching various movies. I feel like I should use this time for something useful, like studying my various languages or reading or something but anything that requires actual brainpower seems too bothersome right now. I need to find something to do fast, though, because boredom + me = inevitable shopping spree!

Actually, I’m trying to get a workout routine together because I want to be able to be hot in a bikini and my sad lack of abs and slightly flabby calves are not appropriate for such a goal. So I’m doing the obvious situps/other ab-type exercises, and I’m also gonna try to do more dancing for cardio.

I will first start with this amazing song. The choreography is actually not that difficult except for a few parts, and the part around 1:24 is sexy as hale.

Some other recent songs that make me want to get down..

E.via’s Shake, obviously.

f(x)’s NU ABO is pretty good, even if I haaaate the music video. Okay, I don’t hate it. It’s just weird and confusing. I do hate their hair though. And I’m so happy Mr. Boogie was a track on their mini album, yay!

Any other new-ish dance/workout songs I should add to ye olde playlist?

My example is Utada Hikaru’s First Love.

I really, really love this song, and while I knew the translation of the lyrics, I didn’t really get it because my Japanese wasn’t so great and I’d never experienced that kind of love and loss. I hadn’t listened to this song in a while, but it recently popped up while I had my iPod on shuffle. To my surprise, by the time the song was halfway through, I had tears streaming down my face. This song in its simplicity truly explains that feeling of saying painful goodbyes, of bittersweet memories, of not wanting to let go but knowing that you have to. I’m really happy I rediscovered this gem.

On Saturday, we first went to Rose Tea Cafe, a Taiwanese restaurant that I really love. And, according to my Taiwanese friend, they actually are pretty authentic. And even I know their bubble tea is godly. After that we headed over to the Andy Warhol Museum. I hadn’t been there since middle school, so it was cool to see what was still there, as well as new exhibits. After that, I picked up my best friend and we went to the South Side Works and Shadyside to do some shopping.

We went to the Shadyside Apple store to play with the iPads (fun, but would probably still never buy one), and I decided to see if I could get an estimate on how much it would take to fix my poor broken iPod Touch. They squeezed me in on the last appointment of the night, and even though my iPod was out of warranty, they replaced it for me for free because it was in good condition except for the bad headphone jack. And so, if you ever go to to that Apple store, buy something expensive. Haha. I know I will, because they are awesome.

After that we went up on the Duquense Incline to see the night view of Pittsburgh. It was super cold so we didn’t stay up too long, but it was definitely gorgeous.

Sunday, my mom made us a huge pancake breakfast. After that we all lazed around the house, reading manga and playing Wii while everyone slowly took a shower and got ready. By the time we were done, it was after 4, so we just decided to quickly stop by the mall to do some more shopping and after that we went back to Kent. As a thank you gift, they bought me boxes of cereal and a jug of milk, since I really like cereal. They even explained why they’d chosen each particular type of cereal. They are a crazy bunch of guys for sure, but that’s what makes them fun!

My parents are actually both from Chicago, and I have family there, but it’s the first time I’ve been there by myself as an “adult.” On Sunday morning, I went to Millennium Park and ran into a guy taking pictures with his Canon DSLR, and he knew how to use my Nikon FM so we took pictures together for an hour or so. I’ve never really run into people who know a lot about photography, especially film, so it as really fun. Later that night I met up with a friend from school and his friend who was living there. We got dinner together and wandered around downtown. And finally, on Monday, I met up with yet another friend and went shopping on the Magnificent Mile. I love the Forever 21 they have there. It is huge and amazing and omg.

Anyway, I’ve found that I really like big cities. I know a lot of people hate how busy and crowded and fast-paced they are, but somehow all that energy really gives me some sort of inner calm. I don’t know, it’s hard to explain. Like somehow I am energized by everything going on around me, and I feel less restless. I really think I am one of those people that needs to have constant stimulation or I go a little nuts. I think that was why I liked Tokyo so much: it was a city that quite literally never slept. It could be 4 in the morning and I could get up and take a walk, pop into a convenience store, go to karaoke, or something.

When I applied to colleges, most of the schools I applied to were in cities, but I ended up going to one that was pretty much in the middle of nowhere. So I’m glad that this go round, I get to go to a school that is pretty much in the middle of Honolulu. I think it might be hard for me to focus at first with everything going, but I’m hoping all that energy will help to keep me going, like it usually does.

(And yes, this means I ended up deciding to go to Hawaii for graduate school.)

I’ve made a lot of new friends and strengthened relationships with old ones. It’s great, but tinted with a bit of sadness. The fact that this is the last time I can hang out with them like this is always in the back of my mind. So, I play twice as hard to make sure the memories are amazing.

I managed to get into all three grad schools I ended up applying to. I also got offered job interviews at four different eikaiwa schools in Japan. I know that I’m really lucky for having all this choice when some people can’t find a job, but honestly, it’s killing me. If it had ended up being I could only do one or the other, then yeah, easy choice! But I want to go to graduate school and Japan for two entirely different but equally important reasons and I really don’t know how to decide.

Well, my first interview is on Saturday so we’ll see how it goes. I have to decide either way by April 15th either way so we’ll see…